On April 1, the Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated ruling in Facebook v. Duguid, which limited what qualifies as an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The Court unanimously held that Facebook’s method of sending security texts to users did not meet the TCPA’s definition of an
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Google v. Oracle and the Future of Copyright in APIs
The Supreme Court has now come out with its decision in the long-running Google v. Oracle case. To take a deeper dive, we’ve invited David O’Neill, CEO of APIMetrics to help us analyze the true impact of the decision.
First, some background: Oracle owns the copyright in Java SE, a computer program that uses
USPTO Addresses Gender Inequality in the Patent Bar
The USPTO has recently received criticism about the lack of gender equality in the patent bar, which is composed of people who have passed the USPTO registration exam.
To take the patent bar, one does not have to be an attorney, but one has to have some level of technical education and training. To qualify,
Virginia Becomes the Second State to Adopt a Comprehensive Privacy Law
On March 2, 2021, Virginia passed the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA). The CDPA imposes obligations on businesses handling the Personal Data of Virginia consumers and goes into effect on January 1, 2023. Virginia follows in the footsteps of California, which implemented the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in January of 2020.
Who Does CDPA
Stimulus Legislation Brings Substantial Changes to Trademark and Copyright Law
Congress tucked major trademark and copyright legislation into the almost 6,000 page COVID-relief stimulus package it passed in the waning days of 2020. Overall, these changes will make it easier for rightsholders to pursue infringement claims going forward.
On the trademark front, the stimulus bill contained the “Trademark Modernization Act of 2020.” The TMA formalizes
Text Message Marketing Can Cost You Millions
Does your cannabis company use text message marketing to build customer relationships through a loyalty program? That common practice could bankrupt your company.
It is a shock to many that text message marketing can expose you to staggering damages claims for failing to comply with a federal law called the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
Supreme Court Denies Cert in Jack Daniel’s Dog Toy Case
The United States Supreme Court has denied Jack Daniel’s distillery’s petition for a writ of certiorari from a Ninth Circuit decision holding that a dog toy seller’s use of the Jack Daniel’s trademarks and label design is expression protected by the First Amendment.
VIP Products had released a dog toy that resembled the well-known Jack
Can Patent Assignors Challenge Patent Validity? U.S. Supreme Court to Decide
On Friday, January 8, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari filed by Minerva Surgical Inc. in a dispute with Hologic Inc. The question presented by Minerva is “whether a defendant in a patent infringement action who assigned the patent, or is in privity with an assignor of the patent, may have
Senators Send Letter to USPTO Requesting Action to Remedy Gender Gap in Patent Bar
On December 11, 2020, Sens. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Christopher Coons, D-Del. sent a letter to Andrei Iancu, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property & Director the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), regarding the gender gap that has long been present in the make-up of the patent bar.
Ninth Circuit Rejects Fair Use Defense in Seuss/Star Trek “Mash-Up” Case; Netflix Settles Sherlock Holmes Case
Big doings in copyright law the week before Christmas! The Congressional approval of a new federal statute providing low-cost, accelerated adjudication of low-value copyright disputes and criminalizing infringing streaming activities will be the subject of a future blog article. Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s holding in a copyright