John C. Laurence Legal Blog
Substantial similarity as copyright infringement
You put a lot of hard work into your artistic endeavors. You’ve probably put a lot of effort into how you want to express yourself and present a message, while at the same time being as uniquely creative as possible. While copyright protection is automatically endowed...
Should I register my copyright?
Today, you made something special. An amazing new character for your graphic novel or maybe the next most popular song. This is going to be a hit. Did you know that your creations have an automatic copyright? Yes, your work is protected and recognized as originally...
Protecting Individual Replacement Parts
In Automotive Body Parts Ass’n v. Ford Global Techs. (Fed. Cir. 2019), Ford accused the Automotive Body Parts Association (ABPA) of infringing Ford’s design patents that cover individual parts of Ford’s F-150 truck. The ABPA argued that the patented designs are...
Predictability and Criticality as Factors in the Evaluation of a Patent Specification
The Court of Appeals vacated the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in In Re Global IP Holdings (Fed. Cir. 2019), instructing the Board to include predictability and criticality as factors to consider in determining whether Global IP’s written description...
Supreme Court Finds Bar on Scandalous and Immoral Trademarks Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court has upheld the Federal Circuit’s decision in In re Brunetti, 877 F.3d 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2017) holding that the provision of the Lanham Act that bars the registration of “immoral or scandalous” trademarks violates the First Amendment. Iancu v. Brunetti,...
Bankruptcy and Trademark License Agreements
In Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v Tempnology, LLC (Supreme Court 2019), the Supreme Court addressed whether a rejection by a licensor in a bankruptcy proceeding “terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor’s breach under applicable...
USPTO Issues Examination Guidance for Cannabis and Cannabis-Related Marks
The 2018 Farm Bill amended the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (AMA) to remove “hemp” from the Controlled Substances Act’s (CSA) definition of marijuana. “Hemp” itself is defined as “the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds...
In re Morinville: Computer Generated Business Organization Not Patentable
In the case of In re Morinville, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Court”) affirmed on appeal the decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) to reject all the claims of U.S. Patent Application No. 11/003,557 (“Application”). As shown below,...