Cybersquatters may violate federal law even if they aren’t the original registrants of the challenged domain, according to a ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a matter of first impression, the Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Where a patent holder previously filed five patent infringement suits in the Eastern District of Texas against purchasers of “high pressure fuel injection valves,” a suit brought by the manufacturer of those valves, seeking a declaration of non-infringement, was transferred ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. U.S. District Court - Eastern District

“Silence is of different kinds, and breathes different meanings.” — “Villette” by Charlotte Brontë Silence is not disclosure, except when it is. This year, the Federal Circuit decided multiple patent cases addressing negative claim limitations and the meaning of silence. ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Patent and trademark

In an issue of first impression, the court held that although a company was not the initial registrant of the relevant domain name, it could nonetheless be held liable for cybersquatting because the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, or ACPA, encompasses ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Intellectual Property Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Timberland boots have an iconic look that has been copied by numerous competitors. That didn’t stop a federal court from upholding the USPTO’s denial of an application seeking registration of several specific features of one of its boots as a ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Claude M. Hilton U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the company that makes Timberland boots argued that eight specified features of one of its boots qualified for a trademark, but the evidence showed that the features were functional, the boots were ineligible for registration under the Lanham Act. ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Claude M. Hilton U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where the Fourth Circuit has not yet recognized the “unlawful use doctrine” as a valid affirmative defense to actions for trademark infringement, and there is a split among other circuits to decide the issue, the court declined to consider the ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Even though a cybersecurity company stopped selling goods online using an unregistered mark years before a competitor registered a similar mark, its continued use of the mark online subjected it to liability for trademark infringement. Judge Claude M. Hilton of ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge Claude M. Hilton U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where each of five claims were directed to abstract ideas, and did not contain any inventive concept sufficient to transform the claims into patent-eligible subject matter, the claims were dismissed. Background In this patent infringement case, Volvo Penta of the ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge T.S. Ellis III U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Where owners of electronic skill-based games alleged that defendants purchased and used illicit versions of their games, the owners’ motion for default judgment on their Copyright Act claims was granted. But the owners were denied willful statutory damages because there ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property Judge David J. Novak U.S. District Court - Eastern District