10.05.20
In Craft Smith, LLC v. EC Design, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, ruled that a knockoff version of a personal organizer did not infringe the original organizer’s overall design.
09.30.20
On September 22, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a long-awaited proposed rule for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
09.10.20
On September 9, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 1867 which is effective immediately and codifies Executive Order N-51-20 related to sick leave for food sector workers, and establishes supplemental paid sick leave for certain workers not covered by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
09.01.20
In Dana-Farber Cancer Institute v. Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., the Federal Circuit held that publication of a part of a complicated invention did not automatically preclude joint inventorship of that invention.
08.28.20
Pursuant to New York State’s inaugural Sick Leave Law, effective September 30, 2020, employees of all New York employers may begin accruing sick leave.
08.25.20
In U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., the Supreme Court held, in an 8-1 decision, that a generic word combined with the top-level domain “.com” can be a federally protectable trademark if it has secondary meaning to consumers.
08.20.20
On August 13, 2020, the Supreme Court of California issued its decision in Facebook, Inc. v. Superior Court (Lance Touchstone), S245203, which examines the enforceability of third-party subpoenas issued by criminal defendants in California.
08.18.20
In Akeva L.L.C., v. Nike, Inc., the Federal Circuit held that a disclaimer in a specification that excluded a particular embodiment prevented later claims in the continuation patents from claiming the excluded embodiment, thereby breaking the priority chain.
07.29.20
On July 28, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a public notice clarifying its prior guidance regarding the types of COVID-19-related communications that fall within the “emergency purposes” exception to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
07.28.20
In Blumenthal Distrib. Inc. d/b/a Office Star v. Herman Miller, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, held that the overall appearance of Herman Miller Inc.’s Eames chairs was eligible for trade dress protection because it was not functional.