Happy New Year!

Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, January 6, 2014 will be a discussion of trademark infringement and copyrights in space. Brief synopses appear below.

Kilopass Tech. v. Sidense Corp., Case No. 2013-1193 (Fed. Cir. 12/26/2013) (available here). Plaintiff Kilopass and defendant Sidense are competitors in the embedded non-volatile memory (“NVM”) market. Kilopass sued Sidense asserting patent infringement. The district court granted summary judgment of noninfringement in favor or Sidense. Kilopass appealed to the Federal Circuit and the Federal Circuit affirmed the summary judgment ruling. Sidense then filed a motion for attorneys’ fees. The district court denied Sidense’s motion. Sidense then appealed to the Federal Circuit. On appeal, the Federal Circuit vacated the district court’s ruling and remanded it.

Hokto Kinoko Co. v. Concord Farms, Inc., Case No. 11-56461 (9th Cir. 12/24/2013) (available here). Plaintiff Hokto sued defendant Concord Farms for trademark infringement asserting that the defendant wrongly imported mushrooms and used plaintiff’s marks for Certified Organic Mushrooms. Plaintiff asserted that defendant used plaintiff’s marks event though the imported mushrooms were cultivated in Japan under nonorganic standards by the plaintiff’s parent company. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff and also granted a permanent injunction against the defendant. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s rulings. 

All are invited to join us in our discussion during the SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, January 6, 2014 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.