Tag: Patent Infringement

Can Design Patents Be Invalidated?

Suppose you have a design for an ornamental appearance of an article and start producing the article. Subsequently, you receive notice from an owner of a design patent that you are infringing their patent. You conduct a prior art search and find some references related to the design. Can you invalidate the design patent through … Continue Reading

QR codes with company logos can be a recipe for disaster – or a patent lawsuit

Say your company wants to run a new advertising campaign that includes a QR code for people to scan for additional information about your products or services. Not only that, but your creative team decides to go a step further and include your company logo in the middle of the QR code. You launch your … Continue Reading

Spring Cleaning: Decluttering From Recent Intellectual Property Detritus & Dusting Off Old Posts

Our favorite thing about spring [is] spring cleaning. It’s a way to say, “I’m dusting off the winter blues and coming out of hibernation.”… At the office, spring cleaning can take on a whole new meaning. It is a chance to reorganize and refresh your workspace and your workflow. Plus, organizing will actually improve your overall focus and … Continue Reading

Parties to exploratory agreements beware: Contractual restrictions on IPR patent challenges are enforceable!

On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that certain restrictions on the ability to challenge the validity of patents are enforceable. Without such restrictions, companies that are being targeted by patent owners do not have any restrictions on the various methods of how they can challenge the patents … Continue Reading

Outcome of Hermes Claim Against MetaBirkin NFT May Provide Glimpse of Future for Fashion, Art in Metaverse

Hermes recently sued a digital artist for knocking off its Birkin handbag through the issuance of MetaBirkin non-fungible tokens (“NFT”). For those not aware of the filing or related media attention, the artist created fuzzy images of the Hermes Birkin handbag and minted them as NFTs. NFTs are digital records of data stored on a … Continue Reading

Can Lawsuits under Breach of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Clauses Be Suspended Through Preliminary Injunction?

When civil disputes arise, in addition to seeking binding judgment through civil proceedings, parties can resolve the disputes through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms such as arbitration, settlement, and mediation.  To avoid the complexities of possible future litigation and expedite dispute resolution, parties to an agreement commonly include an “ADR clause” in their agreement such … Continue Reading

WIPO introduces new business online-service that provides evidence of an intellectual asset’s existence

On 27 May 2020 WIPO launched new online business service, WIPO PROOF1, that provides tamper-proof evidence of the existence at a point in time of any digital file, including data sets, in any format. The WIPO PROOF service generates tamper-proof evidence proving that a digital file existed at a specific point in time, and that … Continue Reading

Selling Your Products on US Online Marketplaces

Before you begin selling your products on a U.S. online marketplace like Amazon, Etsy or Rakuten, there are three intellectual property considerations to make: clearance, acquisition and enforcement. This article provides a summary of all three considerations and includes steps to take to help mitigate risk, decrease instances of infringers and position your product for … Continue Reading

Recent judgment from the CJEU may have consequences for preliminary injunctions in Denmark

In a recent judgment from The Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) in case C-688/17, the CJEU had the chance to provide an interpretation of adequate compensation contained in article 9(7) of Directive 2004/48 (the “enforcement directive”) and whether article 9(7) precludes a national legislation that provides that a party should not … Continue Reading

Can Design Patents Be Limiting in Enforcement?

Suppose that you have an invention disclosure for a design of an article that you want to protect?  When you review the invention disclosure, you notice that the design is ornamental, for example a pattern, on an article such as a chair.  You draft and file a design patent application on the pattern described as … Continue Reading

Information on Filed Applications for Registration of Drugs has Become Publicly Available in Russia

Under the Federal Law “On drugs circulation” (Law), information on state registration of drugs in Russia shall be publicly available. Pursuant to Art. 37(1) of the Law, MoH-s obligation is to disclose information regarding all filed applications for drug registration on its official website. For a long period, MoH used to turn a blind eye to … Continue Reading

Plant Breeder’s Rights in Australia: updated, amended and strengthened

Recent amendments to the PBR Act have strengthened PBR rights and have aligned aspects of PBR with other intellectual property laws in Australia. This article summarises the changes. The Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 1 and Other Measures) Act 2018 (Cth) (Amending Act) received Royal Assent on 24 August 2018 and makes significant changes … Continue Reading

Some Important Recent Developments Make Korea Friendlier to Foreign Companies Utilizing the Korean Patent System

Korean Court Makes Efforts to Create a More Patent-Friendly Environment. Although Korea has been very active in the development of intellectual property, Korea has a reputation for being relatively unfriendly to foreigners utilizing the Korean patent system. Korean courts have been trying to rectify this situation by changing the environment for patent protection and patent … Continue Reading

BLOCKING PATENTS CAN MOOT OBJECTIVE INDICIA OF NON-OBVIOUSNESS

In a recent precedential decision, a split Federal Circuit (Judges Dyk and Taranto in the majority, Judge Newman, dissenting) issued a lengthy, 53-page decision, regarding the obviousness doctrine.  Judge Taranto, writing for the majority, engaged in a fact-intensive analysis to determine that a ‘blocking patent’ mooted evidence of objective indicia of non-obviousness and found the … Continue Reading

IP Court restrained to sell and market a generic drug until the patent expiry

On 24 April 2018 the Intellectual Property Court published its Decision in case A41 85807/2016 between Swiss-based Novartis AG and local generic Nativa LLC. The IP Court’s position in this case may result in an extra defense granted for patent holders against unfair practice of registration of generics drugs until patent expiry.… Continue Reading

Korean Patent Court Finds: Use of Outback motel mark unfairly competes with mark for restaurant services

In a suit alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition, the Korean Patent Court concluded that the use of the mark “” in connection with “unmanned lodging services” used for so-called love motels with an image of a naked woman, did not infringe Outback Steakhouse’s trademark.  But it did constitute unfair competition because that use harmed … Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Sets the Bar Higher for Obtaining Damages for Design Patent Infringement

Bottom Line:  The Supreme Court’s decision sets the bar higher for design patent holders to recover for infringement and opens the door to apportionment of damages. Parties looking to file for design patents will likely consider claiming their patents more broadly, in order to avoid the specter of reduced damages in the event the design … Continue Reading

PLEADING PATENT INFRINGEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES?

How do you plead patent infringement in the United States?  Can you survive a motion to dismiss if the defendant challenges the sufficiency of your complaint?  What should you do? Let’s say your client has a United States patent that is believed to be infringed by another party.  You do not rely on the client … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Reverses Apple v. Samsung Design Patent Damages Award

On December 6, the Supreme Court reversed Apple’s $399 million patent infringement verdict against Samsung.  The decision – the first from the Supreme Court to interpret design patent damages since 1886 – arguably raises more questions than it answers. In a series of widely-publicized cases around the globe, Apple and Samsung have been battling over … Continue Reading

Australian Full Federal Court rules on rights of an exclusive licensee

A recent decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia (Bristol Myers Squibb Company v Apotex Pty Ltd [2015] FCAFC 2) has resolved uncertainty about the requirements for an exclusive licence of a patented invention. Legislation The Patents Act 1990 (Cth) provides that an exclusive licensee holds a licence from the patentee to exploit the … Continue Reading
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