Newsstand

House & Senate Judiciary Lawmakers sent a letter to USPTO Director Andrei Iancu requesting information on the impact the coronavirus public health crisis has had on the operations of the USPTO.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on April 14, 2020, designated as precedential Lectrosonics, Inc. v. Zaxcom, Inc. Case IPR2018-01129, Paper 33 (PTAB Jan. 24, 2020) (precedential).

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on April 7, 2020, held that part of a conveyor belt fastener with scalloped edges wasn’t entitled to trade dress protection because it was utilitarian.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 8, 2020, held that a patent covering a process for preparing polymers was wrongly found invalid based on another company’s earlier use of a similar process that may have been confidential.

The Federal Circuit held on April 3, 2020, that the maker of an eye disorder treatment device was improperly barred from publicly alleging that a competitor’s product infringes its patent.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Copyright Office is expanding its capabilities to receive electronic submissions for Office services.

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York held on April 1, 2020, that Activision Blizzard cannot be sued for trademark infringement for featuring Humvees in its “Call of Duty” video games, saying the game developer was shielded by the First Amendment.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on March 31, 2020, held that VIP Products LLC’s dog toy that parodies a Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle may be protected from the distillery’s trademark infringement claims by the First Amendment.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on March 27, 2020, held that a former grad student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who helped discover a patented process that made his academic adviser $5 million wasn’t entitled to proceeds from the sale.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in a March 30, 2020, Federal Register notice, announced that it is waiving its original handwritten signature requirement.

The US Copyright Office on March 31, 2020, announced that it will adjust certain deadlines relating to copyright registration and notices of termination in specific cases for persons unable to comply due to the COVID-19 national emergency.

The USPTO, on March 31, 2020, announced extensions to the time allowed to file certain patent and trademark-related documents and to pay certain required fees.

The USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board on March 24, 2020, designated two decisions as precedential.

The Ninth Circuit on March 24, 2020, held that Burbank High School’s music education program didn’t infringe copyrights by incorporating four songs into show choir medleys.

The US Senate on March 25, 2020, passed by unanimous consent the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which grants, among other things, “emergency relief authority” for a limited amount of time to the USPTO Director and the Register of Copyrights.

After serving as Executive Director for more than five years, Lisa K. Jorgenson is leaving AIPLA. In the time she has served us in that capacity, she has worked tirelessly to connect with AIPLA members—not only across the country but around the world—and to understand and address the challenges that IP practitioners are facing.

Visit aipla.org/coronavirus for the up-to-the-date information you need for your practice.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 23, 2020, denied a petition for a full-court rehearing of its Arthrex Inc. v. Smith and Nephew, Inc. decision.

The US Supreme Court on March 23, 2020, ruled that state institutions can’t be sued for copyright infringement, in a case stemming from the use of videos and images featuring the wreck of Blackbeard’s ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 13, 2020, overturned the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) unpatentability determination for a nail-fungus treatment patent.