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Are wedding receptions full of copyright infringers?

Maybe, if you ask Richard Silver. Mr. Silver claims to have invented the dance known as the “Electric Slide” at a disco in 1976. He registered a copyright on his performance of the dance in 2004. While Mr. Silver’s claims may seem dubious (such as, for example, his claims on his website that he also […]

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Bush proposes 8% increase in USPTO funding for fiscal 2008

In his proposed budget released on Monday, President Bush proposed $1.9 billion in funding for the USPTO in fiscal year 2008. In addition to this amount, USPTO fees would also not be diverted to cover other government programs, instead permitting the USPTO to use the full amount of collected fees for operating expenses, including hiring […]

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Jurisdiction over Foreign Patents Requires – 1367(c) Analysis

The question before the Federal Circuit in Jan K. Voda, M.D. v. Cordis Corporation was whether where an accused infringer is shown to have moved its infringing activities offshore to Germany, the U.K. and elsewhere, does supplemental jurisdiction of the court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ? 1367, permit an infringement determination under the parallel foreign […]

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Federal Circuit again dismisses patent case for lack of standing

The Federal Circuit has once again found the plaintiff in a patent infringement lawsuit did not have standing to bring its infringement claim. In order for a single plaintiff to have standing to assert infringement of a patent, that plaintiff must be the owner of the entire interest in the patent. As succinctly stated by […]

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Federal jury finds H.264 video compression standard does not infringe patent

A federal jury in San Diego recently found that Broadcom, a company that produces chips used in everything from mobile phones to next-generation DVD players, does not infringe two patents held by Qualcomm on video compression technology. Why is this finding important? Qualcomm asserted its patents covered the H.264 video compression standard, which is the […]

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Federal Circuit Places Members of the Bar on Notice

It’s not over until it’s over. In International Electronic Technology Corp. v. Hughes Aircraft Company, DirecTV, Inc. and Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc., the Federal Circuit dismissed International Electronic’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. In its ruling, the Federal Circuit stated: “The court takes umbrage at parties who have not carefully screened their cases to ascertain […]

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On this date: 1886

Karl Benz patents his "Motorwagen," the first automobile. Below are figures from the patent: The full patent (in German) is available here.

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Audiobooks can be rented without publisher’s consent: first sale exception does not apply

Today the Sixth Circuit considered an issue that has not yet been addressed by any other United States Court of Appeal: whether the record rental exception to copyright law’s first sale doctrine codified in 17 U.S.C. &sect 109(b)(1)(A) applies to all sound recordings or only to recordings of musical works. A divided panel held that […]

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Federal Circuit to decide scope of attorney-client privilege waiver en banc

The Federal Circuit this afternoon agreed to hear a case to determine the scope of the waiver of attorney-client privilege when advice of counsel is used to defend against a charge of willful infringement. The order in In re Seagate Technology, LLC, which can be found here, invites the parties to brief the following questions: […]

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Walker Process antitrust claim reinstated: threats to sue competitor’s customers sufficient

In Hydril Co. v. Grant Prideco, Inc., the Federal Circuit reinstated a Walker Process antitrust claim the lower court had dismissed. A Walker Process claim can arise when a patent holder, knowing that its patent was obtained through fraud, still attempts to enforce the patent. This type of claim is named after the Supreme Court […]

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