For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, August 13, 2018, we will discuss the following cases:

GoPro, Inc. v. Contour IP Holding (CAFC July 27, 2018 available here) GoPro instituted IPR review of 2 patents owned by a patent holding company (8,890,954 and 8,896,694). The PTAB found GoPro failed to demonstrate the alleged claims obvious and unpatentable. The CAFC remanded. The case hinged on whether a certain catalog published by GoPro was prior art, the PTAB thought it was not but the CAFC disagreed.

Gordon v. Drape Creative, Inc (9th Cir. July 30, 2018 available here) Defendant created greeting cards using catchphrases from the famous “Honey Badger” videos from youtube (watch it here). Plaintiff video owner had trademarks to several of the phrases from the video. At the district court level, plaintiff motioned for summary judgment arguing that the public would be confused with continued use of his phrases with the greeting cards. The district court granted the motion. On appeal, the 9th circuit used the Rodgers test to balance whether the public interest in avoiding consumer confusion outweighs the public interest in free expression. The court also held there was a triable issue of fact because a jury could determine that defendants did not add value protected by the First Amendment, but merely appropriated the goodwill associated with plaintiff’s mark.

JTEKT Corp. v. GKN Auto (CAFC  August 3, 2018 available here) JTEKT petitioned the PTAB for IPR review of a patent for a drive train owned by GKN automotive (8,215,440). The board found challenged claims 2 and 3 not unpatentable. JTEKT tried to appeal, but the CAFC found JTEKT lacked standing to appeal.

All are invited to join us on Monday August 13 , 2018, 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.