Following up on an earlier blog post about the State of Georgia’s ability to copyright the annotations to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”), the U.S. Supreme Court finally weighed in last month. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion, which applied the government edicts doctrine in rejecting Georgia’s infringement challenge against a non-profit
Copyright Office Seeks Changes to Law To Help Copyright Owners
The U.S. Copyright Office recently called for changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”). Congress enacted 17 U.S.C. § 512 of the DCMA to balance the threat of liability for copyright infringement on online service providers with “the threat of rampant, low-barrier online infringement.” This was accomplished with the use of “safe harbors” for
Cancellations at USPTO, PTAB, TTAB, etc.
On Friday, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it was cancelling all in-person meetings — including all examiner interviews, all meetings between examiners and applicants, and all hearings before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). The USPTO noted that parties will receive further
Trademarks, Copyrights, and Patents
Sometimes it’s back to basics. This time, the simple difference between trademarks, copyrights, and patents. The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) provides guidance.
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of one party’s goods. A service mark is the same but for services, and can
Trick or Treat
Happy Halloween! It is the day (or week, for some) of the year where we venture out pretending to be something we are not. Some may choose to go for a classic costume like a ghost or witch. However, others want to dress up as their favorite character from a TV or movie. But these
How Does AI Impact TM & Copyright Law? USPTO Wants to Know.
As predicted, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has now extended its inquiry on the impact of artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies to copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property rights. Last month’s blog post on this topic explained that the USPTO had filed a Notice in the Federal Register seeking comments as to whether
Copyright for Annotations to Legal Text?
During this coming term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an interesting case involving the State of Georgia’s ability to copyright the annotations to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (“OCGA”). The issue is framed as follows: “Whether the government edicts doctrine extends to—and thus renders uncopyrightable—works that lack the force of law, such as
AI’s Role in Patents, TMs, & Copyrights
Late last month, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) issued a Notice seeking comments as to whether Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) can be considered an inventor on a patent. Its questions “are designed to cover a variety of topics from patent examination policy to whether new forms of intellectual property protected are needed.”
This
FTC’s Antitrust Guidelines for IP Licensing
Since 1995, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have maintained intellectual property licensing guidelines, most recently updated in 2017. Those guidelines, titled “Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property,” discuss how the FTC and DOJ evaluate licensing for patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and know-how and how they