Intellectual Property

Companies Encouraged to Review Advertising Practices to Ensure Social Media Influencers are in Compliance

By Rashanda Bruce on June 17, 2019

Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to four companies using social media influencers to post on their behalf. According to the FTC and the FDA, the social media influencers’ posts were in violation of advertising and labeling laws due to misbranding and failure to disclose material information. The letters highlight the importance of companies following all advertising laws when using social media…

Patents Post-Grant

Post-Grant Buzz – Summer 2019

By Scott McKeown on June 17, 2019

Legislation & Continued Judicial Feedback There have been a number of developments in the courts, at the USPTO, and on the legislative side over the past few months. These developments, some of which have been discussed here at length — such as the 101 legislative effort — will continue to drive new patent strategies and concerns in the months ahead. Some quick thoughts, predictions, and some odds and ends as we head into the slower summer…

All About IP

German Federal Court of Justice Denies Compulsory License on Anti-Cholesterol Drug Patent

By Benjamin Beck & Christoph Crützen on June 17, 2019

On 4 June 2019, the German Federal Court of Justice upheld a ruling by the German Federal Patent Court in which the latter court denied an application for a compulsory license under a patent related to the treatment of cholesterol-related disorders (Case X ZB 2/19). This decision is in line with previous German jurisprudence that has, with a few exceptions, been restrictive to grant compulsory licenses.…

Trademark Opposition Lawyer

Trademark application opposed? Consider settlement

By James Hastings on June 17, 2019

It is important to consider your options prior to filing an Answer if your trademark application is opposed. Trademark Opposition. A trademark opposition is an inter-partes proceeding before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Any third-party may file a notice of opposition against a trademark on one or more several grounds. These include that the applied for mark is: likely to cause confusion with the Opposer’s preexisting registered mark or common law rights; merely…

Best Patent Blog

Inventorship: Be Ever Aware of Who Owns What

By mjschmitt444 on June 17, 2019

Inventorship remains the touchstone of who owns patentable technology. Yet inventorship remains, at times, one of the most perplexing and contentious aspects of patent law. Case in point is the recent 111-page decision in Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, Inc. v. Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., et. al, Case No. 15-13443, by Judge Saris in the United States District Court in Massachusetts. On May 17, 2019, Judge Saris ordered that two American scientists, Gordon Freeman and Clive Wood,…

Trading Secrets

“A Very Tortured Argument”—Lawyer Cannot Use Bar Membership to Skirt a Bargained-For Restrictive Covenant in the Sale of a Non-Legal Business

By Erik Weibust & Anne Dunne on June 17, 2019

While it is well-settled law that an attorney cannot be bound by an agreement restricting the right to practice law, that does not insulate attorneys from all restrictive covenants. As we have previously discussed, there are exceptions to this rule, as a Massachusetts attorney recently learned the hard way. …

Delaware Intellectual Property Litigation

Chief Judge Stark Grants Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration of Portion of Court’s Claim Construction Order

By Gregory B. Williams on June 17, 2019

By Memorandum Order entered by The Honorable Leonard P. Stark in Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. v. Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Inc. et al., Civil Action No. 17-275-LPS (D.Del. June 12, 2019), the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration of the portion of the Court’s Claim Construction Order that determined that the term “kinetic steps” in claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 9,678,056 is indefinite. Initially, the Court concluded that “claim 1 ‘requires that the enzymatic…

LimeGreenIP News

Amsterdam: Seminar ‘Protect Your Data!’ – 2 July 2019

By Joke Bodewits & Ruud van der Velden on June 17, 2019

Data forms the cornerstone of the current economy. Being in control of you data is key. Last year, the GDPR and the EU Trade Secrets Directive created the legal framework for the protection of the most important data in a company: personal data and trade secrets. Following the recent successful edition in Dutch, our Amsterdam office will host the seminar ‘Protect Your Data!’ in English on Tuesday 2 July 2019. Joke Bodewits and Ruud van der Velden…

Chicago IP Litigation

Restriction of Trademark Class of Goods Requires Proof that the Restriction Avoids Confusion

By R. David Donoghue on June 17, 2019

Easton v. Primal Wear, Inc., No. 17 C 6081, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Mar. 29, 2019) (Tharp, J.). Judge Tharp denied the plaintiffs’ (collectively “Primal Mode”) Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 motion for summary judgment and defendant Primal Wear’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) & (6) motion to dismiss in this Lanham Act trademark infringement and unfair competition case involving Primal Mode’s PRIMAL MODE marks and Primal Wear’s PRIMAL and PRIMAL WEAR marks. Of particular…

Journal of Business & Intellectual Property Law

Forty-eight states have filed lawsuits against Purdue Pharma

By Journal of Business & Intellectual Property Law at WFU on June 15, 2019

By: Mary Jasperse, Summer Blogger In 2017, The New Yorker published an expose on the Sackler Family and their company, Purdue Pharma, that blew the top off of a modern American scandal. This entrepreneurial family became one of the wealthiest in America, amassing a net worth of over thirteen billion dollars in a matter of years. The key to their success has been OxyContin, an oxycodone pain medication chemically similar to morphine. Though…