Archives: Trademark and Copyright

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CONSUMER HAS STANDING TO OPPOSE COMPANY’S RAPUNZEL TRADEMARK FOR DOLLS AND TOY FIGURES BEFORE U.S. TRADEMARK TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, TTAB
By: John M. Nading, Ashley H. Joyce, and Devika Persaud  In a sign of a potentially liberalizing trend for standing at the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the Board recently ruled that a consumer had standing to oppose a company’s application for the trademark RAPUNZEL for dolls and toy figures.  Curtin v. United Trademark … Continue Reading

MUSIC MODERNIZATION ACT

By DLA Piper on Posted in Copyright, Music, Trademark and Copyright
By: Ryan Compton and Thomas Holguin After many years of litigation and lobbying expenses, the battle over pre-1972 music rights has finally been ended.  On October 11, 2018, President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”), legislation that purports to provide additional protection for song writers and publishers, as well as to provide a clearer … Continue Reading

UK TRADEMARK REFORMS: IMPLEMENTING THE EUROPEAN TRADEMARK DIRECTIVE IN 2019

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By Désirée Fields (Legal Director, London) and Yannick Aaron Zirnstein (Referendar/Trainee Lawyer, Cologne) Important changes to UK trademark law will come into effect on 14 January 2019 in order to implement the European Trademark Directive 2015. While some of the changes are minor in the nature, others are quite significant or even brand new. The … Continue Reading

SCOTCH WHISKY AND CORNISH PASTIES: WHAT DOES A HARD BREXIT MEAN FOR GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS?

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By Désirée Fields and Sam Mitchell Geographical Indications (GIs) are signs used on products in order to inform consumers about a product’s geographical origin and a quality, characteristic or reputation of the product linked to its place of origin. GIs such as Scotch Whiskey and Parmesan cheese, have generated significant value for EU farmers and … Continue Reading

DEAL OR NO-DEAL? IMPLICATIONS OF A NO-DEAL BREXIT FOR UK IP LAWS

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Sam Mitchell THE UNITARY PATENT (UP) AND UNIFIED PATENT COURT (UPC) BACKGROUND This week, the UK Government released multiple technical notes detailing the intellectual property implications of a no-deal Brexit for exhaustion of rights, patents, trademarks and designs, and copyright. A few months ago, the idea of a no-deal Brexit was only entertained as … Continue Reading

DEAL OR NO-DEAL? IMPLICATIONS OF A NO-DEAL BREXIT FOR UK IP LAWS – EXHAUSTION RIGHTS

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Sam Mitchell BACKGROUND This week, the UK Government released multiple technical notes detailing the intellectual property implications of a no-deal Brexit for exhaustion of rights, patents, trademarks and designs, and copyright. A few months ago, the idea of a no-deal Brexit was only entertained as a highly unlikely, ‘worst-case scenario’. The following four notes … Continue Reading

DEAL OR NO-DEAL? IMPLICATIONS OF A NO-DEAL BREXIT FOR UK IP LAWS – PATENTS

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Sam Mitchell PATENTS BACKGROUND This week, the UK Government released multiple technical notes detailing the intellectual property implications of a no-deal Brexit for exhaustion of rights, patents, trademarks and designs, and copyright. A few months ago, the idea of a no-deal Brexit was only entertained as a highly unlikely, ‘worst-case scenario’. The following four … Continue Reading

DEAL OR NO-DEAL? IMPLICATIONS OF A NO-DEAL BREXIT FOR UK IP LAWS – TRADEMARKS

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Sam Mitchell TRADEMARKS AND DESIGNS BACKGROUND This week, the UK Government released multiple technical notes detailing the intellectual property implications of a no-deal Brexit for exhaustion of rights, patents, trademarks and designs, and copyright. A few months ago, the idea of a no-deal Brexit was only entertained as a highly unlikely, ‘worst-case scenario’. The … Continue Reading

DEAL OR NO-DEAL? IMPLICATIONS OF A NO-DEAL BREXIT FOR UK IP LAWS – COPYRIGHT

By DLA Piper on Posted in Copyright, Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Sam Mitchell BACKGROUND This week, the UK Government released multiple technical notes detailing the intellectual property implications of a no-deal Brexit for exhaustion of rights, patents, trademarks and designs, and copyright. A few months ago, the idea of a no-deal Brexit was only entertained as a highly unlikely, ‘worst-case scenario’. The following four notes … Continue Reading

FEDERAL CIRCUIT CREATES CIRCUIT SPLIT ON USPTO RECOVERY OF ATTORNEYS’ FEES REGARDLESS OF PREVAILING PARTY

By DLA Piper on Posted in Client Alert, Trademark and Copyright
By: John Nading, Ashley Joyce, and Devika Persaud In a 7-4 en banc decision last Friday, July 27, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that language in the Patent Act does not allow the USPTO to recover its attorneys’ fees regardless of which party prevails in a district court litigation.  NantKwest, Inc. v. … Continue Reading

Who owns your IP?

By James Stewart on Posted in Trademark and Copyright
By: Victoria Lee This post originally appeared on DLA Piper Accelerate, DLA Piper’s dedicated online resource for entrepreneurs.  When a company’s intellectual property is core to its business, investors and prospective acquirers want to know that the company owns all the rights to that intellectual property. In most cases, owning intellectual property is preferable to … Continue Reading

DLA Piper names Thomas Zutic chair of Trademark, Copyright & Media practice in Washington, DC

By Eunice R. Chung on Posted in DLA Piper, Trademark and Copyright, USA
We are pleased to announce that Thomas Zutic has been named chair of our Trademark, Copyright & Media practice in Washington, DC.  Congratulations, Tom! Please see DLA Piper’s press release below: Zutic’s intellectual property practice encompasses trademark counseling, with an emphasis on the selection, adoption and use of trademarks, domestic and international trademark prosecution, and … Continue Reading

SCOTUS INVITES SOLICITOR GENERAL’S POSITION ON COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION PRE-SUIT REQUIREMENT

By DLA Piper on Posted in Trademark and Copyright
By Tamar Duvdevani and Matthew Ganas (with contributions from Michael Varrige) The Copyright Act (the “Act”) permits copyright holders to bring civil infringement actions in federal district courts to enforce the exclusive rights provided under the Act, namely, the rights to reproduce, distribute, display, publicly perform, and create derivatives of an original work of authorship.  … Continue Reading

ATHLETES’ RIGHT OF PUBLICITY CLAIMS DIRECTED TO SPORTS VIDEO GAMES NOT PREEMPTED BY COPYRIGHT ACT

By DLA Piper on Posted in Copyright, Trademark and Copyright
By: Frank Ryan and Matt Ganas (with contribution from Michael Varrige) The California federal district court, in Davis v. Electronic Arts Inc., recently issued the latest in a series of decisions involving athletes’ right of publicity (“ROP”) claims aimed at Electronic Arts’ (“EA”) popular sports videogame franchise. The plaintiffs in Davis are retired NFL players … Continue Reading

INSTA-WORTHY OR INSTA-INFRINGEMENT

By DLA Piper on Posted in Social Media, Trademark and Copyright
By Ryan C. Compton, Ashley H. Joyce, and Naomi E. Abraham (Washington, D.C.) Today’s means of communication is ever more dependent on social media.  Whether you’re an individual, a one-woman shop, a fortune-500 company, or even the President of the United States, social media is the fastest and easiest way to be heard.  But where … Continue Reading

THE EU COMMISSION SETS OUT ITS POSITION ON BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS OVER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

By DLA Piper on Posted in Europe, International, Trademark and Copyright, UK
By: Ruth Hoy and James Tighe On 6 September 2017, the EU Commission published its position paper setting out the main principles that will govern its attitude to Brexit negotiations with the UK on intellectual property (the “Paper”).  The Paper sets out 5 General Principles: Principle 1:  European IP rights should continue to retain comparable … Continue Reading

EU TRADEMARK REFORMS: FURTHER CHANGES APPLYING FROM 1 OCTOBER 2017

By DLA Piper on Posted in Europe, International, Trademark and Copyright
By: Karine Disdier-Mikus, Dr. Ulrike Gruebler, and Désirée Fields EU trademark law is currently undergoing the biggest reform in its history. 1 October 2017 marks another important milestone in the implementation of the EU Trademark Reform Package as a further set of very important amendments will come into force. The main areas of change include the … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Trademark Act Disparagement Clause is Unconstitutional

By DLA Piper on Posted in Legislation, Media, Music, Trademark and Copyright, TTAB, USA
By John Nading, David Kramer, James Stewart, and Alberto Zacapa The Supreme Court today struck down the disparagement clause of the Lanham Act as facially invalid under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, affirming the decision of the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit.  This outcome in Matal v. Tam is a victory … Continue Reading

IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, BLOCK THEM. SECTION 115A STRIKES AGAINST PIRACY WEBSITES, THIS TIME FOR THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

By DLA Piper on Posted in Australia, Privacy, Trademark and Copyright
By Rohan Singh, Jessica Noakesmith and Brett Shandler Universal Music Australia Pty Limited v TPG Internet Pty Ltd [2017] FCA 435 (28 April 2017) (Universal Music) Last week in the Federal Court of Australia, over thirty internet service providers (ISPs) including TPG, Optus and Telstra were ordered to block access to the torrenting website KickassTorrents … Continue Reading

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH COPYRIGHT OWNER IN STAR ATHLETICA CASE

By DLA Piper on Posted in Copyright, Fashion, Trademark and Copyright
By Tamar Duvdevani On March 22, 2017, in a 6-2 decision authored by Justice Thomas, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the designs on Varsity Brands’ cheerleading uniforms are eligible for copyright protection.  The crux of this decision relates to the fact that the United States Copyright Act treats the copyrightability of “useful articles” … Continue Reading

UPCOMING CHANGES IN REQUIREMENTS FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS TO BENEFIT FROM DMCA SAFE HARBOR: CONSIDER THESE KEY STEPS

By DLA Piper on Posted in DMCA, Trademark and Copyright
By: Jeffrey D. Aronson, Jim Halpert, Victoria Lee, Mark C. Lehberg, Eduardo J. Blanco If you maintain a website or service where you make content available to others, you probably have (and should have) an agent registered with the US Copyright Office to receive notices alleging copyright infringement.  Last week, the Copyright Office adopted a … Continue Reading
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