News & Publications

The Federal Circuit on July 29, 2020, held that FanDuel, the US bookmaker and daily fantasy sports provider, failed to show that part of a competitor’s remote gambling patent was invalid as obvious.

The US Patent and Trademark Office on July 30, 2020, issued a proposed rule to update its professional conduct rules to more closely align with American Bar Association guidelines.

The First Circuit on July 22, 2020, held that a San Juan, Puerto Rico-based tax planning and consulting firm can’t hold a former employee liable for misappropriating trade secrets or breaching a nondisclosure agreement.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 27, 2020, held that Australian Therapeutic Supply Pty. Ltd. (ATS), an Australian condom maker, can challenge a trademark registration for the mark “Naked” despite the fact that ATS contracted away its proprietary rights in its unregistered marks.

The University of Texas (UT) can’t be added as an involuntary plaintiff in an infringement suit over two medical treatment patents because of sovereign immunity, the Federal Circuit said on July 24, 2020.

The Commodores, the American soul and funk band, is entitled to damages for both the US and European misuse of its trademarks by former member Thomas McClary, the Eleventh Circuit said on July 23, 2020.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 22, 2020, revived a copyright suit brought by writers Arthur Lee Alfred II and Ezequiel Martinez Jr. and producer Tova Laiter alleging that Walt Disney Co. ripped off a screenplay for the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” film.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 17, 2020, dismissed American fast casual pizza restaurant &pizza’s copyright suit against the operator of the “@pizza” restaurant in Edinburgh, Scotland, because it failed to show that @pizza violated their copyright and that the restaurant would harm their US commerce.

The new report updates the previous findings based on a review of an additional nearly one million issued patents and three years of new data, and it provides further insights into the participation of women in America’s intellectual property systems.

Patent Center is a new tool for electronic filing and management of patent applications in a single, unified interface.