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 […]
Written by: Fritz Wetzel, Ph.D. Last year, the German Federal Patent Court concluded that Merck is entitled to a compulsory license from Shinogi to continue the sale of its HIV medicine Isentress®. The written reasoning for that decision is now available. This is the first time that the Federal Patent Court granted a compulsory license […]
Written by: Fritz Wetzel, Ph.D. This article first appeared in the April 4, 2018 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin have become household terms. Bitcoin’s unprecedented run to $20,000 (and back down again), along with similarly impressive gains by other cryptocurrency, has created a horde of so called crypto-millionaires. But how many […]
Written by: Brett J. Rosen Apple will soon return to court to continue its legal battle with Samsung over Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s iPhone design. The latest chapter of this saga concerns the proper methodology for calculating damages that Samsung must pay to Apple for infringing Apple’s design patents. As background to this case, a […]
Written by: Michael P.F. Phelps Raise your hand if you think 35 U.S.C. §101 has gotten too big for its britches! Raise your hand if you think Section 101 needs to move over and let Sections 102, 103 and 112 do their jobs! Raise your hand if you’re tired of subjective and inconsistent patent decisions! […]
TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC Written by: Christopher H. Blaszkowski This article first appeared in the June 1, 2017 edition of the Legal Intelligencer. Over the past decade or so, litigious non-practicing entities (also known as “patent trolls”) expressed a keen preference to litigation in the Eastern District of Texas (E.D. […]
In a second Intellectual-Property-related decision in as many days, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling on March 22, 2017, in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc. et al. (No. 15-866), confirming that copyright protection extends to pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works regardless of whether they were created as freestanding art or as […]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decisive ruling today in SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC (No. 15-927), eliminating the defense of laches in patent cases. This ruling continues the Supreme Court’s recent trend of overturning Federal Circuit precedent. Laches is an equitable defense in which a plaintiff is barred from […]
Apple’s design patent suit against Samsung certainly has earned its newsworthy status. Take the two biggest players in the booming smartphone market, lock them in protracted and heated battle, and slap one with a staggering $400 million in damages, and you have the makings for the design patent case of the century. In fact, this […]
