Supreme Court Ruling In Pirate Ship Copyright Case Could Sink State Immunity

 

By Scott Hervey
IP Law Blog

The Supreme Court is set to hear the case of Allen v. Cooper which addresses the constitutionality of the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (“CRCA”). The purpose of the CRCA is to abrogate sovereign immunity enjoyed by States and State actors under the Eleventh Amendment for claims of copyright infringement. The CRCA provides as follows:

Any State, any instrumentality of a State,

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What Aretha Franklin’s Estate Teaches Us About the Pitfalls of Handwritten Wills

 

By Leslie R. Kolafa
Trusts & Estates Blog

Typically, only those of us who are trusts and estates attorneys geek out over the fascinating problems that handwritten wills create. But when those wills were written by a music icon worth $80 million, suddenly this topic is intriguing to a much broader audience. Aretha Franklin died on August 31, 2018. Her family was confident that she died without a will,

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Federal Circuit Holds IPR Proceedings on Pre-AIA Patents is Not an Unconstitutional Taking Under the Fifth Amendment

 

By Eric Caligiuri
IP Law Blog

In CELGENE CORPORATION v. PETER, the Federal Circuit recently affirmed the PTAB’s decisions finding appealed claims obvious. However, more importantly, the Federal Circuit also held that the retroactive application of IPR proceedings to pre-AIA patents is not an unconstitutional taking under the Fifth Amendment.

Regarding the constitutional issue of whether the retroactive application of IPRs to pre-AIA patents is an unconstitutional taking,

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