On May 11, 2016, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 was signed into law and became effective immediately. The Act was passed overwhelmingly by Congress and creates a legal claim in federal court for theft or misappropriation of trade secrets. Most states have had trade secrets laws for years, but the federal law gives … Continued
Trademarks are registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (called the USPTO) as well as by state trademark offices. A federal trademark registration gives a trademark owner stronger enforcement rights than does a state registration. However, federal law places certain limits on the types of words, phrases, or symbols that may be registered … Continued
Bob Schuster and Brad Booke, along with Kris Koski of Cheyenne, Wyoming, have just successfully completed their representation of a Jackson, Wyoming restaurant known as “Bon Appe Thai,” in a federal court trademark infringement action against a Salt Lake City company that operated a restaurant using the name “Bon Appe-Thai.” The Jackson restaurant has been in business … Continued
Brief On June 18, the United States Patent and Trademark Office cancelled six trademark registrations owned by Washington D.C.’s National Football League franchise, because they use the word “Redskins.” The Trademark Office action was based on its finding that the word “Redskins” is disparaging to Native Americans — and the federal trademark law, called the … Continued
An administrative law judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled that Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. did not infringe three patents of Apple, Inc. in the production of several of its smartphones, according to a report in Law360. Apple had filed the challenge with the International Trade Commission in October of 2010 against a … Continued
Twitter, Inc. was denied summary judgment of the claims brought by a social networking patent holder, VS Technologies, LLC. In a decision rendered by Senior United States District Judge Henry Coke Morgan, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the claims by VS Technologies were permitted to proceed to … Continued
The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision on September 14, 2011, that emphasized the elements that must be established to maintain a successful copyright infringement suit. The case was brought by Airframe Systems, Inc. against L-3 Communications Corporation. Airframe had developed proprietary aircraft maintenance tracking software in 1979. By July of 2003, the … Continued
Stanley Ng was arrested in California on charges arising from the Southern District of New York on August 10, 2011. Mr. Ng, a former manager of Marvell Technology Group, was charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud by allegedly providing insider information about Marvell to a consultant at expert networking firm Primary … Continued