Copyright
Photographers appeal against NFL copyright decision
Seven sports photographers have appealed against a decision that saw a judge toss copyright claims brought by the group against the National Football League (NFL) and the Associated Press.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/photographers-appeal-against-nfl-copyright-decision-13664
Forbes targeted in Harvard photo copyright Photojournalist Jodi Hilton filed her claim at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Forbes used her photo of Hannah Riley Bowles, a senior lecturer at the university, without permission.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/forbes-targeted-in-harvard-photo-copyright-claim-13677
Ed Sheeran supports musician after Facebook copyright ban
UK musician Ed Sheeran has contacted a singer-songwriter who was blocked from Facebook after she covered one of the musician’s songs.
Patents
Snap listing highlights IBM’s patent grip on the top tech IPOs — UPDATE
It has been clear for some time that when a highly touted tech company is approaching an IPO, a patent deal with IBM is often a part of the process. Adding some Big Blue patents to the equation to ward off any potential litigation has become a natural rite of passage for some of the largest tech businesses as they prepare to float. Not only does this bear testament to the depth of the IBM portfolio, but also the skills and the foresight of its dealmaking team.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=e5b4517b-6c86-4932-8451-6bb110c6b011
Post-merger Broadcom issues patent suit broadside targeting LG, Mediatek and Funai
Broadcom launched a number of patent infringement lawsuits against Asian and US companies this week, in what looks to be the Singapore-based chipmaker’s first concerted assertion campaign since its reconfiguration through merger last year. The litigation is the latest step in an escalating value-creation effort on the part of the new entity.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=f1383670-1156-48ea-9542-5cc443804bd0
AIA has not significantly altered patent litigation totals according to recent Lex Machina report
On Thursday, March 2nd, legal data analytics firm Lex Machina released its fourth annual Patent Litigation Year in Review report which provides some intriguing findings on the landscape of patent cases in the United States over the past 12 months. While other recent Lex Machina reports have already noted that patent litigation levels fell 22 percent between 2015 and 2016, this latest study provides a more detailed look into patent cases filed and/or terminating in the U.S. court system.
The FDA process, patents and market exclusivity
From our first leader, George Washington, to the latest, Donald Trump, our presidents have been no strangers to the importance of intellectual property.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/12/fda-process-patents-market-exclusivity/id=79305/
UK Digital Strategy initiatives in AI, robotics underscore lagging U.S. development caused by patent ineligibility of software
Before there was President Donald J. Trump, there was Brexit. It was the first in a growing series of moves towards political nationalism which, despite being widely scoffed at early on, has won enough favor to become today’s political reality. The UK’s planned secession from the European Union (EU) as a result of the country’s referendum vote last June has major economic implications for the country as it releases Britain from a list of regulatory obligations enforced by the EU and allows the country to negotiate bilateral trade agreements, the first time the UK government will have engaged in such negotiations since 1973.
Patent Office finally confirms Michelle Lee is Director of the USPTO
On January 26, 2017, attorney Gary Shuster filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (FOIA Request No. F-17-00099) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The request was rather simple. Generally speaking, Shuster was looking for information on the status of Michelle Lee. More specifically, Shuster wanted information on who might be Director or Acting Director of the USPTO.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/10/patent-office-confirms-michelle-lee-director-uspto/id=79417/
AT&T Settlement Agreement Admissible in Sprint Patent Litigation
Prism Techs. Llc v. Sprint Spectrum L.P., Nos. 2016-1456, 2016-1457, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 3916 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 6, 2017) (Before Taranto, Linn, and Chen, J.) (Opinion for the court, Taranto, J.)
CAFC sides with L.A. Biomedical Research over Eli Lilly in two IPRs challenging penile fibrosis patent
CAFC says PTAB incorrectly invalidated patent as obvious
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/10/cafc-iprs-penile-fibrosis-patent/id=79364/
Lego sued for patent infringement
Toy maker Lego has been targeted in a patent infringement suit by a US business.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/lego-sued-for-patent-infringement-13673
Waymo adds patent claim and asks for injunction against Uber
Google’s former self-driving car division Waymo has added a new patent claim to its infringement lawsuit against Uber and pushed for an injunction.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/waymo-adds-patent-claim-and-asks-for-injunction-against-uber-13667
Jordan joins Patent Cooperation Treaty
The permanent representative to international organisations in Geneva, Saja Majali, deposited her country’s instrument of accession to the PCT.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/jordan-joins-patent-cooperation-treaty-13674
Microsoft picks up Toshiba chipmaking patents amid asset sell-off at troubled Japanese giant
It has been a tumultuous few years for Toshiba. A multi-billion-dollar accounting scandal and massive losses at its US-based nuclear power unit have left the Japanese conglomerate in a precarious position financially. Hoping to offset some of the impact of these issues, it is now considering asset sales and is widely reported to be seeking buyers for part of its semiconductor business.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=d567d420-2ce7-40b9-b4e0-075792a952f4
Fractus proves the power of patents to deliver sustained, game-changing success to tech start-ups
Fractus is one of those very rare stories – a European SME that gets the importance of IP and has prospered on the back of that understanding. What makes the company even rarer is that it is based in Barcelona; the second city of Spain, a country in which patents get very little look-in.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=8b79a108-0a83-4610-b906-ac4f89a17811
The coupling of § 101 and § 112, and what it means for patent practitioners
In our first installment, we explored the evolving relationship between Sections 101 and 112, and how they can work at both complementary and cross purposes. Both § 101 and § 112 limit the scope of patent protections, but they do so in different ways and in recent years, the relationship between the two has grown more complex.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/14/coupling-101-112-patent-practitioners/id=79258/
Broadcom files patent suits against LG, Vizio, others over smart TVs, video processing semiconductors
On Friday, March 7th, San Jose, CA-based semiconductor designer Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) filed a series of six lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.) alleging the infringement of a series of patents covering semiconductor technologies. The patents target firms making and selling consumer audiovisual products or other articles which utilize system on a chip (SoC) semiconductors and similar processing equipment.
The To DO List for the Unitary Patent Package
Following the Brexit referendum on Thursday 23 June 2016 the future of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court became quite uncertain for a while, until the UK government announced in the EU Competitiveness Council on 28 November 2016 that it was proceeding with preparations to ratify the UPC Agreement. Jo Johnson, the UK Minister for IP, added in a hearing of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee on 11 January 2017 that ‘we want to be there at its creation’. Expectations now are that the UK ratification may happen as soon as March. Germany is expected to complete its parliamentary process towards ratification this spring. The deposition of its instrument of ratification determines when the UPC actually starts, in accordance with article 89 UPCA. The start date is now planned for 1 December 2017, so the German ratification needs to be deposited by the end of August, but also no sooner than August.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/13/to-do-list-unitary-patent-package/id=79208/
AIA has not significantly altered patent litigation totals according to recent Lex Machina report
On Thursday, March 2nd, legal data analytics firm Lex Machina released its fourth annual Patent Litigation Year in Review report which provides some intriguing findings on the landscape of patent cases in the United States over the past 12 months. While other recent Lex Machina reports have already noted that patent litigation levels fell 22 percent between 2015 and 2016, this latest study provides a more detailed look into patent cases filed and/or terminating in the U.S. court system.
Motorola slaps Hytera with patent and trade secrets claim
Communications company Motorola Solutions has brought a patent infringement and trade secrets lawsuit against China-based Hytera Communications.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/motorola-slaps-hytera-with-patent-and-trade-secrets-claim-13679
‘Record year’ for WIPO patent applications as ZTE leads demand
Last year saw a “record” number of international patent applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), with ZTE Corporation filing the most international applications.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/wipo-record-year-for-patent-applications-zte-leads-demand-13681
PTAB ends Kyle Bass IPRs targeting Acorda patents on Ampyra MS treatment with no findings of obviousness
On Thursday, March 9th, a panel of administrative patent judges (APJs) at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision ending a series of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings targeting patents covering a popular multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment developed and sold by Ardsley, NY-based Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACOR). The decision strengthens the patent portfolio covering Acorda’s Ampyra pharmaceutical even as competition from generic manufacturers has ramped up in recent months.
The Federal Circuit should never use Rule 36 if a patent claim is invalidated
According to Federal Circuit Rules, a Rule 36 judgment can be entered without an opinion in five separate circumstances, but if and only if “an opinion would have no precedential value.”
The coupling of § 101 and § 112, and what it means for patent practitioners
In our first installment, we explored the evolving relationship between Sections 101 and 112, and how they can work at both complementary and cross purposes. Both § 101 and § 112 limit the scope of patent protections, but they do so in different ways and in recent years, the relationship between the two has grown more complex.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/14/coupling-101-112-patent-practitioners/id=79258/
Broadcom files patent suits against LG, Vizio, others over smart TVs, video processing semiconductors
On Friday, March 7th, San Jose, CA-based semiconductor designer Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) filed a series of six lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (C.D. Cal.) alleging the infringement of a series of patents covering semiconductor technologies. The patents target firms making and selling consumer audiovisual products or other articles which utilize system on a chip (SoC) semiconductors and similar processing equipment.
China revises guidelines for patent examination
China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) recently released amendments to its Guidelines for Patent Examination (2010), which will take effect from 1 April 2017.
http://www.spruson.com/china-revises-guidelines-for-patent-examination/
Japan’s sovereign patent fund IP Bridge faces harsh US litigation reality as it is hit with multiple IPR filings
Japan’s IP Bridge has had a torrid start to the year as four semiconductor companies teamed up to hit the patent fund operator with 24 inter partes reviews (IPRs) at the USPTO’s Patent and Trial Appeal Board (PTAB) in the space of just one month. The new petitions complicate three of the NPE’s four active US patent assertion campaigns – those against Broadcom, Omnivision and Xilinx – and have made crystal clear that the US patent litigation environment is much less hospitable to patent plaintiffs than it was at the time the public-private entity was established.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=dbcace99-aa1d-4f18-a67a-29279ff2ac94
International report – Section 3(d) of the Patents Act: interpretation continues to remain subjective
The government has recently taken several measures to strengthen the procedure of the IP offices and make them more transparent, including by amending the Patents Rules 2003 through the Patents (Amendment) Rules 2016, which set out the foundations for expediting, streamlining and strengthening patent protection in India to bring it into line with its global counterparts.
http://www.iam-media.com/reports/Detail.aspx?g=ceec858f-b3cf-43d6-8ae6-5e689f382691
Why a Hall of Fame patent for a content delivery network likely couldn’t survive Alice
In May the National Inventors Hall of Fame will induct Tom Leighton and Daniel Lewin for contributions made relating to the invention of a content delivery network described in U.S. Patent No. 6,108,703. There can be little doubt that today the claims of the ‘703 patent would be considered to cover a patent ineligible abstract idea. In other words, had the United States Supreme Court decided Alice v. CLS Bank prior to the issuance of the ‘703 patent, Leighton and Lewin would never have received the ‘703 patent and they would not be eligible for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Pixar handed pixel patent win at Federal Circuit
Pixar has been handed a win in a patent infringement lawsuit heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
As it celebrates its 10th birthday, AST looks beyond the US and anticipates an upswing in patent prices
Defensive patent aggregaiton firm AST celebrates its 10th birthday this year at a time when it is on something of a roll. Last year, the firm successfully coordinated IP3, which, in a first for the market, brought together a group of operating companies to offer patent owners a quick and efficient way of selling their rights. It has also started to expand its reach into new markets in Asia; relaxing its rules around buying portfolios so they no longer need to include a US grant. What’s more, it has raised the possibility of moving back into the market for some of the largest deals, with management admitting that it looked at a possible bid for the Yahoo!’s Excalibur portfolio.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=4fb1e8a9-438f-4291-ba14-5dfd1bf626b5
Japan’s sovereign patent fund IP Bridge faces harsh US litigation reality as it is hit with multiple IPR filings
Japan’s IP Bridge has had a torrid start to the year as four semiconductor companies teamed up to hit the patent fund operator with 24 inter partes reviews (IPRs) at the USPTO’s Patent and Trial Appeal Board (PTAB) in the space of just one month. The new petitions complicate three of the NPE’s four active US patent assertion campaigns – those against Broadcom, Omnivision and Xilinx – and have made crystal clear that the US patent litigation environment is much less hospitable to patent plaintiffs than it was at the time the public-private entity was established.
http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=dbcace99-aa1d-4f18-a67a-29279ff2ac94
Time to Quiet Title for Patents: Fixing the PTAB by Recognizing Patents are Property
Congress made an enormous mistake with passage of the America Invents Act (AIA). Special interest groups convinced pretty much everyone on Capitol Hill that sweeping new procedures were necessary to challenge already issued patents. Post grant review (PGR), inter partes review (IPR) and covered business method (CBM) review were created based on the promise that they would be faster, cheaper alternatives to riding the system of dubious patents that should never have issued in the first place. By any objective measure these procedures have failed miserably.
http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/03/16/quiet-title-patents-fixing-ptab-patents-property/id=79549/
Trademarks
Survival kit makers in trademark war
PrepareMe America, a maker of emergency survival kits, has taken on a rival in a trademark infringement and trade secrets claim.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/survival-kit-makers-in-trademark-war-13668
Meowingtons claws back at Deadmau5 in TM suit
Record producer Deadmau5, also known as Joel Zimmerman, has been named in a trademark infringement lawsuit by a cat-themed online store in the US.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/meowingtons-claws-back-at-deadmau5-in-tm-suit-13682
Domain Name
MGM Resorts in domain name battle with online casino
MGM Resorts, the owner of a Las Vegas hotel casino, has taken on an alleged cybersquatter who is using livemgm.com to operate an online casino.
http://www.worldipreview.com/news/mgm-resorts-in-domain-name-battle-with-online-casino-13676
Counterfeiting
Counterfeiting and piracy: not just about fake watches
In February Frontier Economics produced a report detailing the economic problems associated with counterfeiting and piracy. WIPR spoke to Amar Breckenridge, a manager at the company, to discuss the report’s findings and why they are useful.