As outlined in our previous post, on June 1, 2021 the Fourth Amendment to the Chinese Patent Law came into effect, allowing partial claiming in design patent applications. Until this past May, examination of most Chinese partial claim design patent applications had been held up by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (“CNIPA”), since
Recap: 2023 ANA Annual Advertising and Marketing Law Conference
If artificial intelligence is so great, why can’t it reliably predict the weather? The weekend has just closed on another very rainy Floridian ANA Masters of Advertising Law Conference (Last year we had a hurricane, so this would qualify as an uninspiring upgrade). The Masters Conference is the largest advertising, marketing and promotion law conference…
Gobble Up the Trademarks! A Thanksgiving Roundup
By Owen Wolfe & DeJa Turner
Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season, a beloved time of the year where family and friends gather over delicious meals to share and create memories and to express love and gratitude. Thanksgiving also commences the annual Thanksgiving showdown, when silent (or not so silent) competitiveness emerges in the kitchen and beyond.
Activate: Feast…
Photoplaza v Herbal Brands: cert petition from Ninth Cir. re personal jurisdiction over Amazon resellers in TM case
Question presented:
Whether a seller whose products ship nationwide issubject to personal jurisdiction in every forum into whicheven one of its products is shipped.
Factual background from petition:
Respondent is a Delaware corporation with its principalplace of business in Arizona and is in the business ofselling health and wellness products. Alleging thatPetitioners unlawfully sold Respondent’s…
Lanham Act May “Trump” First Amendment (For Once)
By Stephen Lott
In what appears to be a shift from prior decisions striking down portions of the federal Lanham Act on First Amendment grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to rule against a trademark applicant seeking to register a mark commenting on former President Donald Trump.
As we wrote earlier this year, the Supreme Court…
Court Upholds “Monster” $293 Million Award But Declines to Award Monster Energy Company Exemplary Damages for Energy Drink Competitor’s Trade Secret Violations
Last month, Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Vital”), the manufacturer of the Bang energy drink, fell short in its post-trial challenge to a “monster” jury award in favor of Monster Energy Company (“Monster”). After nearly five years of litigation in the Central District of California, Monster’s Lanham Act, California Uniform Trade Secrets Act (CUTSA), Federal Defend Trade…
Some Stability For AI Defendants: Judge Dismisses All But One Claim in Andersen et. al., v. Stability AI LTD., et. al.
In a relatively scathing opinion finding the plaintiffs’ Complaint “defective in numerous respects,” a district court judge has thrown out most of the claims a group of artists has asserted against AI platforms that allegedly used the artists’ copyrighted works without permission. The order in Andersen et al. v. Stability AI Ltd. provides an important…
Generative-AI as Unfair Trade Practice
By Thomas James
FTC Press Release exceprt
While Congress and the courts are grappling with the copyright issues that AI has generated, the federal government’s primary consumer watchdog has made a rare entry into the the realm of copyright law. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a Comment with the U.S. Copyright Office suggesting that generative-AI could…
Federal Circuit Overturns Fifty Years of TTAB Precedent
By Ken Wilton & Dogan Ervin
Introduction
The Federal Circuit recently released an eye-catching opinion in Great Concepts, LLC v. Chutter, Inc., — F. 4th –, Case No. 2022-1212, 2023 WL 6854647 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 18, 2023). The panel of three judges held, in a two-to-one decision, that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) did…