Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, December 14, 2015, will be a discussion of the following:

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization v. Cisco Systems, Inc., (Fed. Cir. December 3, 2015) (available here).   In a challenge to the district court’s award of damages in a patent infringement action, the judgment is vacated and remanded for revision of the damage award.  The court found that, though the district court’s methodology in relying on the parties’ actual licensing discussion was not contrary to damages law, the district court erred in not accounting for the patent’s standard-essential status.

Baldwin v. EMI Feist Catalog, Inc., (2nd Cir. October 8, 2015) (available here)  The Second Circuit ruled that the rights to the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” will end in December 2016 and will pass down to the descendants of John Frederick Coots, the original author.  In 1934, Coots and co-author Haven Gillespie sold the song to EMI Feist, now owned by Sony, and granted them renewal rights in 1951.  However, Coot’s descendants claimed that a 1981 copyright agreement sent to the US Copyright Office voided the 1951 agreement, and EMI was due to lose its ownership of the song in December 2016. The court dismissed EMI’s claim that it should continue to hold ownership until 2029.

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, December 14, 2015, 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 Noelle Smith by 9 am Monday morning.