Newsstand

The US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit on February 12, 2020, affirmed a $3 million damages award against Walmart Inc. (Walmart) for misappropriating web designer Cuker Interactive LLC’s (Cuker) trade secrets by pressuring it into giving up its Adobe source files.

The Federal Circuit on February 6, 2020, held that the express license of a patent includes an implied license for its continuations, including continuations of continuations, because they disclose the same inventions as the licensed patent. Cheetah Omni LLC v. AT&T Servs. Inc., Fed. Cir., No. 19-1264, 2/6/20.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on February 7, 2020, held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erred when it chose not to consider arguments Apple Inc. raised in an IPR-related board filing.

On January 28, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued a public notice (#350) providing relief to applicants of Chinese applications/Chinese patents who have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Failure to mitigate is not a complete defense to copyright or DMCA claims for statutory damages, held the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on January 15, 2020.

The US District Court for the Western District of Washington properly granted attorneys’ fees based on a finding that the winning party didn’t infringe a Keurig adapter patent, the Federal Circuit held on January 13, 2020.

The US Patent and Trademark Office on February 5, 2020, announced that US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has appointed David Gooder to be the new Commissioner for Trademarks.

The Women in IP Committee of the AIPLA is pleased to announce Elizabeth Tassi as a Woman to Watch!

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 13, 2020, upheld Comcast Corp.‘s successful challenge to a patent covering an interactive television guide, finding it invalid based on prior art.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Texas on January 17, 2020, invalidated iLife Technologies Inc.'s $10.1 million patent infringement verdict against Nintendo of America over the latter's Wii and Wii U motion control wands known as "Wiimotes". iLife Techs. Inc. v. Nintendo of Am. Inc., N.D. Tex., No. 3:13-cv-04987, 1/17/20.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on January 28, 2020, held that the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, which was enacted to curb digital audiotape copying, did not apply to music copied by an automobile dashboard device that copies CDs to a vehicle’s hard drive.

The US Patent and Trademark Office and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) agreed to launch a new worksharing arrangement that will accelerate the process of obtaining a patent in Mexico for businesses and individuals already in possession of a corresponding US patent.

The US Patent and Trademark Office welcomes two new members to the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC): Jeremiah Chan and Tracy-Gene Durkin. Mr. Chan is the Associate General Counsel and Director, Head of Patents at Facebook. Ms. Durkin is the practice leader of the Mechanical & Design Practice Group at the law firm of Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 10, 2020, affirmed the invalidation of Genentech’s patent directed to methods of purifying antibodies, finding that the process of chilling a composition to below room temperature could be found both obvious and anticipated by a process that purified that composition at room temperature.

The US Patent and Trademark Office will brief users on recent examination practice and procedure guidance related to examination of ranges during its Virtual Instructor Led Training (vILT) course Examination of Ranges on February 11, 12, or 13.

The Federal Circuit on January 10, 2020, held that patent infringement claims against Japanese electric motor manufacturer Nidec Corp. were barred by a covenant not to sue, and found that the covenant was not superseded by a later agreement involving the same patent.

CBS Corp. won’t have to pay a $1.3 million infringement award because a podcasting patent was invalidated by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the Federal Circuit said on January 10, 2020.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on January 9, 2020, affirmed the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’s ruling which held that a claim of Hospira’s Precedex Premix sedative was invalid for obviousness.

The US Patent and Trademark Office on January 15, 2020, released a “New to PTAB” toolkit now available on the PTAB webpage of the USPTO website.

“A low level of protection for trade secrets and IP theft in a number of countries, notably in China and India” have caused “irreparable harm to European businesses” said the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, in its “Report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries” released on January 8, 2020.