Choosing a trademark can be an overwhelming task. There are many factors you need to take into account when finding the one that is perfect for your company. Additionally, there are also some highly common mistakes that are often made when trying to settle on this vital business decision. In this article, you will hopefully…

Originality is a constitutional requirement and is part of a two-prong test for copyrightability: (1) independent creation by the author and (2) minimal degree of creativity. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991). The level of creativity necessary for a work to qualify for copyright protection is very low. See…

Broad Claim Scope Survives Despite Single Embodiment Disclosure Holding that a patentee is entitled to claim scope covering an entire class of devices based on the patent disclosure describing one device of the class, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the grant of summary judgment of non-infringement based on a district…

Combination of Two Embodiments in a Single Reference Renders Claims Obvious Affirming the district court’s claim construction but holding that the court erred as a matter of law in failing to hold the patent obvious, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of judgment as a matter of…

Damages for Post-Infringement-Verdict Sales Are Affected by the Stay of Injunction Addressing the issue of damages for a post-infringement-verdict period, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the district court’s unexplained damage award, which trebled the per unit royalty rate for the post-verdict period, and remanded the damages issue for further consideration…

Federal Circuit Reinterprets Claims Based on Intrinsic Evidence Disagreeing with a district court’s interpretation that a “frame” in sunglasses included rims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a non-precedential decision, reversed a district court’s summary judgment of non-infringement as to one patent, but affirmed the grant of summary judgment of non-infringement…

Intent to Deceive Must be Shown by Clear and Convincing Evidence Addressing the issue of inequitable conduct during patent prosecution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s holding that the patentee’s alleged acts did not rise to the level of inequitable conduct. The court also affirmed the district court’s…

No Inequitable Conduct When Inferences Can Be Drawn Against such Finding Holding that the applicant is entitled to all reasonable inferences against the finding of inequitable conduct during patent prosecution, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the finding of inequitable conduct and the judgment that related patents are unenforceable and vacated…

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