MoMA v. MOMACHA: SDNY Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Café for Trademark Infringement Posted on December 12, 2018 Opinion & Injunction, The Museum of Modern Art v. MoMaCha IP LLC et al, No. 1:18-cv-03364 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 28, 2018), opinion hosted by IPWatchdog. The Museum of Modern Art (“Museum”) prevailed in its efforts to preliminarily enjoin a New York City café from using marks the Museum alleges infringe on its “MoMA” trademark. MOMOCHA Café (“Café”) may no longer use...
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Rosenbach v. Six Flags: Oral Arguments Heard on Case Determining Standing Under Illinois Biometric Privacy Law Posted on December 10, 2018 Oral Argument, Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., No. 123186 (Ill. 2018). On November 20, 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Rosenbach v. Six Flags, its first case concerning the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). At issue is whether a person whose biometric data has been inappropriately collected in violation of BIPA has standing to sue...
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NuVasive Breathes a Sigh of Relief: A More Favorable Standard for the Nexus Between NuVasive’s Patent and a Novel Spinal Surgical Method Posted on December 07, 2018 NuVasive, Inc., v. Andrei Iancu, 2017-1666 (CAFC Nov. 9, 2018), hosted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) issued a nonprecedential opinion for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) to reconsider their holding invalidating the patent of NuVasive, Inc. (“NuVasive”) covering a surgical access system used...
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A Step Forward for Federal Privacy Legislation Posted on December 05, 2018 Consumer Data Protection Act, SIL18B29, 115th Cong. § 2 (2018) In the wake of major scandals like 2017’s Equifax data breach and 2018’s Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica breach, Americans are increasingly conscious of the threat that big data poses to privacy. While consumers are most wary of companies’ misuse of and inability to protect their data, roughly half of Americans also...
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Class Action Suits Challenge Facebook, Google Over Location Tracking Posted on November 28, 2018 Tech giants Facebook, Google, and Apple harvest massive profits from the personal data that smartphone users share with them. Several recent lawsuits filed in California allege that these companies are reaping more than consumers intended. Individuals from several states have filed a flurry of class action lawsuits against some of the world’s biggest tech companies for the misrepresentation of how...
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Blackbird Tech v. Niantic: District Court Finds Geolocation Methods for Virtual Reality Games Are Not “Abstract Ideas” Posted on November 26, 2018 Blackbird Tech. LLC v. Niantic, Inc., No. 17-cv-1810-RGA, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186629 (D. Del. Oct. 31, 2018). On October 31, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware refused to dismiss a case against Pokémon GO software developer Niantic, Inc. In the case, Blackbird Technologies sued Niantic for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent No. 9,802,127 (“the ‘127 patent”)...
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FTC v. Qualcomm: Standard Essential Patent Holders Must License to Competitors Posted on November 19, 2018 Federal Trade Commission v. Qualcomm, Inc., No. 17-CV-00220-LHK (N.D.Cal. Nov. 06, 2018) On November 6, 2018, the Northern District of California Judge Lucy H. Koh granted a motion for partial summary judgment in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in its lawsuit against Qualcomm, Incorporated (“Qualcomm”). The FTC brings its Complaint against Qualcomm under § 5 of the Federal...
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Copyright Office’s Ruling on Exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Allowing Consumers, Repairers, and Hackers to Fix their Own Devices Posted on November 14, 2018 Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies, 83 Fed. Reg. 54010 (Oct. 26, 2018) (to be codified at 37 C.F.R. pt. 201). Summary of Ruling: https://www.copyright.gov/1201... In reviewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), the United States Copyright Office, a subsidiary of the Library of Congress, ruled on changes to section 1201. The ruling...
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Led Zeppelin’s “Stair”-ing Contest Heads Back to Court Posted on November 12, 2018 Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, No. 16-56057 (9th Cir. Sep. 28, 2018). In what must surely be uplifting news for Michael Skidmore—trustee of late psych-rocker and Spirit band member Randy Wolfe—the Ninth Circuit has partially vacated the Central District of California’s ruling in a much-discussed 2016 copyright lawsuit contesting the originality of Led Zeppelin’s rock classic “Stairway to Heaven.” The 2016 case...
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United States v. Glover: Lynda Hacking Indictments Hit Pair Behind Massive Uber Breach Posted on November 07, 2018 Indictment, United States v. Brandon Charles Glover and Vasile Mereacre, No. 5:18-cr-00348-LHK (N.D. Cal. Aug. 2, 2018) https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5021170-Lynda-indictment.html The two hackers behind Uber’s large 2016 data breach face felony charges for a separate hack compromising the data of 90,000 Lynda.com users, according to a recently unsealed indictment. Brandon Glover and Vasile Mereacre were indicted in the Northern District of California...
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