News

The USPTO published a Final Rule on August 3, 2020 in a Federal Register Notice, announcing fee changes that take effect October 2, 2020. The Final Rule includes an approximate 5-10% increase to most fees impacted by the rule, with some larger increases, notably in issue and maintenance fees, maintenance late fees, and PTAB fees. Four fees were discontinued.

AIPLA congratulates Shira Perlmutter on her appointment as the 14th Register of Copyrights. Her extensive experience in intellectual property law will be a tremendous benefit to the Office.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on September 9, 2020, held that two former Royal Truck & Trailer Sales & Service Inc. employees didn’t violate the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by forwarding and misusing confidential company information because they had permission to access it.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 8, 2020, held that the musical “Jersey Boys” doesn’t infringe the copyright in a Four Seasons band member’s autobiography because any similarities between the works are based on historical facts.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on August 31, 2020, held that a beauty and personal care sales rep deceived a CVS Pharmacy distributor about her rights to use Carol’s Express as a trademark. Beauty Enters. v. Gregory, 2020 BL 328390, 7th Cir., No. 19-3491, 8/28/20.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on August 21, 2020, held that the owner of an emissions trading-related patent can’t sue California for infringement a second time after his first suit was dismissed.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on August 20, 2020, held that the $280 million in punitive damages Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., an Indian multinational IT services company, owes electronic health record developer Epic Systems Corp. for stealing trade secrets is “constitutionally excessive.”

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on August 19, 2020, held that prolific inventor Gilbert P. Hyatt hadn’t shown that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) deliberately chooses not to process, examine, or issue patents for his “extraordinarily lengthy” applications.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on August 20, 2020, held that patent owner Walter A. Tormasi lacked capacity to sue computer company Western Digital Corp. because Tormasi was barred from conducting business as a New Jersey inmate.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on August 20, 2020, revived some Oracle America Inc. claims that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. infringed its copyrights by installing patches for its Solaris software on customer servers without permission.

The USPTO on August 26, 2020, announced the latest winners of the Patents for Humanity program, a USPTO initiative promoting game-changing innovations that address long-standing development challenges.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on August 20, 2020, held that Security People, Inc. improperly challenged the cancellation of its patent by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in a federal district court.

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on August 19, 2020, held that the 2014 film “Nightcrawler” starring Jake Gyllenhaal differed enough from another movie about a murder-filming news freelancer in Los Angeles for the movie’s makers to dodge copyright infringement claims.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on August 17, 2020, held that US Copyright Act preempts rapper 50 Cent from pursuing right of publicity claims over another rapper’s mixtape sample of the hit “In Da Club.”

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on August 17, 2020, held that a story arc about a giant tardigrade, an eight-legged segmented micro-animal, in the television show “Star Trek: Discovery” didn’t infringe a copyright in an unreleased video game that also featured a giant tardigrade.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on August 13, 2020, held that Avance Health System Inc. could not be liable for infringing Passport Health LLC’s trademark after it purchased the keyword “passport health” on search engines to generate Avance ads beside specific search results.

The US Patent and Trademark Office on August 19, 2020, issued guidance memorandum to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) regarding reliance on applicant admitted prior art in a petition for inter partes review.

The US Patent and Trademark Office will host its next Boardside Chat webinar on Thursday, September 3, from noon to 1 p.m. ET for a discussion about several aspects of ex parte appeals.

The Second Circuit on August 17, 2020, vacated and remanded Tiffany & Co.‘s $21 million win in a trademark counterfeiting case against Costco Wholesale Corp.

The Second Circuit on August 13, 2020, found BuzzFeed Inc. is liable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for altering a photographer’s credit for a picture and publishing the photo in an article without permission.