Happy Thanksgiving!
Our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, November 30, 2015, will be a discussion of the following cases:
Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. (C. D. Cal. September 2, 2015) (available here). Plaintiffs filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a ruling that defendant’s purported copyright in the Happy Birthday song was invalid. The court held that defendants do not own a valid copyright in the lyrics for the Happy Birthday song.
TimePlay Inc. v. Audience Entertainment LLC (C. D. Cal. November 10, 2015) (available here). Defendant Audience Entertainment filed a motion to dismiss alleging that the claims of plaintiff’s patent were invalid under 101 as they were directed to an abstract idea. The district court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss.