For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, February 10th, 2020 we will discuss the following cases:

Cheetah Omni LLC v. AT&T Services, Inc. & Ciena Corp. (CAFC February 6, 2020) (available here)

Cheetah owns U.S. Patent 7,522,836 for optical communication networks. AT&T uses a system of hardware and software components in its AT&T fiber optic communication networks, Cheetah alleged that the ‘836 patent was infringed by AT&T’s Network. A third party company, Ciena moved to intervene in the suit because it manufactures and supplies certain components for AT&T’s fiber optic systems and because those components formed the basis of some of Cheetah’s infringement allegations. Ciena and AT&T then moved for summary judgment arguing that two license agreements from a prior suit covered the allegedly infringing products. The district court agreed and the Federal Circuit affirmed.

Great Minds v. Office Depot, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020)(available here)

Great Minds publishes a math program called “Eureka Math”. Creative Minds both sells this program commercially and offers a free digital download under a Creative Commons public license. Several school districts downloaded the Creative Commons material, and used Office Depot to make copies of the material for classroom use. Great Minds and Office Depot entered into a license agreement, but Office Depot later terminated the agreement when a similar case in New York found another company had not infringed Great Minds’ copyright, Great Minds then sued Office Depot. The case came down to the interpretation of a creative commons license. The 9th Circuit held that Office Depot did not itself become a direct licensee when it was engaged by schools to make copies of the copyrighted material.

All are invited to join us on Monday February 10th, 2020 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.