For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, July 18, 2016, we will discuss the following:

MPC Franchise, LLC v. Tarntino, No. 15-717 (2d Cir. June 27, 2016) (available here). Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that defendant fraudulently obtained his federal trademark registration for the PUDGIE’S mark for pizza restaurants. The district court granted summary judgment to plaintiffs, concluding that no material issue of fact existed as to whether defendant knowingly made false, material representations in his application where the specimen he submitted originally came from another source, knew that other entities had rights to use the mark, and intended to mislead the USPTO by attesting otherwise in his trademark application.  The Second Circuit affirmed.

Bascom Global Internet Services, Inc. v. AT&T Mobility LLC, (No. 15-1763) (Fed. Cir. June 27, 2016) (available here).  In this case, the Federal Circuit reversed a decision by the district court that a patent asserted by Bascom claimed ineligible subject matter.  Considering the first step of the Alice test (whether the claims are directed to an abstract idea), the Court found that this case was a close call as the claims and their specific limitations do not readily lend themselves to a step-one finding that they are directed to a nonabstract idea. However, under step two of the Alice test (the inventive concept inquiry), the Court found that the claims contained an inventive concept in the ordered combination of the claim limitations.

All are invited to join us on Monday, July 18, 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 @ emanzur@socalip.com by 9 am Monday morning.