Tag: IP

Intellectual Property

Third Circuit: Training an AI Tool on Westlaw Headnotes to Compete with Westlaw Is Not Fair Use

Written by Josh Geller Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. ROSS Intelligence Inc., No. 25-2153 (3d Cir. Sept. 29, 2026) On September 29, the Third Circuit affirmed the U.S. District Court’s 2025 ruling that ROSS Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters’s copyrights when it used Westlaw headnotes to train a competing legal research tool, and that the use was not protected as fair use. The ruling is … Continue reading Third Circuit: Training an AI Tool on Westlaw Headnotes to Compete with Westlaw Is Not Fair Use

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Intellectual Property

Connecting Is Not Displaying: The Fifth Circuit Rejects the Server Test for a New “Transmit Requirement”

Written by Harrison Newman On August 27, 2026, the Fifth Circuit became the first court of appeals to reject the Ninth Circuit’s “server test” for copyright’s public display right, scrapping that test in favor of a new “transmit requirement” that “likely provides similar results as the server test in many ways.”  Emmerich Newspapers, Inc. v. Particle Media, Inc., No. 25-60550, 2026 WL 2530247, at *6 … Continue reading Connecting Is Not Displaying: The Fifth Circuit Rejects the Server Test for a New “Transmit Requirement”

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Intellectual Property

Gone in (Far More Than) 60 Seconds: Ninth Circuit Holds That Ford Mustangs Known as “Eleanor” Are Not Entitled to Copyright Protection

Written by Alex Anfuso and Eleanor M. Lackman In Carroll Shelby Licensing v. Halicki, No. 23-4008 (May 27, 2025), the Ninth Circuit recently weighed in again on the scope of copyright protection for characters, denying protection to a series of Ford Mustangs called “Eleanor.”  The cars appeared, in varying forms, in four separate films between 1974 and 2000.   Eleanor first appeared in the original … Continue reading Gone in (Far More Than) 60 Seconds: Ninth Circuit Holds That Ford Mustangs Known as “Eleanor” Are Not Entitled to Copyright Protection

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Intellectual Property

The Copyright Office Report on AI and Fair Use: A Generative Controversy

Written by James D. Berkley Amidst a level of intrigue rare to the Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office, on Friday, May 9, the Copyright Office released a detailed 108-page report containing its most extended discussion of how copyright law applies to the so-called “training” of generative artificial intelligence (better known as “generative AI”). Generative AI is the rapidly developing field exemplified by products … Continue reading The Copyright Office Report on AI and Fair Use: A Generative Controversy

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Intellectual Property

Watered Down Whisky: Bad Spaniels Dilutes Trademarks But Does Not Infringe

Written by Ian Logan After more than a decade of litigation, which included U.S. Supreme Court review, VIP Products LLC v. Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc., No. CV-14-02057 returned to the United States District Court for the District of Arizona for yet another ruling on remand.  On January 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee ruled that although the “Bad Spaniels” dog toy, shaped like … Continue reading Watered Down Whisky: Bad Spaniels Dilutes Trademarks But Does Not Infringe

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Intellectual Property

U.S. Trademark Office Fees Increasing Significantly on January 18, 2025: What It Means for You

Written by Eleanor M. Lackman The new year is bringing with it some major fee increases from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) for certain key aspects for trademark filings and other trademark prosecution. Nearly all go into effect on January 18, 2025. Here are some major changes to know, and how they may affect your filing strategy in the United States: This rule … Continue reading U.S. Trademark Office Fees Increasing Significantly on January 18, 2025: What It Means for You

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Intellectual Property

“Conquesting” Lawsuit Is No Conquest for Trademark Plaintiff

Written by Skyler M. Terrebonne On October 22, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court delivered the latest word on whether the practice of “keyword advertising,” and in particular the strategy of “conquesting,” constitutes trademark infringement. Keyword advertising is an advertising strategy wherein a company bids on a Google Ads keyword, so that an advertisement for its business will appear near the top … Continue reading “Conquesting” Lawsuit Is No Conquest for Trademark Plaintiff

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Intellectual Property

Punchbowl, Inc. v. AJ Press: A Trademark Defendant Prevails Post-Jack Daniel’s

Written by Constance Kang Punchbowl, Inc. v. AJ Press is one of the first rulings to grapple with an infringement case following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent limitation of the applicability of a First Amendment-based defense in Jack Daniel’s Properties v. VIP Products LLC.  The opinion, issued in the case last week upon remand after the Ninth Circuit’s reading of Jack Daniel’s, not only held … Continue reading Punchbowl, Inc. v. AJ Press: A Trademark Defendant Prevails Post-Jack Daniel’s

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Intellectual Property

Eight Mile Style v. Spotify: District Court Holds Doctrine of Equitable Estoppel Bars Copyright Claims

Written by Robert H. Rotstein On August 15, 2024, a federal district court granted summary judgment to defendants Spotify USA Inc. (“Spotify”) and the Harry Fox Agency (“HFA”) in their long-running copyright-infringement dispute with plaintiffs Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated, LLC (together, “Eight Mile Style”) over the service’s streaming of Eminem’s catalog. Eight Mile Style, LLC  v. Spotify USA Inc., 3:19-CV-00736, 2024 WL 3836075 … Continue reading Eight Mile Style v. Spotify: District Court Holds Doctrine of Equitable Estoppel Bars Copyright Claims

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Intellectual Property

Top Gun: Maverick Copyright Infringement Claim Shot Down on Summary Judgment

Written by Brandon E. Hughes In 2022, Shosh Yonay and Yuval Yonay sued Paramount Pictures Corporation, principally asserting a copyright infringement claim related to the 2022 motion picture Top Gun: Maverick—sequel to the 1986 film Top Gun.  Plaintiffs are the widow and son of Ehud Yonay, the author of a 1983 magazine article (the “Article”), which chronicled the experiences of pilots training at the Navy’s … Continue reading Top Gun: Maverick Copyright Infringement Claim Shot Down on Summary Judgment

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