For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, April 11, 2016, we will discuss the following cases:

Millenium Laboratories, Inc. v. Ameritox (9th Cir. April 4, 2016) (available here).  Millenium sued its competitor Ameritox for trade dress infringement, alleging that Ameritox’s visual layout of its urine-test result data infringed Millenium’s trade dress. At the district court, the court granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Ameritox, finding that Millenium’s trade dress was functional. On appeal, the 9th circuit remanded the case to the district court holding that there were triable issues in the case as to whether in fact the trade dress was functional.

Simpleair, Inc. v. Sony Ericcson, et.al. (Fed. Cir. April 1, 2016) (available here).  Simpleair sued Google for patent infringement alleging that Google’s Cloud Messenger service infringed the claims of Simpleair’s patent. At the district court, a jury determined that Simpleair’s patent claims were valid and that Google’s product infringed the claims. Simpleair was awarded $85 million in damages. On appeal, the Federal Circuit held that the claims were improperly construed  and that under a proper construction, there would be no infringement. The Federal Circuit vacated the jury’s findings and entered judgment of non-infringement in favor of Google.

All are invited to join us on Monday, April 11, 2016, at noon in our Westlake Village office. This activity is approved for 1 hour of MCLE credit. If you will be joining us, please RSVP to Moniquee Brown by 9 am Monday morning.