On February 21, 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office issued an unusual ruling partially cancelling the copyright registration originally issued in September 2022, essentially cancelling any part of the work made by an AI machine. A new registration will be re-issued as to the portions in which the human authorship was confirmed, including the selection, coordination, …
Author: Yonaxis
8th Circuit Holds One Block Does Not Infringe Another
On January 24, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held in H&R Block, Inc. v. Block, Inc.,[1] that defendant Block’s trademark was not likely to confuse consumers as to source of the registered service mark of plaintiff H&R Block. This was not a unanimous decision, and one dissent was lodged, noting that …
9th Circuit Expands Service of Process Against Foreign Defendant
On November 14, 2022, in San Antonio Winery, Inc. v. Jiaxing Micarose Trade Co., Ltd.,[1] the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that process may be effected on a nonappearing foreign defendant in a trademark infringement suit through service upon the Director of the USPTO. This was a case of first impression and …
DOCX Filing Requirement to Begin for Patent Applications
Today is the date in which new patent applications under 35 U.S.C. §111(a) (i.e., any U.S. nonprovisional application) must be filed using the .DOCX format, which is the file extension format used for Microsoft Word documents, as announced by the USPTO in a blog posting on December 19, 2022. This has been in planning for …
9th Circuit Punches the First Amendment into the Bowl
The facts are as follows. The plaintiff, Punchbowl, Inc., is an online greeting card company, using and owning the PUNCHBOWL mark since 2006. The defendant AJ Press is the owner of PUNCHBOWL NEWS, an online subscription-based news blog focused on national politics and US government news. The “punchbowl” metaphor refers to an upside down Capitol …
Fair Use Not Found in Foreign Judgment Case
In the runup to the issuance of the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith,[1] which is due sometime in the spring 2023, which will deal with the major issue of transformative use as part of first factor in the four-factor test for fair use under U.S. …
Fed Circuit is Irritated by Renegade Judge Albright
In In re Apple Inc.,[1] the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted Apple’s petition for writ of mandamus ordering the judge presiding over its district court patent infringement case, Alan D. Albright, in the Western District of Texas, rule on its motion to transfer venue before disposition of any discovery on the merits. This …
Registered Trade Dress Protectible Even if Many Features of Product Design Are Functional
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on November 9, 2022, in SoClean, Inc. v. Sunset Healthcare Solutions, Inc.,[1] in a decision involving trade dress, a sub-category of trademark law. SoClean owned a registration for the trade dress of the sanitization devices under U.S. Trademark Reg. No. 6,080,195 (“’195 registration”). SoClean sued Sunset …
New Response Deadline Rule Soon to Take Effect
As part of the implementation of the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) of 2020, the new USPTO rule (formerly 37 C.F.R. §2.62(a)) to respond to trademark office actions will drop from the former six-month period to three months, with the option to file an extension of time to respond for an additional, and final, three months. …
Comments Due on §101 Patent Eligibility Guidance
Back in July 2022, the new Director of the USPTO, Kathi Vidal, announced that the USPTO would be seeking comments on its anticipated guidance on §101 patent-eligibility. The deadline for those comments is rapidly approaching on September 15, 2022. The announcement was made against the backdrop of the USPTO’s release of a report to Congress …