On Monday, August 12, Michael Harris will conduct a discussion of two cases, one dealing with the prior art status of a printed publication, and the other about unclean hands as a defense to trademark infringement. The 2021, Ninth Circuit case of Metal Jeans, Inc. v. Metal Sport, Inc. (case here) is the unclean hands case. [...]
On Monday, August 9, 2021, Chris Kopitzke will lead a discussion of the Copyright Office’s refusal to register the most recent version of the Golden Globe statuette, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s finding that evidence submitted to prove non-use of a trademark was insufficient to establish a prima facie case of abandonment. In [...]
At our next SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, December 5, 2016, we will discuss the following: Antonick v. Electronic Arts, Inc. (Fed. Cir. November 22, 2016) (available here). Plaintiff Antonick developed the computer code for EA's Madden Football game for the Apple II computer. EA later released versions of the game for Sega and Nintendo. [...]
There will be no SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 21, 2016. At our next SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, we will discuss the following: In re Nuvasive, Inc. (Fed. Cir. November 9, 2016) (available here). Medtronic filed petitions for inter partes review of Nuvasive's patents related to spinal fusion [...]
For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, we will discuss the following: In re JJ206, LLC dab JuJu Joints (T.T.A.B. October 27, 2016) (available here). JuJu sought to register the marks Powered by JuJu and JuJu Joints for goods in class 34 explicitly indicating that the mark would be used in connection [...]
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016, will be a discussion of the following: Embarcadero Tech. v. Delphix Corp, (TTAB 1/21/16) (available here). At issue was a motion for summary judgment brought by Delphix on Embarcadero's claim that Delphix fraudulently proclaimed use in commerce of its DELPHIX mark. Embarcadero also filed a motion to amend its petition for cancellation [...]
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, April 13, 2015 will be a discussion of the following cases: ProMark Brands Inc. v. GFA Brands Inc. (TTAB March 27, 2015) (available here). Here, ProMark (later assigned to H.J. Heinz Company) opposed GFA's trademark application for the plain word mark SMART BALANCE for: frozen appetizers containing poultry, meat, seafood or [...]
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, March 23, 2015 will be a discussion of: Mobile Media Ideas LLC v. Apple Inc. Case No. No. 1:10-cv-00258-SLR-MPT, (Fed. Cir. March 17, 2015) (available here). There were several patents at issue, primarily concerning cell phone technology. Among other holdings, the Court upheld the jury's nonobvious finding regarding the [...]
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, March 9, 2015 will be a discussion of: Acacia Patent Acquisition, LLC v. Superior Court of Orange County, Case No. G050226 (Cal. App. 4th 2/27/15 (available here). Acacia sought the disqualification of the law firm of AlvaradoSmith, which: (1) previously represented another law firm in an attorney fee dispute; and (2) [...]
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, July 7, 2014 will be a discussion of a Supreme Court case on copyright infringement and a California Appellate opinion on trade secrets. Brief synopses appear below. ABC v. Aereo (U.S. June 25, 2014) (available here). The Supreme Court held that Aereo's service, which provided subscribers the [...]