Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Did the Supreme Court Rule that the Copyright Act Bars Damages for Old Infringement – Or Was It Just Sloppy Drafting? 

It seems the Supreme Court will decide (again) whether a claim for copyright infringement can extend to infringement that occurred more than three years before filing suit. In Warner Chappell Music, Inc. v. Nealy, the Supreme Court will resolve a classic circuit split – the Second Circuit holding that no damages can be obtained for … Continue Reading

Podcast: SPB’s Joe Grasser Covers Art Appropriation with INDICAM

 Blog editor and partner in our IP group, Joe Grasser, covers one of the year’s most intriguing IP cases, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith et al, Case No. 21-869, as part of INDICAM’s podcast series “IPxSUMMER 2023 around the world”.  As many will recall, SCOTUS recently upheld a ruling that an … Continue Reading

Limiting the Reach of the Lanham Act: Supreme Court Vacates Substantial Monetary Damages Award Based On Foreign Conduct

The authors wish to thank Summer Associate Will Baker (Cleveland) for his work on this timely blog.  Trademark owners take note: In Abitron Austria GmbH et al. v. Hetronic International, Inc. the Supreme Court definitively ruled that Sections 1114(1)(a) and 1125(a)(1) of the Lanham Act are not extraterritorial and extend only to claims where the … Continue Reading

Central District of California:  Test Buys Do Not Create Specific Jurisdiction

A plaintiff has always been the “master” of a complaint, but such mastery is not unfettered. Principles of subject matter jurisdiction, proper venue, and personal jurisdiction restrict a plaintiff’s choice of forum. A trend of recent cases from the Supreme Court down through the lower courts continue to narrow that “mastery” that a plaintiff once … Continue Reading

The Nine Greatest Experts on the Internet, NOT! – The Supreme Court Considers the Algorithm in Google and Twitter

“You have the Truman Show versus a horror show,” said litigation legend Lisa Blatt during oral arguments in Gonzalez v. Google. Gonzalez is one of two cases recently decided by the Supreme Court dealing with the imposition of liability on websites that host user-generated content (UGC) for the actions of their users. But more broadly, … Continue Reading

No First Amendment Right to Confuse Consumers, High Court Holds

Today, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment will not protect an infringers’ use of a confusingly similar trademark for its goods – even if it is a humorous parody. Justice Kagan writing for the Court held that the First Amendment does not give infringers license to trade on the … Continue Reading

Supreme Court Holds Warhol’s “Orange Prince” Not Transformative, Not Fair Use

The Supreme Court recently upheld an appellate court’s ruling that Andy Warhol’s use of a photograph of Prince as a reference for a collection of screen prints is not fair use – to the extent his foundation decided to license them at least. In the weeks that followed, the Supreme Court’s decision in Andy Warhol … Continue Reading

Ninth Circuit: Commercial Brand Names Can Be Expressive Speech

In Punchbowl, Inc. v. AJ Press, LLC, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a trademark win for upstart news outfit Punchbowl News. In doing so, the court held that First Amendment protection extends to the names of commercial enterprises. This ground-breaking decision heralds the expansion of traditional fair use defenses to any trademark infringement claims where a … Continue Reading

Weekly Data Privacy Alert – 23 May 2016

Please click here to read the latest data privacy alert from the Squire Patton Boggs Data Protection & Cybersecurity team. This week’s alert covers news from: EU EU Council Adopts the Network and Information Security Directive The Court of Justice of the EU Advises that IP Addresses are Personal Data France The CNIL Publishes Blanket … Continue Reading
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