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Goodbye Majestic Yosemite Hotel, Welcome Back Ahwahnee Hotel

By Josh H. Escovedo on July 18, 2019

A few years ago, when the concessionaire for Yosemite National Park (the “Park”), Delaware North, was informed that the Park planned to consider other concessionaires, such as Aramark, Delaware North responded in shocking fashion. Delaware North responded that if it was going to be replaced as the concessionaire, it intended to take the Park’s intellectual property (the “IP”), such as the Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, with it unless it was paid $51 million for…

The IP Law Blog

Supreme Court Decision Will Have Huge Economic Impact on Trademark Infringement Damages

By Scott Hervey on July 11, 2019

The Supreme Court has agreed to resolve a circuit split over when a court can order the payment of an infringer’s profits to a successful plaintiff as a measure of damages. The matter comes to the Supreme Court as an appeal from the Second Circuit decision in Romag Fasteners Inc. v. Fossil Inc. et al. In that case, the jury at the lower court found that Fossil had infringed Romag’s patent and trademark rights in…

The IP Law Blog

Federal Circuit Sets Higher Standard for Early Alice Motions

By Eric Caligiuri on July 5, 2019

In Cellspin Soft, Inc. v. Fitbit, Inc. et. al., the Federal Circuit recently held that a lower court wrongly invalidated four patents under Alice because they contain an inventive concept. The four patents at issue share the same specification and generally relate to connecting a data capture device, e.g., a digital camera, to a mobile device so that a user can automatically publish content from the data capture device to a website. Defendants had moved…

The IP Law Blog

Web Domains and The Forgotten Tort of Trespass to Chattels

By James Kachmar on June 27, 2019

California case law over the last few years is replete with instances where a new and/or small business has one of their employees take responsibility for various IT activities such as setting up the company website and/or email domains. Disputes arise when that employee leaves for other employment and refuses to give the former employer access to the business domain and/or emails. This is what happened in the recent case, Pneuma International, Inc. v. Cho,…

The IP Law Blog

When is an Invention Obvious?

By Audrey A Millemann on June 20, 2019

To be patentable, an invention must satisfy two key requirements, as determined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). First, the invention must be novel. This means that the same invention cannot have been disclosed in a single prior art reference. The prior art is all of the publicly available information that existed before the date the patent application was filed. Second, the invention must not have been obvious to a (hypothetical) person skilled…

The IP Law Blog

Supreme Court: Federal Government Cannot Challenge Patents in PTAB

By Audrey A Millemann on June 13, 2019

The validity of a patent can be challenged in four different types of proceedings: ex parte reexamination, inter partes review, post grant review, and covered business method review. An ex parte reexamination is initiated by any person or by the PTO’s director to request that the PTO internally reexamine the claims of the patent based on prior art. The other three proceedings were established by the America Invents Act. These proceedings are conducted by the…

The IP Law Blog

Potential Copyright Owners Beware: Make Sure Your Copyright Registrations Are Accurate!

By James Kachmar on June 6, 2019

Normally, a copyright registration certificate constitutes “prima facie evidence of the validity of a copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.” 17 U.S.C. §410(c). But what happens if that certificate contains knowingly inaccurate information? The purported copyright owner could face not only invalidation of the copyright, but the inability to pursue copyright infringement claims or risk an award of attorney’s fees against them if they do so. This was the result in a…

Trusts & Estates Law Blog

Focus on Fiduciaries: What Fiduciaries Need to Know About the Attorney-Client Privilege

By Mary deLeo on June 4, 2019

Last month, my Weintraub colleagues and I had the pleasure of speaking at the Professional Fiduciary Association of California annual conference on the topic of the attorney-client privilege and its application to clients serving in a fiduciary capacity (trustee, executor, conservator, agent, etc.). Most people have a cursory understanding of what the attorney-client privilege does – it keeps communications between clients and their attorneys confidential and free from discovery, which fosters honest and complete communication…

The Labor & Employment Law Blog

The Request and Use of Background Checks by California Employers

By Shauna N. Correia on May 31, 2019

By: Shauna Correia and Nicholas Ma Many employers routinely conduct background checks of potential and current employees. It comes to no surprise that in the current digital age, employers can obtain extensive background information on applicants and employees quicker than ever from third party reporting companies. However, employers must remain vigilant to avoid receiving information prohibited under federal, state, and local laws, and to follow the proper procedures. To read the full article, please click…

The IP Law Blog

Although the Battle of King’s Landing is Over and the Game of Thrones has Ended, the War to Protect HBO’s Intellectual Property Rages on

By Josh H. Escovedo on May 30, 2019

If your heart is beating and your lungs are taking in oxygen, you know that Game of Thrones recently reached its epic conclusion. It’s sad, but true. After eight glorious seasons, the most watched television series in history has ended. Even as I put the words to paper, or rather, this Word document, it doesn’t seem real. For those of you who haven’t watched the series, you probably think I’m being melodramatic. But loyal Thrones…

Weintraub Tobin

Weintraub Tobin Blogs

Blog Authors

Goodbye Majestic Yosemite Hotel, Welcome Back Ahwahnee Hotel

Supreme Court Decision Will Have Huge Economic Impact on Trademark Infringement Damages

Federal Circuit Sets Higher Standard for Early Alice Motions

Web Domains and The Forgotten Tort of Trespass to Chattels

When is an Invention Obvious?

Supreme Court: Federal Government Cannot Challenge Patents in PTAB

Potential Copyright Owners Beware: Make Sure Your Copyright Registrations Are Accurate!

Focus on Fiduciaries: What Fiduciaries Need to Know About the Attorney-Client Privilege

The Request and Use of Background Checks by California Employers

Although the Battle of King’s Landing is Over and the Game of Thrones has Ended, the War to Protect HBO’s Intellectual Property Rages on

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