For our weekly SoCal IP Institute meeting on Monday, May 4th, 2020 we will discuss the following cases:

Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. (US 2020) (available here)

The State of Georgia claimed copyright to an ebook containing the Annotated Official Code for the state of Georgia, the OCGA. The OCGA has every Georgia statute as well as annotations for the codes and was “created” by a state entity, the Code Revision Commission. The facts of the case actually showed that LexisNexis created the work but copyright went to the state of Georgia as a work-made-for-hire. Public.Resource.Org (PRO) is a nonprofit organization that facilitates public access to government records. PRO copied the OCGA and freely distributed it, Georgia then sued for copyright infringement. The Supreme Court held the OCGA ineligible for copyright protection.

In re FORTINET, INC (CAFC 2020) (available here)

BT filed suit against Fortinet in the District of Delaware, asserting claims that Fortinet had infringed its patent by making, using, offering to sell, selling, and/or importing in the United States various accused products. Fortinet moved to dismiss the case under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, invoking a prior agreement with a forum selection clause stating the parties agreed to  “submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in relation to contractual and/or non-contractual obligations.” The CAFC did not allow them to transfer the case. The moving party had requested mandamus relief, which the CAFC deemed to be “inappropriate”.

All are invited to attend. Due to the Covid-19 situation the meeting will be conducted electronically via zoom. Join us by using this link. 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.