Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski This article first appeared in the January 10, 2019 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. In October 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a boon to patent challengers (also known as “petitioners” at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”)) in SAS Institute Inc. v. Iancu, holding that the PTAB must issue […]
Written by: Andrew J. Koopman This article first appeared in the October 3, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. When it comes to chocolate, taste is king, but appearance is not far behind. International candy manufacturer Nestlé S.A. has suffered a setback in its long-running effort to obtain trademark protection throughout the European Union for […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen With the advent of electrification, connectivity and autonomy in passenger vehicles, the automotive landscape is changing at a rapid pace. Many vehicles can communicate with other vehicles, detect pedestrians, drive without user intervention, observe driver behavior, and drive long distances on a single electrical charge. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in […]
Written by: Robert A. Esposito, Ph.D. Introduction The eligibility of software patents under 35 U.S.C. §101 has been an ongoing legal issue dating back to the early days of computers in the late 1960s. Prior to 2014, Patent Examiners rarely issued §101 rejections during prosecution of software-based patent applications. Furthermore, any such rejection was easily […]
Written by: Michael P.F. Phelps The U.S. automotive parts industry is a poster child for modern commercial globalization. Parts and assemblies are passed within and across borders from one supply tier to the next to feed automobile manufacturing plants around the world. The network is so vast and intermixed that it’s hard to pinpoint any […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen Move over Detroit. Many foreign auto manufacturers (e.g., Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes Benz, to name a few) and first tier suppliers have established automotive innovation centers in Silicon Valley (and elsewhere in the U.S.) to take advantage of the automotive revolution in the areas of autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity. […]
Written by: Joshua L. Cohen This article first appeared in the July 31, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Having just marked the centennial of the iconic Coke bottle, the time is ripe to reflect on Coca-Cola’s achievement in brand identity. With its unique design, the Coke bottle stood out among other colas and helped […]
Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski Today, by 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court reversed the Federal Circuit’s determination that WesternGeco was precluded from most of a nearly $100 million jury award. The Federal Circuit had previously determined that much of that jury award (approximately $93 million dollars) was attributable to foreign conduct and, as a result, […]
Written by: Friedrich Scheele 1. Introduction The “DIRECTIVE (EU) 2016/943 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure” provides for the harmonization of national trade secret regulations within the European Union. The German […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen This article first appeared in the May 29, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Export controls are laws and regulations that regulate and restrict the release of sensitive technologies and information to foreign countries and foreigners, both within and outside of the United States, for reasons of national security and […]
