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The Federal Circuit on July 1, 2020, said that a Florida federal court failed to properly consider a patent owner’s history of frivolous litigation when it denied a request for attorneys’ fees from the owner’s latest target. Elec. Commc’n Techs LLC v. ShoppersChoice.com LLC, Fed. Cir., No. 19-2087, 7/1/20.

The Fifth Circuit on June 2, 2020, ruled that Digital Drilling Data Systems can’t pursue copyright claims against a competitor that scraped data from a program built using an open source database, because the program wasn’t effectively secured, and the copied program wasn’t substantially similar. Digital Drilling Data Syst. v. Petrolink Serv. Inc., 5th Cir., No. 19-20116, 7/2/20.

The Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) on July 6, 2020, issued a new decision regarding when the Board can raise new arguments in deciding a motion to amend. Hunting Titan, Inc. v. DynaEnergetics Europe GmbH, IPR2018-00600 (PTAB July 6, 2020) (Paper 67).

The Federal Circuit on July 2, 2020, affirmed Hulu LLC‘s successful challenge to the validity of a database management patent at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Sound View Innovations LLC v. Hulu LLC, Fed. Cir., No. 19-1865, unpublished 7/2/20.

Senator Tillis speaks on his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee, the need for strong intellectual property protection, Section 101 reform, DMCA review, oversight over the USPTO and the Copyright Office, and more.

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the addition of “.com” to a generic term can create a protectable trademark, affirming a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., U.S., No. 19-46. In doing so, the Court rejected the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) "nearly per se rule" that when a generic term is combined with a generic top-level domain the resulting combination is generic.

The Ninth Circuit on June 22, 2020, reversed a district court’s dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit against the award-winning movie “The Shape of Water”, finding that David Zindel adequately alleged that Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc. copied aspects of his father’s play. Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures, Inc., 9th Cir., No. 18-56087.

The US Copyright Office on June 23, 2020, released an updated version of Copyright Law of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 16, 2020, affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) win by videogame developers Riot Games Inc. and Valve Corp. in validity challenges to two computer-networking patents.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on June 17, 2020, held that a wellness store’s copyright claims against a former employee didn’t require an attorneys’ fees award, finding that several circumstances justified denying the award.

Fees are proposed to be increased for all application filing types, with proposed per-class fee increases ranging from $25 for a TEAS Plus application to $150 for a paper application.

The USPTO is revising the rules of practice pertaining to the patent term adjustment provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(b) in view of the decision by the Federal Circuit in Supernus Pharm., Inc. v. Iancu, 913 F.3d 1351 (Fed. Cir. 2019). 85 Fed. Reg. 36335.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 10, 2020, held that Twilio Inc. can’t revive parts of its telephony patents that were canceled by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

Pursuant to Subsection 12004(a) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and 37 C.F.R. § 1.183, and in response to the requests from stakeholders, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is extending the time period for petitioning for certain rights of priority or benefit in a patent application and waiving the associated petition fee.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board designated a decision as precedential and three as informative.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 5, 2020, affirmed a lower court ruling which held that Quanta Storage Inc., a Taiwanese disk drive maker, must turn over to HP Inc. all of the cash, factories and patents necessary to satisfy a $439 million antitrust judgment from 2019.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on June 4, 2020, held that A.I.G. Agency Inc.’s trademark claims against AIG, the multinational finance and insurance company, were time-barred because it knew of AIG’s use of the mark decades before suing.

The First Circuit affirmed a district court judgment that prevented pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk Inc. from enforcing a confidentiality and noncompete agreement that it had entered into with a worker who was briefly laid off and rehired before leaving the company for BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.

Register to attend the latest in a series of USPTO webinars focused on intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement in China.

The continued inequitable treatment of African-Americans and other communities of color is intolerable. We must reflect on how our actions demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion through discussion, education, and implementation. And we must all find ways to come together, and no longer be torn apart.