“I googled it …” has become ubiquitous in every day conversation. Many of us refer to “googling” as the act of searching the internet regardless of whether we use the Google search engine to do so. But has our everyday use of the verb “googling” rendered the Google trademark unprotectable? “Nope,” said the Ninth Circuit
Everything Old is New Again!* Not So!
*This line is the title of a song written by Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager that was performed in Bob Fosse’s movie “All that Jazz.” The song was a hit, and the phrase has a lot of relevance to everyday life, but the Federal Circuit isn’t buying it.
In RecogniCorp, LLC v. Nintendo Co.
Lawsuits are the Inevitable Cost of YouTube Success
Whenever there is a report of a YouTube creator being sued for copyright infringement, the response from the creator and the community seems to be one of shock and surprise. The truth is, successful YouTube content creators should not be surprised when they get sued for copyright infringement. Any person or company that creates content
Unauthorized Downloading and Copyright Infringement
Liability for copyright infringement can result when one downloads protected software without the copyright owner’s authorization. The Ninth Circuit was recently tasked with exploring the scope and reach of copyright protection in such cases in Design Data Corp. v. Unigate Enterprise, Inc.
Design Data is the creator of a computer aided design (CAD) software program
Divided Infringement – Expanding Patent Infringement Liability
By Audrey Millemann
In 2015, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals cast the net of patent infringement liability even more broadly, to cover direct infringement by “divided” (or “joint”) infringement. Akamai Technologies, Inc. v. Limelight Networks, Inc., 797 F.3d 1020 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (“Akamai V”). In that case, the Federal Circuit established