Google v. Oracle: Silicon Valley Braces for "Lawsuit of the Decade" as Google Petitions for Cert to decide API Copyrightability Posted on March 13, 2019 Petition for Writ of Certiorari, Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., 886 F.3d 1179 (Fed. Cir. 2018), No.18-956. Petition hosted by Reuters. In January of 2019, Google petitioned for certiorari in Google LLC v Oracle America, Inc. The case concerned a copyright infringement claim filed by Oracle against Google for use of the Java API in Android smartphones. Oracle seeks damages that could...
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Musical.ly (Tik-Tok) to pay $5.7 million to settle FTC allegations that it violated COPPA Posted on March 11, 2019 The social media video sharing app Musical.ly (Tik-Tok) agreed to pay a $5.7 million settlement in response to allegations of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), which requires websites and other online services to obtain parental consent before collecting the personal information of children under the age of 13. The Department of Justice filed the FTC’s complaint on...
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President Trump Issues Executive Order to Maintain American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Posted on March 06, 2019 Exec. Order No. 13,859, 84 Fed. Reg. 3967 (February 14, 2019). On February 11, 2019, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at establishing America’s place as the global leader in artificial intelligence technology. Largely following up on the recommendations of the 2018 White House Summit on Artificial Intelligence for American Industry, it marks the launch of the American AI...
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Helsinn Healthcare S. A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA: Supreme Court Rules Secret Sales Could Bar Patent Eligibility Under the America Invents Act Posted on March 05, 2019 In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Federal Circuit’s interpretation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act’s (“AIA”)  “on-sale” provision, 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) (2018), in response to Helsinn Healthcare S. A.’s patent infringement claim against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. The Federal Circuit’s decision reversed the District Court’s previous ruling that an invention is “on-sale” only if...
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Disinformation and ‘Fake News’: Final Report: UK Parliamentary Committee Releases a Report on Disinformation Posted on February 27, 2019 Dɪɢɪᴛᴀʟ, Cᴜʟᴛᴜʀᴇ, Mᴇᴅɪᴀ ᴀɴᴅ Sᴘᴏʀᴛ Cᴏᴍᴍɪᴛᴛᴇᴇ, Dɪꜱɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ‘ꜰᴀᴋᴇ ɴᴇᴡꜱ’: Fɪɴᴀʟ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ, 2019-8, HC 1791 (UK). On February 18, 2019, the UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee published the Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report (“Report”). The Report “denounces” Facebook and other big tech companies as “‘digital gangsters’ in the online world” that are “ahead of and beyond the...
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Ferguson v. Epic Games: Hip-Hop Dance, Copyright, and Fortnite Posted on February 25, 2019 Second Amended Complaint, Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-10110 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 8, 2019), complaint hosted by Bloomberg Law. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-10110 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 11, 2019), document hosted by Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C. Are dance moves protected by copyright? Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson, a professional rapper and the plaintiff in this...
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United Access Technologies LLC v. AT&T Corp.: Federal Circuit Partially Reverses Patent Claim Construction for Device Enabling Cable Signal Transmission Posted on February 20, 2019 United Access Technologies LLC v. AT&T Corp., Docket No. 17-02614 (Fed. Cir. Sept 26, 2017), opinion hosted by United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit official website. The Federal Circuit partly reversed the District of Delaware’s grant of summary judgment which held that AT&T and other telecom cable providers (“Defendants”) had not infringed upon patents for cable signal...
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Rosenbach v. Six Flags: Illinois Supreme Court Interprets Illinois Biometric Privacy Law Posted on February 18, 2019 Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., 2019 IL 123186 (Jan 25, 2019) On January 25, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the state’s appellate court’s ruling that  a mere technical violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), 740 ILL. COMP. STAT. 14 (2008), was insufficient to confer standing to sue and remanded the case to the circuit court...
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Mylan Pharm. v. Research Corp. Tech.: Federal Circuit Upholds Patentability of Epilepsy Drug Posted on February 14, 2019 Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Research Corporation Technologies, Inc., No. 17-2088 (Fed. Cir. 2019), opinion hosted by Justia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the patentability of a compound used to treat epilepsy against challenge from generic drug companies. Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Alan D. Lourie upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) ruling...
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Not So Fast: California Judge Denies Proposed Settlement in Class Action over Massive Data Breach at Yahoo Posted on February 12, 2019 In re: Yahoo Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-md-02752. In a Monday night decision on January 28, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of a class action settlement with Yahoo (now part of Verizon Communications Inc.)  over data breaches that occurred...
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