Intellectual Property

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, Cleveland Roller Derby filed suit against the Cleveland Guardians Baseball Company, LLC, which is the entity formerly known as the Cleveland Indians Baseball Company, over its intent to rebrand the baseball team as the Cleveland Guardians. According to Cleveland Roller Derby’s complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, there cannot be two Cleveland Guardian teams in Cleveland, and it was the first. As a result, it is seeking an injunction precluding the baseball team from using the trademark. According to Cleveland Roller Derby, a non-profit entity, despite being valued at over $1 billion, the baseball team is trying to bulldoze the roller derby team’s superior trademark rights to the Guardians name.

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On September 30, 2021, the United State Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided a much-anticipated copyright reversion case involving the slasher franchise, Friday the 13th.  This case concerns the claim for copyright reversion made by Victor Miller, the screenwriter of Friday the 13th, seeking the reversion to the rights in the screenplay to the popular horror film.  The case is aptly entitled Horror Inc v. Victor Miller.

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Willful patent infringement can result in enhanced, and in some case treble, damages but not in every instance. Because the standard for finding willful infringement has traditionally been lower than that for enhancing damages, a finding of willful infringement does not guarantee an award of enhanced damages.  However, a 2019 Federal Circuit opinion caused confusion, suggesting the standards were essentially the same.  SRI Int’l, Inc.  v. Cisco Sys., Inc. (“SRI II”) 930 F.3d 1295 (Fed. Cir. 2019).  In SRI Int’l, Inc.  v. Cisco Sys., Inc. (“SRI III”) (Fed. Cir. 2021), the Federal Circuit acknowledged the confusion and clarified these standards.

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In a recent case, Bell v. Wilmott Storage Services, LLC, decided September 9, 2021, the Ninth Circuit clarified the role that the de minimis concept plays in copyright infringement cases.  In essence, the Ninth Circuit explained that de minimis goes to the amount of copying of a copyrighted work as opposed to any de minimis use or display of any such a work.

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There are many requirements for obtaining a patent.  One of those is the written description requirement.  Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §112(a), the patent must describe the invention in writing.  If the written description requirement is not met, the patent won’t be granted.  If the patent has already been issued, it can be invalidated for failure to satisfy the written description requirement.  Recently, in Juno Therapeutics, Inc. v. Kite Pharma, Inc., 2021 U.S. App. LexIs 25706 (Fed. Cir. 2021), a damage award of $1.2 billion for patent infringement was reversed for just this reason.

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In In re: OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., case number 2021-165, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit validated a possible framework for courts and plaintiffs in patent cases to significantly speed up the process of serving complaints on foreign defendants.

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