Intellectual Property
Anthropic Copyright Settlement Provides Relief to Authors and Publishers, but Questions Still Remain
As artificial intelligence permeates our society, copyright law continues to protect the rights of authors and publishers against infringement by generative artificial intelligence systems and the companies who create them. Generally, copyright law protects creator’s rights to the works that they create. For published books, authors and publishers determine how a book is produced, distributed, […]
Trademark Modernization Act Provides New Tools to Cancel or Stop Trademark Registrations
The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (the Act), signed into law on December 27, 2020, will give trademark owners powerful new tools to cancel improperly granted trademark registrations and to stop pending registrations from being granted. By no later than December 27, 2021, the Act requires the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to implement […]
California and Europe Lead the Way on Data Privacy – More States to Follow
You may have heard that the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA is the first major attempt by a state government in the United States to regulate the use of consumer personal information. Following California’s lead, other states have started considering similar data privacy laws. The CCPA […]
Special Copyright Provisions for Certain Nonprofits
As discussed in our prior article, use of a copyrighted work by a nonprofit organization will not usually qualify as a fair use. However, several statutory provisions of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq.) allow certain nonprofit organizations to use copyrighted works without obtaining the copyright owner’s permission. Most of those provisions […]
Nonprofits and the Fair Use Defense
It is a common misconception that nonprofit organizations have special rights to use copyrighted works without permission. This misconception arises from the first fair use factor, which considers “the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.” As explained below, “nonprofit educational […]
Supreme Court to Hear “Not-So-Generic” Case Regarding Generic Trademarks
UPDATE: In an 8-1 decision, the Court found in favor of Booking.com and held that its trademark was entitled to registration (Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B. V.). The Court reasoned that since one entity can own an Internet domain name at the same time that a domain name can serve a source-indicating function […]
Supreme Court to Decide Epic 10-Year Copyright Infringement Case
UPDATE: In a 6-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of Google, holding that Google’s use of the Java API qualified as a fair use. The opinion is available here. The “copyright lawsuit of the decade” is finally coming to a conclusion, as the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to Google LLC v. […]
Proposed Legislation Would Create a Small Claims Court for Copyright Disputes
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would create a small claims court for copyright disputes. If enacted into law, the Case Act would create a dispute resolution system known as the Copyright Claims Board. The Copyright Claims Board would be housed within the U.S. Copyright Office and would be an alternate forum to […]
Beware of Copyright Trolls
Have you ever copied a photograph from a website thinking that the photograph was free to use? You may have thought this because the photograph did not contain a watermark or copyright notice. Maybe the photograph claimed that it was “royalty free,” and you assumed that meant it was free to use for no charge. […]
New Rule Requires U.S. Counsel to Represent Foreign Trademark Applicants and Registrants
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a new rule that requires foreign trademark applicants and registrants to be represented by an attorney licensed in the United States. Under the U.S. counsel rule, codified at 37 C.F.R. § 2.11(a), any trademark applicant or registrant domiciled outside of the United States must retain U.S. counsel to […]