Intellectual Property

Often writers base characters on complete fiction, drawing from their imagination to build a character’s various facets. However, on certain occasions a writer may base a character on a living person. Sometimes such a portrayal is factual and other times it may be a combination of fact and fiction. Such was the case, claimed legendary actress Olivia de Havilland, in her lawsuit against FX Networks over her portrayal in the FX docudrama Feud: Bette and Joan.

Feud told the tale of the infamous silver screen ongoing battle between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. De Havilland claimed that Catherine Zeta-Jones’s portrayal of her in the show (which lasted all of 17 minutes) violated her right of publicity because she did not give the creators of Feud permission to use her name or identity. Additionally, de Havilland also claimed that FX portrayed her in a false light by taking certain creative liberties with the story (namely, the inclusion of a fictitious interview and the de Havilland character’s reference to her sister as a “bitch” when in fact the term she actually used was “dragon lady”).

At the trial court, FX filed a motion to strike the complaint based on California’s anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court denied FX’s motion. The trial court’s ruling presented a Catch-22 for those choosing to portray real persons in creative works. If the portrayal is done accurately and realistically (and without permission) this is grounds for a right of publicity lawsuit; if the portrayal is more creative or entirely fictitious, this could be grounds for a false light claim if the person portrayed doesn’t like the portrayal.

FX appealed to the California Court of Appeals. In a lengthy opinion, the court reverses the trial court’s decision and dismissed de Havilland’s case. By all means, the opinion is a clear endorsement of the First Amendment rights of television producers (and other creatives).

The First Amendment Trumps de Havilland’s Right of Publicity.

The court doesn’t answer the question whether a docudrama is a product or merchandise within the meaning of Civil Code section 3344. Rather, the court assumes “for argument’s sake that a television program is a ‘product, merchandise, or good’ and that Zeta-Jones’s portrayal of de Havilland constitutes a ‘use’ of de Havilland’s name or likeness within the scope of both the right of publicity statute and the misappropriation tort.” Feud, the court notes, “is speech that is fully protected by the First Amendment, which safeguards the storytellers and artists who take the raw materials of life — including the stories of real individuals, ordinary or extraordinary — and transform them into art, be it articles, books, movies, or plays.” The fact that FX did not purchase or otherwise procure de Havilland’s “rights” to her name or likeness did not change the court’s analysis. The court stated that film and television producers may enter into rights agreements with individuals for a variety of reasons, however, “the First Amendment simply does not require such acquisition agreements.”

De Havilland Did Not Show That She Would Likely Prevail on Her False Light Claim.

A false light claim is a type of invasion of privacy, based on publicity that places a person in the public eye in a false light that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, and where the defendant knew or acted in reckless disregard as to the falsity of the publicized matter and the false light in which the aggrieved person would be placed. A false light claim is equivalent to a libel claim, and its requirements are the same as a libel claim, including proof of malice. In order to prevail on her claim, de Havilland had to demonstrate that FX broadcast statements that were (1) assertions of fact, (2) actually false or create a false impression about her, (3) highly offensive to a reasonable person or defamatory, and (4) made with actual malice.

First, the court questioned whether a reasonable viewer would interpret Feud as entirely factual. The court noted that “[v]iewers are generally familiar with dramatized, fact-based movies and miniseries in which scenes, conversations, and even characters are fictionalized and imagined.” Next, the court concluded that Feud’s depiction of de Havilland is not defamatory nor would it highly offend a reasonable person. Granting an interview at the Academy Awards, the court noted, is not conduct that would cause offense to reasonable persons. Further, the court found the producer’s substitution of the word “bitch” for “dragon lady” in a statement actually made by de Havilland was an un-actionable substantial truth – a statement that would not have a different effect on the mind of the reader from that which the truth would have produced.

Lastly, because de Havilland is a public figure, she had to show that the statements made by FX were made with actual malice. This means more than showing that the statements were not true. Fiction is by definition untrue and “[p]ublishing a fictitious work about a real person cannot mean the author, by virtue of writing fiction, has acted with actual malice.” Rather, the court said, “de Havilland must demonstrate that FX either deliberately cast her statements in an equivocal fashion in the hope of insinuating a defamatory import to the [viewer], or that [FX] knew or acted in reckless disregard of whether its words would be interpreted by the average [viewer] as defamatory statements of fact.” The court concluded that de Havilland would be unable to meet this burden.

In dismissing de Havilland’s case, the Appeals court acknowledged the Catch-22 the trial court’s decision created for producers and other creatives and found it inconsistent with the First Amendment. The right of publicity does not give celebrities the “right to control the [their] image by censoring disagreeable portrayals.”

But the show isn’t over yet. De Havilland filed a petition with the California Supreme Court to reverse the decision by the Appeals Court and allow her case to proceed to trial. De Havilland claimed that the Court of Appeals misapplied the balancing test between the First Amendment and the right of publicity formulated by the Supreme Court in the 2001 case of Comedy III Prods., Inc. v. Gary Saderup, Inc. While it’s uncertain whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the matter, if it does, a ruling in de Havilland’s favor could be very disruptive for producers who wish to create a work of fiction based on true events and portraying real persons.

Today’s real estate industry relies heavily on the use of websites displaying photographs of properties for sale to entice buyers. Many of the photographs on these sites are taken by professional photographers who license the use of their photos and retain the copyrights to them. In Stevens v. CoreLogic, Inc. (decided June 20, 2018), the Ninth Circuit was faced with the question of whether these photographers can maintain an action for copyright infringement against a company whose software apparently “scrubbed” metadata identifying the copyright holders of photographs on various real estate websites.

The plaintiffs in the CoreLogic case were photographers who were hired by various real estate agents to take digital photos of homes for sale. These photos would then be shown on the real estate agent’s websites and other sites to attract potential buyers for these properties. The digital photographs would contain metadata, which although invisible to the average user, contained information that could help identify the author of the photograph as well as potential copyright ownership information. Copyright law, specifically 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b) ,restricts “the removal or alteration of copyright management information (“CMI”) – information,” such as the title, the author, the copyright owner and other identifying information, from a copyrighted work.

CoreLogic develops and provides software to the real estate industry, primarily multiple listing services also known as MLSs. Because digital photos can entail large file sizes, CoreLogic’s software programs would “downsize” photos, which would include removing metadata from particular images. In May 2014, the Plaintiffs sued CoreLogic claiming that its software, by removing this metadata, constituted copyright infringement. (It appears that shortly after the lawsuit was filed, CoreLogic modified its software to allow at least one form of metadata to remain attached to images displayed on the MLS websites.)

After discovery was nearly complete, CoreLogic moved for summary judgment arguing that there was no evidence that it intended to allow infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrights. The trial court agreed with CoreLogic and granted judgment in its favor, which judgment the photographers appealed to the Ninth Circuit. (This article does not address other issues raised on appeal by the Plaintiff photographers.)

In essence, the Ninth Circuit considered whether Plaintiffs could state prevail on a claim against CoreLogic that its software unlawfully removed CMI metadata in violation of 17 USC § 1202(b)(1) and that CoreLogic violated 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b)(3) by distributing images knowing that CMI had been removed. After reviewing the text of both of these statutes, the Ninth Circuit recognized that “[b]oth provisions … require the defendant to possess the mental state of knowing, or having a reasonable basis to know, that his actions `will induce, enable, facilitate or conceal’ infringement.” The Ninth Circuit agreed with the trial court that the Plaintiff- Photographers had not produced admissible evidence to satisfy this required mental state.

The Plaintiff-Photographers’ main argument was that by removing metadata, CoreLogic was impairing the ability of copyright owners to detect whether someone might be using their photographs in violation of their copyrights. The Ninth Circuit reasoned that this argument was not based on any affirmative evidence, but rather, “it simply identifies a general possibility that exists whenever CMI is removed.” The Ninth Circuit held that this “general possibility” was not sufficient to establish copyright infringement.

First, in reviewing the statutory language, the Ninth Circuit found it important to “give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a statute.” Thus, in order not to make sure that the mental state requirement set forth in these provisions was not a “superfluity,” there must be a more specific application “than the universal possibility of encouraging infringement.” While the Plaintiff-Photographers were not required to show that any specific infringement had already occurred, the Ninth Circuit held that a plaintiff “must make an affirmative showing, such as by demonstrating a past `pattern of conduct’ or `modus operandi,’ that the defendant was aware of the probable future impact of its actions.” The Ninth Circuit continued by recognizing that the statutory intent is further evidenced by the fact that it was enacted in response to similar concerns addressed in the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty. In sum, the Ninth Circuit concluded that in order to satisfy the knowledge requirement of section 1202(b), “a plaintiff … must offer more than a bare assertion that `when CMI metadata is removed, copyright infringement plaintiffs … lose an important method of identifying a photo as infringing.’”

The Ninth Circuit then concluded that the Plaintiff-Photographers had failed to offer any specific evidence that the removal of the CMI metadata impaired their ability of policing possible infringement. First, the Plaintiff-Photographers had not produced any evidence that they ever relied on the use of CMI metadata to prevent or detect copyright infringement of their works. In fact, at least one of the plaintiffs apparently testified that he had never looked at metadata information on any MLS system. Furthermore, on two occasions when one of the plaintiffs became aware that his photographs were being infringement upon, this discovery came through a notice provided by the real estate agent who had commissioned the photos later discovering them on another website.

Furthermore, the Plaintiff-Photographers had not offered any evidence that CoreLogic’s distribution of real estate photographs to other sites had ever resulted in an infringing use of photographs by third parties. Importantly, the Ninth Circuit recognized that if a third party was intent on infringing the copyrights of one of the photographers, that party could always remove any CMI metadata, which would also preclude the detection of infringement through the search of metadata. The Ninth Circuit concluded that “because the photographers have not put forward any evidence that CoreLogic knew its software carried even a substantial risk of inducing, enabling, facilitating or concealing infringement, let alone a pattern or probability of such a connection to an infringement, CoreLogic is not liable for violating 17 U.S.C. § 1202(b).”

The CoreLogic decision is a reminder to copyright infringement plaintiffs that in order to prevail on a copyright infringement claim, they must come forward with admissible evidence to meet each of their burdens of proof to establish their claim. The Ninth Circuit has made clear that relying on a “general possibility” of infringement theory will not suffice to meet this burden and risk dismissal of such claims.

Does anyone think that a monkey has standing to bring a copyright infringement lawsuit? In Naruto v. Slater, 888 F.3d 418 (9th Cir. 2018), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said no, but not without carefully considering the issue.

Animals have many legal rights based on federal and state laws. Most of those rights are enforceable by humans or legal entities suing under the statutes on behalf of the animals. However, should animals have the right to sue under their own names in court?

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has addressed this question in The Cetacean Community v. George W. Bush and Donald H. Rumsfeld, 386 F.3d 1169 (9th Cir. 2004). In that case, the court had to decide whether cetaceans (whales, porpoises, and dolphins) had standing to sue in their own names under several federal statues, including the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The world’s cetaceans, identified as The Cetacean Community, represented by an attorney in Hawaii, sued the United States Government to stop the Navy’s use of a type of sonar that causes injury to cetaceans. This sonar emits low frequency pings that are heard underwater over hundreds of miles. The pings cause the cetaceans tissue damage and hearing loss, and disrupt their feeding and mating behavior by masking the sounds of other cetaceans and the environment. The damage caused by this type of sonar was undisputed. The use of the sonar during peacetime had been successfully challenged in a separate case filed by the Natural Resource Defense Council. In this case, the cetaceans sued to cause the President and the Secretary of Defense to conduct a regulatory review and to prepare an environmental impact report on the use of this sonar during threat situations and wartime.

The district court for Hawaii granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the cetaceans did not have standing under the federal statutes to bring suit.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that standing to sue under federal statues requires both Article III standing and specific standing under the statute. Article III standing exists if there is a “case or controversy,” meaning that the plaintiff must have suffered an injury traceable to the defendant for which a court can provide a remedy.

According to the court, nothing in Article III prohibits animals from having a “case or controversy.” Cetacean Community, 386 F.3d 1175. Congress can grant animals the right to sue in their own names by statute, just as Congress has enacted statutes that provide for suits in the names of entities such as corporations or trusts, cities, ships, and incompetent persons such as infants or mentally incapacitated individuals. Id. at 1176.

The court then analyzed whether The Environmental Protection Act, The Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the other statutes under which the cetaceans sued provided standing to the cetaceans. The court held that these statutes did not provide standing to any animals, but rather provided standing to persons or entities to sue to protect the animals. Id. at 1179.

In Naruto v. Slater, supra, 888 F.3d 418, the Ninth Circuit was faced with a copyright infringement claim brought by an animal. The animal was a Crested Macaque, a type of monkey, named Naruto. Naruto lived in a wildlife reserve in Indonesia. In 2011, Naruto found a camera that had been left in the reserve by a photographer, defendant David Slater. Naruto took photos of himself. In 2014, presumably after finding the camera with Naruto’s selfies, Slater and the other defendants published a book containing the selfies. The defendants listed themselves as the copyright owner of the selfies, although they admitted that Naruto had taken the pictures.

In 2005, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and a scientist who had studied Naruto sued the defendants for copyright infringement, as “Next Friends” on behalf of Naruto. The defendants moved to dismiss. The district court for the Northern District of California granted the motion on the grounds that the Copyright Act did not provide statutory standing to animals.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The court held that it was bound by the holding of Cetacean Community, supra, that animals could show Article III standing. Naruto, supra, 888 F.3d at 421. The court found that PETA was not a proper Next Friend to sue on behalf of Naruto, but held that this was not determinative because a Next Friend was not necessary to establish Article III standing. The court held that because the “case or controversy” requirement was met, Naruto had Article III standing. Id. at 424. However, the court held that the Copyright Act did not provide statutory standing to animals other than humans.

So, at least for now, animals who take pictures don’t own the copyrights to those pictures. You can leave your camera somewhere and claim ownership of any photos taken by an animal without the risk of liability for copyright infringement! In the future, however, it’s possible that the animals just might win.

On April 24, 2018, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in SAS Institute, Inc. v. Iancu, which held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) arm of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) must issue a final written decision addressing each and every patent claim challenged in an Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) petition if review is granted. In other words, if the PTAB is going to institute a review, it must address all the claims that are being challenged by the petition. In the six weeks or so since the SAS Institute decision, the ruling has had repercussions not only for the PTAB, but also for federal courts.

For example, in Wi-LAN, Inc. et al v. LG Electronics, Inc. et al, the Southern District of California recently decided to issue a stay in a patent infringement case brought by WiLan, Inc. against LG Electronics, Inc. pending a decision on whether to institute an IPR proceeding against the at-issue patents. While not dispositive, the Court did consider the SAS Insitute ruling in making its decision, reasoning “[w]hile review is not guaranteed … in light of the Supreme Court’s mandate to review all contested claims upon grant of [an IPR] and the complexity of this case, the court finds [the simplification of issues] weighs in favor of a limited stay of proceedings until the [PTAB] issues its decisions on whether to institute IPR.”

Next, in DermaFocus LLC v. Ulthera, Inc., the District of Delaware had to decide whether to lift an already issued stay when some but not all challenged claims had already been ruled on by the PTAB. The Delaware District Court decided not to lift the stay because the circumstances warranting the entry of a stay in the first instance still persisted in light of SAS Institute. Specifically, the Court reasoned that the “parties stipulated to stay the litigation ‘pending resolution by the PTAB of the patentability of all challenged claims in the pending IPR.’” Although the PTAB denied institution of IPR proceedings with respect to some claims, and issued a final written decision on all remaining claims, the Supreme Court recently ruled that the PTAB must issue a final written decision “with respect to the patentability of any patent claim challenged,” and “in this context, as in so many others, ‘any’ means ‘every.’” For this reason, the Federal Circuit remanded Ulthera’s appeal to the PTAB for issuance of a final decision regarding the patentability of all claims. Consequently, the PTAB has yet to resolve the patentability of all challenged claims in the pending IPR proceeding, and the terms of the parties’ stipulation have not been satisfied.

Finally, in PGS Geophysical AS v. Iancu, the Federal Circuit held that it has jurisdiction to address appeals without first requiring the PTAB address the claims and grounds included in petitions for review but not previously included in final written decisions, i.e. the “non-instituted” claims and grounds. In other words, the Federal Circuit held “that the existence of non-instituted claims and grounds does not deprive [it] of jurisdiction to decide appeals from final written decisions.” The Federal Circuit reasoned that while the PTAB having only partially instituted review is now improper under SAS Institute, the PTAB’s final decisions on the validity of individual claims are nonetheless still final because the PTAB made a patentability determination.

Although there are still numerous issues and questions the PTAB and federal courts need to decide in implementing the SAS Institute ruling, the answers to some of these issues and questions are slowly taking shape. However, there are many more that will require resolution in both the short and long term.

A few years ago, before the 76ers returned to playoff glory, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers’ ownership and front office began utilizing the phrase “Trust the Process” to represent their journey back to the top. Finally, after years of absolutely horrendous basketball, which enabled the 76ers to draft stars such as Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, the 76ers finished third in their conference and returned to the playoffs for the first time in years. Evidently, the Process paid off.

Now, switching sports, after a season that ended with the Buffalo Bills being eliminated in the first round of the NFL playoffs and trading their once–prized quarterback Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns, the Bills have drafted rookie quarterback Josh Allen from the University of Wyoming. For some reason, despite making the playoffs and presumably being a trade or two away from going further into the playoffs, the Bills have opted to rebuild. In furtherance of that process, the Buffalo Bills recently filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, seeking to register “Respect the Process.” The Bills intend to use the mark on cellphone cases, magnets, flags, towels, water bottles, door mats, and other similar goods. They do not, however, plan to print t-shirts reflecting the mark, as a company known as Made Me Tees registered that mark in early 2017 with respect to such clothing. In any event, it seems the Bills may have a larger problem looming.

Although the 76ers never registered “Trust the Process” or “The Process,” superstar Joel Embiid did. In 2016, Embiid, whose Twitter wallpaper features “The Process” in all caps, filed an application to register the mark, which is still, no pun intended, going through the trademark registration process, but seemingly on track for registration. So, this raises an issue: Can Embiid block the Buffalo Bills’ attempt to register “Respect the Process”? And better yet, if he can, will he?

The answer to the first question will depend greatly upon whether the USPTO’s examining attorney believes the marks are confusingly similar. Frankly, I’m not sure I think consumers are likely to confuse the two marks, but I haven’t researched similar cases and even if I had, the examining attorney could view the comparison differently than I do. As for the second question, it remains to be seen if Embiid would oppose the mark. He may not care in light of the different sports, or he may not find the marks all that similar. We won’t know until he acts, or fails to do so. In any event, given the parties involved, we will keep an eye on the situation and report subsequent developments.

The United States International Trade Commission (“ITC”) is a Federal agency that deals with matters involving trade. Among its many responsibilities, the ITC investigates a variety of issues related to trade including investigating and adjudicating cases involving imported products that allegedly infringe intellectual property rights. These infringement investigations, called Section 337 investigations, may include allegations that imported goods infringe patents or trademarks. For example, the ITC may investigate allegations by a complainant (plaintiff) that certain imported goods infringe utility or design patents or infringe registered or common law trademarks. “Other forms of unfair competition involving imported products, such as infringement of registered copyrights, mask works or boat hull designs, misappropriation of trade secrets or trade dress, passing off, and false advertising, may also be asserted.” See https://www.usitc.gov/intellectual_property.htm for more details.

The ITC offers certain advantages over Federal district courts for patent owners seeking to enforce their patents against alleged infringers. For example, some would say the ITC is the ultimate rocket docket. Most investigations are completed within 12 to 15 months of institution whereas district courts may take several years. Scheduled to take effect for investigations instituted after June 7, 2018, new rules announced by the ITC are intended to further “increase the efficiency of its section 337 investigations and reduce the burdens and costs on the parties and the agency.” These new rules are part of a process that began in 2015 with the proposal of amendments to the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure.

The new rules will allow the ITC to institute multiple investigations based on one complaint and will allow Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) to use their discretion to sever an investigation into two or more investigations within 30 days of institution. Severing large investigations will ensure they proceed to completion according the Section 337 timelines and help ALJs better manage their dockets. ALJs may be more likely to sever cases with multiple parties and/or multiple patents. For example, where one party is only involved in a subset of the issues, the ALJ may server the investigation for efficiency.

The new ITC rules also formalize procedures of a previous, rarely-used pilot program for resolution of potentially dispositive issues within the first 100 days of an investigation. The following rules apply to such 100-day proceedings:

• an ALJ may hold expedited hearings on designated issues;
• an ALJ may stay discovery on the remaining issues pending resolution of the 100-day proceeding;
• within 100 days of institution of the investigation, an ALJ’s initial determination in a 100-day proceeding is due;
• absent review, the initial determination on these issues becomes final within 30 days; and
• a petition to review an initial determination in a 100-day proceeding is due within five business days after service of the initial determination, and the time for filing a response to a
petition for review is five business days.

Additional rule changes will impact other aspect of Section 337 investigations. Specifically, a party may now serve objections to a subpoena or move to quash, which is more consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Drafts of expert reports will be privileged. More documents will be able to be filed online and electronically served. Further, the ITC’s notice of investigation “will define the scope of the investigation in plain language so as to make explicit” the products that are at issue. In general, these new rules are likely to ensure the ITC continues to provide a forum for quickly resolving patent infringement disputes involving imported goods.

In addition to the advantages already discussed, the ITC offers patent owners several other benefits over district courts when enforcing patent rights. For example, the ITC does not stay proceedings pending inter partes review (“IPR”) of the validity of an asserted patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office whereas district courts often stay cases while IPRs are pending. Stays further lengthen district court cases relative to ITC investigations. In addition, the Supreme Court in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods greatly limited the proper venues for patent cases, but there are no venue restrictions in Section 337 investigations. Further, the remedy in a Section 337 investigation is an exclusion order that prevents the importation of infringing products into the United States. In contrast, the Supreme Court’s decision in eBay v. MercExchange has made it difficult to get an injunction, which some would consider a similar remedy to an ITC exclusion order. If these advantages were not enough, patent owners should also know that ITC success rates for patent owners have been steadily increasing over the last few years for cases decided on the merits. In fact, some have reported the success rate for patent owners was just short of 90% in 2017.

Given the advantages of adjudicating patent infringement matters at the ITC, why not always use that forum instead of district courts? The answer, in part, is that for an investigation to be launched at the ITC, the complainant must be able to allege more than just patent infringement. The complainant must be able to allege a domestic industry exists or is being established and be able to allege infringement by the importation, sale for importation, or sale after importation of the accused products. In district court, a plaintiff need not make these additional allegations. Further, due to the speed at which ITC investigations proceed, the cost of litigation must be absorbed over a shorter time period and can be higher.

In sum, patent owners should consider whether the ITC is the appropriate forum for litigating their patent infringement claims given that 1) the new ITC rules for patent cases are likely to further boost the speed and efficiency of this rocket docket; 2) the remedy of prohibiting importation of infringing products can lead to early, favorable settlements; and 3) patent owners have an enviable record of success in cases decided on the merits at the ITC.

Currently, the standard for claim construction is different in AIA reviews before the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO”) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB) than in proceedings in federal district courts and the International Trade Commission (“ITC”). The USPTO construes claims to have their broadest reasonable interpretation (“BRI”) while district courts and the ITC apply the Phillips standard.

Under the BRI standard, a claim term is given its broadest reasonable construction “in light of the specification as it would be interpreted by one of ordinary skill in the art.” Under the Phillips standard, a claim term is given the “ordinary and customary meaning” it would have to “a person of ordinary skill in the art … at the time of the invention.” The Federal Circuit has explained that the “broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim term may be the same as or broader than the construction of a term under the Phillips standard. But it cannot be narrower.” Thus the Phillips standard is generally considered narrower than the BRI standard.

Currently, the USPTO applies the BRI standard during prosecution of patents, in ex parte reexaminations, and in AIA reviews including inter partes reviews (“IPR”), post grant reviews (“PGR”), or covered business method (“CBM”) proceedings before the PTAB involving unexpired patents. The PTAB applies the Phillips standard when interpreting expired patent claims. Further, either side in an AIA review may request application of the Phillips standard for patents that will expire within 18 months of the petition’s filing date. In contrast, district courts and the ITC always apply the Phillips standard for claim construction.

Many patent owners feel that alleged infringers have an unfair advantage under the current system that applies different claim construction standards for the different forums. An alleged infringer can argue for a narrow claim construction under Phillips in district court to avoid a finding of infringement and simultaneously argue for a broad construction under the BRI standard before the PTAB in an attempt to invalidate the asserted patent claims. Therefore, patent owners have repeatedly argued the PTAB should use the same claim construction standard as district courts.

On May 9, 2018, the USPTO issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in which it proposed to adopt the narrower Phillips standard for construing unexpired patent claims and proposed amended patent claims in PTAB trials under the AIA. The proposal also would amend the rules to add that the PTAB will consider prior claim constructions in civil actions and ITC proceedings that are made of record in a timely manner in IPRs, PGRs, or CBMs.

The USPTO stated “[t]he goal is to implement a fair and balanced approach, providing greater predictability and certainty in the patent system” and increased judicial efficiency. The USPTO acknowledged that one of the primary concerns of patent owners is that under the PTAB’s current BRI standard, a patent claim could theoretically be found invalid in an IPR, PGR, or CBM review based on a claim interpretation that the patent owner would not be able to apply in asserting infringement in a district court case. Therefore, the proposed rule change will also alleviate this concern by harmonizing the standards across forums.

Most patent owners will see this proposed rule change as a sign more patent claims will be upheld by the PTAB in AIA reviews conducted under the narrower claim construction standard. In most cases, however, those patent owners will likely be disappointed. While the difference in claim construction standards has critically impacted a few decisions, in most instances, the BRI standard and the Phillips standard lead to the same result. There may also be a downside for patent owners who are anxious for patent infringement litigation to quickly move forward against alleged infringers. Given the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in SAS Institute v. Iancu requiring the PTAB to review all claims challenged in a petition if review is instituted and the proposed harmonization of the claim construction standard between district courts and the PTAB, district courts will be even more likely to grant stays of infringement cases pending IPRs, PGRs, and CBMs. In sum, while patent owners were hoping the change in claim construction standards would make it harder to invalidate patent claims, that may not be the result and instead district courts are likely to decide it is judicially more efficient to let the PTAB conclude its AIA reviews before proceeding with infringement actions.

If the USPTO’s proposed rule change is implemented, there will also be a stronger basis for reliance on claim construction rulings across the forums. But will PTAB claim construction rulings be binding on district courts? It has been noted that in B&B Hardware v. Hargis Industries, the Supreme Court held that decisions of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board can be considered binding in subsequent matters before federal courts considering the same questions. One could argue that claim construction rulings by the PTAB could be similarly binding in subsequent district court infringement cases.

The USPTO has indicated that, if adopted, the proposed rule changes will apply to all IPR, PGR, and CBM proceedings, including those pending at the time the rule change takes effect. This proposed change will not apply to claims during prosecution at the USPTO. Further, it does not appear the change will apply to ex parte reexaminations, which could make that option more intriguing for those instances where the BRI standard is more likely to lead to invalidating claims than the narrower Phillips standard.

The USPTO is accepting comments on the proposed rule change for 60 days from its date of publication. Therefore, the proposed change could go into effect as early as summer of 2018.

The Ninth Circuit was recently faced with a novel issue: Does a crested macaque, or generally speaking, a monkey, have the right to sue humans, corporations, and companies for damages and injunctive relief arising from claims of copyright infringement? Unless you’re familiar with this case, you’re probably wondering what occurred to give rise to Naruto, the monkey, bringing suit for copyright infringement. In fact, you probably have several other questions, such as how did Naruto obtain a copyright? Who infringed Naruto’s copyright? Who brought suit on Naruto’s behalf? And last, but not least, can Naruto sue someone for copyright infringement? Well, if you’re interested in at least one of these questions, you’re in the right place.

In 2011, a wildlife photographer named David Slater was visiting a reserve on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, where Naruto lived, and may still live. While visiting the site, Mr. Slater left his camera sitting unattended and Naruto simply could not help himself. Naruto ventured over to the camera and began taking various photographs, including multiple selfies, which have now become known as the “Monkey Selfies.” Slater and Wildlife Personalities, Ltd. subsequently published the Monkey Selfies in a book that Slater created through Blurb, Inc.’s website in December 2014. The book identifies Slater and Wildlife Personalities as the copyright owners, but admits several times throughout the text that Naruto took the photographs himself.

In response to the publication, in 2015, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (“PETA”) and Dr. Antje Engelhardt, an individual who studied the crested macaques in Sulawesi, Indonesia for over a decade, and who has been familiar with Naruto since his birth, brought suit on Naruto’s behalf. Specifically, the complaint alleged that because Naruto took the photographs, he is the owner of the photographs and the relevant copyrights, rendering the use by Slater and Wildlife Personalities infringement.

In response to the complaint, Slater, Wildlife, and Blurb moved to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim. The district court granted the motions to dismiss, finding that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to establish statutory standing under the Copyright Act. In response, PETA and Dr. Engelhardt appealed on Naruto’s behalf.

On appeal, the Ninth Circuit first addressed whether PETA had standing to bring the claim on Naruto’s behalf as his “next friend.” In short, the Ninth Circuit found that PETA could not bring the claim on Naruto’s behalf for two reasons: (1) because PETA failed to allege facts to establish the required significant relationship between the “next friend” and the real party in interest and (2) because an animal cannot be represented, under U.S. law, by a “next friend.” Although Dr. Engelhardt had a significant relationship with Naruto, he withdrew from the case shortly after the appeal was filed. As for PETA, there were no allegations supporting a significant relationship, and in fact, the Court discussed at length how PETA had failed to live up to the title of “friend” as it abandoned the appeal before the hearing after it reached a settlement, which did not include Naruto as a party, that resulted in a payment to PETA, which led Judge Bea to contemplate if Naruto would have sued PETA for breach of a confidential relationship if he could recognize the abandonment.

In any event, the Court found that even if PETA had a significant relationship with Naruto, “next friend” standing has a narrow scope, which is no broader than what is permitted by statute. Unfortunately for animals, the statutes do not expressly authorize “next friend” standing on their behalf. Accordingly, the Ninth Circuit found that absent express authorization from Congress, there is no right of “next friends” to bring suit on behalf of animals.

But rather than ending its analysis there, the Court found that it must address the merits of Naruto’s case because lack of a “next friend” does not destroy his standing to sue, as having a “case or controversy” under Article III of the Constitution. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17 obligates the court to “consider whether [incompetent parties] are adequately protected,” even where they have no “next friend” or “guardian.” Accordingly, a “next friend” or a guardian is not necessary for an incompetent person to be protected. A court may find that the person’s interests would be adequately protected by the appointment of a lawyer. In fact, a prior action was brought by the “Cetacean Community,” through a self-appointed lawyer, against the United States Navy for its use of sonar systems without any purported “next friend.”

Addressing the Article III standing issue, the Court found that because the complaint alleges that Naruto is the author and owner of the Monkey Selfies, and that he suffered concrete and particularized economic harms as a result of the infringing conduct by the Appellees, Naruto had Article III standing to bring his claim.

Next, the Court addressed whether Naruto has statutory standing under the Copyright Act to sue for infringement. Following the Cetacean Court, the Court held that the rule is simple: “if an Act of Congress plainly states that animals have statutory standing, then animals have statutory standing. If the statute does not so plainly state, then animals do not have statutory standing.” Accordingly, because the Copyright Act does not expressly authorize animals to file copyright infringement suits, the Court held Naruto lacks statutory standing to sue under the Copyright Act. As a result, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court.

Unless you have been living under a rock (and not a rock on Tatooine), then you have heard of a little film called Star Wars, things called lightsabers, the Millennium Falcon, and even droids. But do you know how to play Sabbac?

For those of you who are not Star Wars aficionados, Sabacc is a card game rooted in unexplored mythology of Star Wars. Sabacc was first referenced in a draft screenplay for the 1980 motion picture Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, and later in a volume from the trilogy of novels about Lando Calrissian, published in 1983. This 1983 reference explained the rules of Sabacc, a betting game, in which the goal is to finish with a hand as close as possible to positive or negative 23 without going over.

What else is Sabacc? It’s the axis of a lawsuit between Lucasfilm and UK gamemaker, Ren Ventures. Why? It may have something to do with Han Solo. See, he won the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a game of Sabacc and Lucasfilm will soon be releasing the next film in the Star Wars anthology called Solo which is about a young Han Solo.

Ren Ventures – The Phantom Menace or Opportunistic Gamemaker?

In 2015, Ren Ventures created a mobile game titled “Sabacc – The High Stakes Card Game”. The game follows the rules as described in the 1983 Lando Calrissian novel and, during game play, makes a handful of Star Wars references, including: (a) “From a Cantina far, far away to your mobile device, welcome to the world’s largest Sabacc site.”; (b) “[B]ecome a Cloud City legend!”; (c) “Go bust? Don’t worry, we won’t take your ship!” The game also includes elements of various space figures that, one could argue, are stylistically similar to certain characters appearing in one or more Star Wars properties.

On August 23, 2016, Ren Ventures secured a federal registration for the mark SABACC covering, primarily, on line computer games. Its application claimed a November 20, 2015 priority date. In May, 2017 Lucasfilm filed a petition with the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board to cancel the SABACC registration. Ren Ventures answered the petition and then filed a motion for summary judgment. Less than 20 days later, Lucasfilm suspended the cancellation at the TTAB and sued Ren Ventures for copyright and trademark infringement.

In its complaint, Lucasfilm argued that it used SABACC as the name of an element of Star Wars entertainment products and that “dozens of Star Wars products created or licensed by [Lucasfilm] have used [SABACC]” including “card games, mobile games, video games, magazines, comic books, novels, television episodes, a live theme park experience, and a major motion picture.” Lucasfilm argued that the timing of Ren Ventures’ use of SABACC reflects its intent to infringe. Prior to Ren Ventures claimed first use, Lucasfilm had publicly announced the development of a motion picture focused on Han Solo as a young man and that any Star Wars fan would expect Solo’s acquisition of the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian to be part of this picture.

In February, Ren Ventures filed a motion to dismiss Lucasfilm’s trademark infringement claim. Ren Ventures argued that Lucasfilm had no protectable common law trademark rights in SABACC because Lucasfilm failed to use SABACC in a trademark manner. Ren Ventures argued that; Lucasfilm can not claim trademark rights to goods or services that are only featured in a work of fiction. Ren Ventures argued that it has superior trademark rights due to its use and registration of SABACC.

Since Lucasfilm had not registered SABACC as a trademark, the question before the district court on Ren Ventures’ motion to dismiss was whether Lucasfilm had common law trademark rights in SABACC. While Ren Ventures argued that it didn’t because Lucasfilm failed to use SABACC in a trademark manner – use on or in connection with goods or services. Lucasfilm argued that Sabacc’s role as an element of the star Wars universe is sufficient to establish trademark rights with regard to the Star Wars franchise itself. Does its use of SABACC as a fictional card game in movies and books create protectable trademark rights? To be certain, Lucasfilm appears to have distributed a Sabacc card game in 1989, but that game appears to have been short lived (like the planet Alderaan).

In the end, Ren Ventures’ claim that the lack of traditional trademark use by Lucasfilm means it has no trademark rights was not enough to escape the complaint’s forcefield. In ruling on the motion to dismiss, the court noted that fictional elements of expressive works (like a movie) can function as trademarks because those elements can symbolize the creator of the expressive work (i.e., the movie maker) or its products to the general public. The court noted that trademark protection had been extended to the “General Lee” car from the TV series, “The Dukes of Hazzard,” to the fictional restaurant “The Krusty Krab” from the SpongBob SquarePants animated series, to the fictional element “Kryptionite” from the Superman comics, and to the physical appearance of the E.T. character from the movie of the same name.

The Southern District of New York, in granting trademark protection to Kryptonite, summed up the policy reason why trademark protection may be granted to a fictional element fo an entertainment property, not yet used in a traditional trademark manner:

[W]here the the product sold by plaintiff is “entertainment” in one form or another, then not only the advertising of the product but also an ingredient of the product itself can amount to a trademark protectable under § 43(a) because the ingredient can come to symbolize the plaintiff or its product in the public mind

DC Comics, Inc. v. Filmation Assocs., 486 F. Supp. 1273, 1277 (S.D.N.Y. 1980).

Although the Court elected to allow Lucasfilm’s trademark claims to go forward, it will be interesting to see how the court will rule at the summary judgment phase (if this case gets that far) when it is able to consider evidence. Without question, SABACC is not is not as well known as the General Lee or Kryptonite and, who knows if consumers encountering Ren Venture’s online video game would believe that Lucasfilm is the source of or the sponsor or endorser said game. All that may change after Solo premiers at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2018.