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What is Not Protected by Copyright Law?
It is well established that copyright protection extends to literary, musical, dramatic, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures, sound records and architectural work. There are...
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Franchise Industry Focuses Heavily on Veterans
The franchise industry, and its trade association, the International Franchise Association, continues to heavily promote franchising for veterans in the VetFran program. The IFA recently introduced...
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Loss of Trademark Rights Through Naked Licensing
Owners of valuable trademarks and service marks routinely focus on protecting those rights against unauthorized use by others. However, less attention is paid to the potential for inadvertent loss of...
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A New Twist on Trademark Licenses in Bankruptcy
What happens when a company takes a license to manufacture and sell a product under another’s mark, only to discover later that the licensor has entered bankruptcy? Can the bankrupt estate reject the...
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Comment Period Extended for Applications for New Generic Top-Level Domains
As explained in prior posts, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) is making available new generic top-level domains which include different types of words in different...
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When No Means No – Not in a Reexamination
On July 31, 2012, in 01 Communique Laboratory, Inc. v. LogMeIn, Inc., the United States Circuit Court for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”), reversed a decision of noninfringement issued by...
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Franchisors Need to Exercise Caution to Avoid Vicarious Liability
Individuals injured at franchise locations often attempt to sue the franchisor, in addition to the franchisee, claiming the franchisor is vicariously liable for the injury. (The franchisor often has...
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Monetary Damages for Copyright Infringement
The Copyright Act provides a variety of relief for a copyright owner. Injunctive relief, impoundment, seizure and destruction are available in addition to monetary damages. The copyright owner may...
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One Pill Makes You Larger and One Pill Makes You Smaller
Pharmaceuticals make up a big part of our health-care system and a major contributor to the growth in health-care costs. According to one study, purchases of prescription drugs rose from $12 billion...
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Can You Hear Me Now: Part Deux?
What happens when a small company backed by a big investor is “kicked to the curb” by the Phone Company? Throw in a multiple-year courtship of that company gone bad along with a preemptive suit by the...
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Additional Provisions of New U.S. Patent Law are Now in Effect
When the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act became law on September 16, 2011, some of its provisions went into effect immediately, others were scheduled to take effect on the first anniversary of the...
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Franchisees Should Consider Negotiating the Renewal Provisions of Their...
Virtually all franchise agreements contain provisions governing renewal; many require the franchisee to renew only by entering into the “then-current” franchise agreement offered by the franchisor....
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Capri Jewelers: Trademark Reminders
On October 2, 2012, Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an order granting a preliminary injunction to Richmond-area jeweler BFI Holdings, dba Capri...
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Reviewing the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011
Clients and lawyers who handle intellectual property disputes in federal court regularly face jurisdiction and venue issues in such cases. In order to address such issues, it is important to be...
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Trademark Licenses and Bankruptcy
The principle categories of intellectual property under U.S. law include patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. However, the definition of intellectual property under the Bankruptcy Code...
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Veterans Business Fund
The International Franchise Association (“IFA”) has launched the Veterans Business Fund. This fund’s mission is to provide low interest loans to veterans interested in starting a business....
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Trade Secrets – The Other Intellectual Property
When our thoughts turn to protection or enforcement of intellectual property rights in technology, most of us think first of existing or potential patent rights in the technology. Trade secret rights...
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Narrow Fourth Circuit Reading Hampers Cybersecurity
In July of 2012, the Fourth Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit in adopting a narrow reading of one of the principal statutory tools for combatting computer and cybercrime, the Computer Fraud and Abuse...
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When Should Your Expert Be Skilled in the Art?
Seems like a basic question that answers itself: when you want the expert to opine on non-infringement positions, invalidity and scope of the prior art in a patent infringement case, your expert should...
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Investing in a New Franchise – Always Riskier but Worth the Risk?
Investing in a new franchise concept is inherently more risky than investing in an established franchisor. Established franchisors have a track record of (hopefully) successful operations, have (more...
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