Posts Tagged: "intellectual property"

TTAB Rules in Favor of Sony in Trademark Dilution Case

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) ruled in favor of Sony on October 28 in a decision that sustained the corporation’s opposition to an  application to register the mark SONISTREAM for a streaming platform. The TTAB ruled last Friday that the “SoniStream mark is likely to dilute Opposer’s famous SONY mark by blurring.” The Board found that SoniStream is similar enough in name “to trigger consumers” of SoniStream to think of the Sony brand. Of the six factors used to evaluate the case, the TTAB found that four were likely to dilute the Sony brand.

CAFC Delivers Win and Loss for Uniloc in Separate Precedential Rulings on Standing

In a precedential decision issued Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a district court decision that Uniloc USA, Inc., Uniloc Luxembourg, S.A. and Uniloc 2017 all lacked standing to sue Motorola and Blackboard for patent infringement because it was collaterally estopped by a previous decision in its case with Apple. But in a separate precedential ruling, the CAFC said Uniloc’s non-exclusive license with Fortress Credit Co, LLC was terminated by agreement prior to Uniloc’s patent suits against Google, eliminating Fortress’ ability to sublicense the patents-in-suit and maintaining standing for Uniloc.

Sign the Prenup: What Brands Can Learn From the Kanye West/Adidas IP Breakup

Trust and estate attorneys regularly advise their clients to enter into prenuptial agreements to protect the valuable assets each spouse brings to the marriage as well as how to distribute community property in the event of a divorce. Brand collaborations with celebrities, influencers or other brands are much like marriages, but brand collaborations are even more unlikely to last. Why not plan for the split, whether it be a conscious uncoupling or a Page 6 kind of divorce, with a prenup? The high profile split between Adidas and Ye (fka Kanye West) reminds us that collaboration agreements should not only plan for the best of times, but it is worth setting up the agreement to account for a sudden and troubling end.   

Supreme Court Grants Two IP Cases, Including Amgen v. Sanofi on Enablement

The U.S. Supreme Court granted petitions for certiorari in two intellectual property cases Friday, one dealing with the limits of extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act and another asking the High Court to weigh in on whether “enablement” means a specification must enable those skilled in the art “to reach the full scope of claimed embodiments” without undue experimentation.

Other Barks & Bites for Friday, November 4: CAFC Offers Mixed Bag in Uniloc Appeals, Global Music Copyright Market Valued at Nearly $40 Billion, and Moderna Loses Bid to Have U.S. Government Face Vaccine Patent Claims

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Judge Goldberg of the District of Delaware denies Moderna’s motion to dismiss patent claims against its COVID-19 vaccine over arguments that those claims should be filed against the U.S. government; The USPTO and FDA publish a Federal Register Notice seeking public input on collaboration efforts; IBM and the USPTO announce a partnership on AI-driven IP demonstration tool; the USPTO issues the only extension to the public comment period on the agency’s RFC regarding initiatives to improve robust and reliable patent rights; the Federal Circuit rules that Uniloc has standing to pursue its patent infringement claims against Google, while finding that collateral estoppel from a previous case against Apple prevented Uniloc from pursuing claims against Motorola and Blackboard; the governments of Mexico and Switzerland question the need for extending the TRIPS waiver to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics; and Spotify’s Will Page issues his annual report on the state of global music copyright, finding that the global market was valued at $39.6 billion during 2021.