For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, August 22, 2016, we will discuss the following:

Friedman v. Live Nation Merchandise (9th Cir. August 18, 2016) (available here). Plaintiff Glen Friedman is a photographer who took pictures of the hip hop band Run-DMC during the 1980s. Live Nation is a music merchandising company and is involved in the sale of apparel featuring images and logos of artists. Friedman saw that Live Nation was using his photos in its products and sued Live Nation for copyright infringement. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Live Nation holding that the infringement was not willful and the district court also held that Friedman’s statutory damages claim was limited to one award per work. On appeal, the 9th Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment ruling, and affirmed the district court’s decision on statutory damages.

Scriptpro LLC v. Innovation Associates, Inc.  (Fed. Cir. August 15, 2016 ) (available here). Scriptpro owns a patent for a system to store prescription containers after a medication has been dispersed into the containers. The district court held that some of the claims of Scriptpro’s patent were invalid for lack of written description. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s ruling and remanded to the district court finding that the written description requirement is met in the specification.

All are invited to join us on Monday, August 22, 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 Elisha Manzur by 9 am Monday morning.