For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, March 11th, 2019, we will discuss the following cases:

Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com (U.S. March 4, 2019)(Available Here) Fourth Estate licensed articles to Wall-Street.com. The license was eventually cancelled, but Wall-Street kept the articles on its website. Fourth Estate sued for copyright infringement, but did not have a valid registration with the copyright office yet. The district court dismissed the complaint, citing Title 17 U. S. C. §411(a) which states “no civil action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until . . . registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title.” The 11th circuit affirmed, as did the Supreme Court.

Rimini Street, Inc. v. Oracle USA, Inc. (U.S. March 4, 2019) (Available Here) Oracle won a copyright suit and was awarded fees and costs of $12.8 million for litigation expenses such as expert witnesses, e-discovery, and jury consulting. Some of the fees and costs awarded, were for items not included in the six categories of the cost statutes §§1821 and 1920. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded.

All are invited to join us on Monday March 11th, 2019, 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.