On June 19, 2014, in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. ___2014, a unanimous Supreme Court held that systems and methods of exchanging financial obligations, implemented in hardware or software, did not qualify for patent protection.
On May 9, 2014, a federal appeals court reversed a California trial court’s determination that 37 API packages that are part of Oracle’s famous Java programming platform were not subject to copyright protection.
On May 2, 2014, the Eastern District of Virginia1 held that attorneys must inform the Court of any pending Inter Partes Review (IPR) regarding patents asserted in litigation. Failure to do so may violate the general duty of candor and good faith to the Court.
In a decision filed on May 8, 2014, the California Court of Appeals held that patentable ideas, if kept secret, can constitute information protectable by trade secret law.
Arent Fox Intellectual Property partner Pamela M. Deese is quoted by Bloomberg News in an article that illustrates the prospect of earning royalties from popular trademarked sports phrases.
The Supreme Court held that “factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level,” and “labels and conclusions or a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.”
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia recently ruled that Reynolds had not abandoned its federal trademark registrations for its distinctive packaging designs, despite making several alterations to its packaging since obtaining the registrations in 1977.
Frederick E. Bouchat has once again alleged copyright infringement against the Baltimore Ravens and the National Football League (NFL) over the Ravens’ “Flying B Logo” from the mid-1990s.
The Supreme Court recently announced that it would hear a lawsuit brought by major television broadcasters against a service that streams the broadcasters’ video content over the internet without permission.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia recently awarded the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) $36,320.49 in legal expenses, including its attorneys’ fees, in a case brought by an applicant appealing the PTO’s refusal to register a mark on the basis.
Over the past several years, many fashion and apparel retail companies have implemented RFID technology in their stores, as it provides a fast, cost-efficient, automated, and accurate method for tracking inventory both through the supply chain and within the retail environment.
Arent Fox Intellectual Property partner Marylee Jenkins and attorney Kristi Nicholes Burton co-authored an article in the Landslide, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, entitled “Isolated DNA Compositions are not Patent Eligible”.
A recently filed court case demonstrates the ever-increasing competiveness of the fashion industry. Skechers U.S.A., Inc., alleged in its complaint that Perry Ellis International, Inc., and Shoe Confession LLC are selling a copied version of Skechers’ patented Skechers Go Run shoe.