A recent patent infringement complaint in North Carolina illustrates how patents cover and help sporting events. While golf is the undeniable king of patents in the sports realm, with over 22,000 patents since 1976, other sports do see innovation and patenting as well. Take, for example, Michael J. Costabile’s inventions captured in U.S. Patent Nos. […]
Continue Reading →Patent applications containing nucleic acid or protein sequences will be required to submit a sequence listing in compliance with the new WIPO Standard ST.26 beginning on January 1, 2022. With the implementation of the new standard coming soon, the USPTO has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise the rules of practice for submitting […]
Continue Reading →Yes, logos are copyrightable, assuming, that the logo was independently created and possesses a sufficient level of creativity. First, to be clear, copyrights and trademarks are very distinct. Generally, copyrights protect original works of authorship (e.g., music, books, art, movies, etc.), and trademarks serve as source identifiers to convey the origin of goods or services […]
Continue Reading →Particularly within the patent industry, it is common to see that an employment agreement contains a provision where an employee agrees to assign the rights in any future inventions developed during the course of employment to the employer. Provided the prevalence of assignments filed in patent applications, inventors and patent owners should be aware as […]
Continue Reading →Shine Muscat grapes are a premium grape variety originally developed in Japan. They are particularly desirable because they are large, seedless, and have a high sugar content. Depending on location, the grapes can cost around 6,000 yen per pound (approximately $54 USD per pound), nearly 30 times the price of average green grapes in the […]
Continue Reading →The race for the most gold medals during the 2020 Summer Olympics (informally “Tokyo 2020” and more formally “the Games of the XXXII Olympiad”) has now come to a close, and what a spectacle it was! Individuals, news outlets, and official Olympic sponsors are generally free to post and tweet about the games and athletes […]
Continue Reading →On July 22, 2021, in Chemours Company FC, LLC v. Daikin Industries, Ltd. (“Chemours v. Daikin”), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) reversed a decision made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). In two inter partes reviews (“IPRs”) filed by Daikin Industries, Ltd. (“Daikin”), the PTAB held […]
Continue Reading →One issue that has not been greatly addressed with respect to student-athletes being able to monetize on their rights of publicity (i.e., name, image, and likeness – NIL) is how will universities and colleges monitor the use of their intellectual property (IP). Universities are very protective of their trademarks, copyrights, and any IP that is […]
Continue Reading →Following Apple’s introduction of its Memoji software in 2018, a company by the name of Social Technologies filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. The basis for this lawsuit arose out of Social Tech’s registered MEMOJI trademark. Social Tech had filed an intent-to-use trademark application for MEMOJI […]
Continue Reading →As directed by the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”), on Thursday, July 8, 2021, the US Copyright Office (the “Office”) released a public report to recommend best practices for the Mechanical Licensing Collective (“MLC”) to effectively match copyright owners with unclaimed royalties for musical works, and ultimately reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties. Unclaimed royalties are […]
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