Intellectual Property CLE

Copyright Law can be the Charles Dickens of the law. It can be the best of times; it can be the worst of times. It truly is A Tale of Two Scenarios. If the attorney handling the copyright matter for the client is well prepared, does the initial research, and understands the general principles, it will be the best of times—going from initial application through final issuance and, possibly, victory at trial. If the attorney handling the copyright matter is unprepared, does not conduct sufficient research ahead of time, or does not understand the general principles of copyright law, then it will be the worst of times. The initial application may result in rejection from the U.S. Copyright Office, or the attorney could find himself embroiled in protracted and, ultimately, unsuccessful copyright-infringement litigation. In this introduction to Copyright Law, we cover the basics from application through litigation in an effort to ensure the attorney practices Copyright Law in the best of times.

Young and old attorneys can always learn something about Trademark Law. In this introduction to Trademarks, attorneys learn the basics of Trademark Law from prosecution of a Trademark to obtain one through litigation when a Trademark is infringed. The presentation is broken down into three sections. First, the results of an interview with a Trademark Examiner from the United States Patent and Trademark Office about her prosecution pet peeves is addressed. Second, the basics of Trademarks is presented. Third, a sample case on Trademark infringement is thoroughly analyzed and discussed.

Patent Law is a very complex and specialized area of the law. Regardless of whether the attorney is simply searching for existing patents for a client, applying for a patent, or litigating in a patent-infringement case, the attorney will encounter aspects of the law and specific requirements that are not found in any other area of the law. In this introduction to Patent Law, we cover some of the basic aspects of each of those tasks: searching for patents, applying for patents, and engaging in patent litigation. We also address two lesser known patent-related subject matters—Patent Misuse and Joint Inventorship—and analyze two recent federal district court cases that focus on the topics.

Trade Secret Law is rather atypical among legal causes of action, including particularly intellectual property claims. In particular, depending on whether the claim is brought based on the law of a specific state—for example, Utah, Texas, or Wisconsin—or whether the claim is brought based on federal law, the elements one will need to prove may differ. In this introduction to Trade Secret Law, attorneys learn the basics of Trade Secret Law. The presentation is broken down into four sections—one for each possible element needed to be proven to prevail on a Trade Secret claim. In addition, a sample case addressing each element of the identified Trade Secret claim is thoroughly analyzed and discussed.

In this overview of trademark and trade dress law, we use famous and fun automobile cases to explore how trademark laws work in the realm of cars. We address the fundamentals of trademark law, including functionality, inherently distinctive trademarks, secondary meaning, and likelihood of confusion. We use fun car cases to explore the trademark limits of copying. And we see jurists sometimes disagreeing with each other on the role of trademark laws for automobiles. Along the way, we offer useful tips to protect and advise clients and prepare cases.

Before the Internet, there was no such thing as cybersquatting. But once the Internet came into existence, domain-name disputes soon followed. Although cybersquatting does not fit into the traditional trademark paradigm, in 1999 Congress passed The Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act ("ACPA"), 15 U.S.C. 1125(d), and it became part of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., which is the primary federal trademark statute in the United States. The ACPA established a legal recourse for entities who are the victims of others registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name that is confusingly similar to, or dilutive of, an entity's trademark or a person's name. In this "Introduction to Cybersquatting", attorneys learn the origins and history of cybersquatting, as well as the elements of the cause of action. Participants will also analyze several cases in which courts have addressed cybersquatting at various stages of litigation.

In this IP analysis for transactional lawyers in due diligence or representing small/medium businesses, we look at the major areas of IP law to understand what the IP assets are exactly, how to make sure they are valuable assets and scheduled properly, how to assess if there is potential value that is being missed, and registration regimes for different IP classes to guarantee the most protection. Along the way we offer lots of practice pointers for issue spotting so you do not make mistakes interacting with IP assets, which in many respects differ in basal assumptions about ownership compared to real property assets.

This course will provide an overview of fashion law and how it intersects with intellectual property. The course will touch on more commonly known areas of fashion including apparel, shoes, and accessories. This course also will address how fashion is going beyond just the clothes or the accessories themselves and now reaching more into technology including supply chain optimization, virtual fitting rooms, and wardrobe recommendations using artificial intelligence (AI).

Own a patent, now what? Only patent owners can enforce their right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or offering to sell their invention. In this introduction to patent litigation, we breakdown the major steps necessary to file and pursue a patent infringement complaint in U.S. district court. We also discuss the importance of claim construction and selecting the right forum. Participants in this course will gain a general understanding of the key step when enforcing a patent owner’s right to exclude.

This course will provide an overview of copyright law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Google v. Oracle. This course will discuss what happened in Google v. Oracle, address several cases that have been or may be implicated following Google v. Oracle, and then cover issues that remain to be resolved following Google v. Oracle.

Notwithstanding its illegality under federal law, cannabis is now legal for medical and/or adult recreational use in a majority of states. The tension between state and federal law (and the newness of a quasi-legal cannabis industry), however, complicates the legal representation of cannabis industry clients and raises potential ethical pitfalls. The representation of cannabis clients in Intellectual Property (IP) matters is no exception and implicates unique strategic concerns.

This course will provide an overview of issues related to the gender gap and patents as well as patent law. The course will focus on the 2019 “Progress and Potential: A Profile of women inventors on U.S. patents” published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as well as the 2020 update on women inventor-patentees. The course will then look at the gender gap and patent law, both in terms of practicing before the USPTO as well as attorneys involved in patent litigation. The course will also highlight efforts being made to close the gender gap when it comes to patents and what else may be done.

This course will provide an overview of trademarks including how to select, register, and maintain. The course will then discuss a number of recent court decisions relating to trademarks in the food, energy, and water sectors.

This course provides an overview of the essentials of Intellectual Property (IP) that all attorneys and entrepreneurs should know, including the types of IP, procurement basics and strategies, enforcement, defense, and how to mitigate IP litigation risk. The course further provides an overarching explanation of the full patent lifecycle as to enable participants to assess whether, why, how, and when obtaining patent protections might be worthwhile for a particular business endeavor.

NFTs have been all over the news lately. You have likely heard about them but do you really understand how they work and the intellectual property issues that can arise with their use? This program will provide a clear explanation of what NFTs are and the underlying technology so you can more fully understand how they work and what you need to know to provide NFT-related legal advice. This program will also cover key issues with IP protection and enforcement, NFT license and partnership agreements and provide a summary of real world examples of IP-related legal disputes with NFTs and practical advise for avoiding such disputes.

Web3 has become an oft used buzz word. But what exactly is it, how will it drive new business models and what are the legal issues that will ensue? This course will break down the meaning of Web3 and explore how decentralization and community governance will be at the center of this revolution. It will cover the role of blockchain technology in the Web3 ecosystem, including NFTs, DAOs and metaverses. One of the things that makes Web3 more revolutionary than evolutionary is the need for companies to significantly change their business models. The course will address the Web3 business models and explore the different business considerations facing Web2 companies versus Web3 companies. One of the key business issues is the changing role of IP rights and monetization in these business models. This will lead us into the fascinating legal issues that arise in the Web3 world. We will cover IP issues and the challenges that companies are facing and will continue to face in Web3. We will also cover the approaches to regulating decentralized, community based projects and other related legal issues. Lastly, the course will consider whether Web3 is elusive (in the near term) and whether for business and legal reasons the world will have to settle for Web2.5.

This course introduces American lawyers to trade secret protections in the European Union. Trade secrets—broadly defined under E.U. law as information that derives commercial value from its secrecy, and for which reasonable protections have been taken by the holder to preserve that secrecy—have, since 2018, benefited from a uniform set of protections across E.U. Member States. This is thanks to a European Directive, “Directive (EU) 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure.” The present course will discuss the Directive’s origins, it scope and purpose, and the primary exceptions to trade secret protections in the E.U.

It has always been the case that the onus of enforcing intellectual property rights falls principally on the shoulders of the holders of such rights. Thus, when a case of unauthorized use is discovered (or is looming), the intellectual property owner usually must act quickly to stop the offending conduct, regain control over the property, and secure adequate compensatory relief. But is commencing a lawsuit in court the most effective and efficient way to achieve those ends? What considerations play into the decision over whether arbitration or mediation, for example, might be better options? Should arbitration or mediation even be a consideration during a negotiation over a dispute resolution clause before any conceivable dispute has even arisen? With over 20 years of experience as a commercial and intellectual property litigator, coupled with over 10 years of experience as an arbitrator and mediator, Theo Cheng will explain the advantages and disadvantages of using arbitration or mediation in connection with resolving intellectual property disputes so that you and your clients can be better informed before deciding to choose one of those alternative methods over court litigation.

“The metaverse is the new virtual and visual frontier, a user-interactive digital environment based in computer-generated spaces of augmented and virtual realities in which visual imagery predominates, cryptocurrency is lucre and NFTs are fashion and decor." 1 The technology is new but the legal rights regulating imagery and art are not new-- copyright, trademark, publicity rights. We will discuss art, sports, entertainment and rap examples of how rights owners, including Quentin Tarantino and Pulp Fiction, Andy Warhol and Prince, rapper Lil Yachty, heirloom and iconic brands like Hermes, Patek Philippe, Cartier and Bulgari, are asserting their claims and defenses in the metaverse world of appropriation. This presentation connects the Andy Warhol fair use case [Section 107 of Title 17 of the US Code] before the U.S. Supreme Court with appropriation concepts in metaverses and NFTs and other appropriation types of litigation in copyright and trademark infringement, publicity rights, unfair competition. Participants will gain a general understanding of what they need to know in this evolving technology space to ethically and responsibly advise clients in a climate of rapid change and inconclusive precedent.

Many times, clients come to lawyers and firms looking for advice in the fields of copyright and trademark. This course hopes to help familiarize practitioners with some common issues and terminology in those fields so they can at least be somewhat conversant with their clients on the topics. Will this course turn you immediately into an IP lawyer? No, but it will allow you to learn how to handle basic IP issues like registering a copyright or trademark. It will also allow viewers to learn about common issues that could help guide clients in the right direction. After watching the course, practitioners will also be able to steer clients to websites and sources that can address many of the issues new businesses or entrepreneurs need to understand the issues involved. Finally, it will provide viewers with basic knowledge about the differences between copyright and trademark and what goals each of those devices serve.

Notwithstanding its illegality under federal law, cannabis is now legal for medical and/or adult recreational use in a majority of U.S. states. The cannabis industry is booming and participants want and need IP protections for their products, technologies, and brands. However, the perfection and enforcement of such IP rights is complicated by the continued federal prohibition of cannabis.

What is the Metaverse? This 60 minute program will discuss what is the Metaverse and dissect general legal principles as the law intersects with behavior in the Meters. We will examine how intellectual property intersects with the Metaverse, including general copyright, trademark, and right of publicity issues, as well as exploring sex law implications and criminal law issues.

Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) provide a fast and efficient forum to assert your intellectual property against imported goods. A successful ITC complaint can quickly lead to the ITC blocking future imports of infringing products, protecting market share, and stopping unfair competition. Because Section 337 investigations differ substantially from federal district court actions, success requires a nuanced understanding of the ITC’s unique requirements and procedures. In this course, Mr. Riley explains how to file a complaint at the ITC and examines the wide array of possible causes of action, including patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and breach of contract. Mr. Riley also discusses how to best utilize the ITC’s procedure and discovery rules to strategic advantage.

Design law utilizes the copyright, trade dress, and design patent regimes to help manufacturers protect the design of useful products in multiple market segments. It requires navigating the often ambiguous boundaries between form and function under each legal doctrine. After an introduction to the commercial value of design, the course reviews the law that provides the foundation for a comprehensive design law strategy. The law is then applied to two commercial products – heavy industry and consumer - to help participants synthesize the disparate doctrines. The course presumes familiarity with copyright, trademark, and patent law.

Trade secrets can be the lifeblood of a company, often accounting for most of the value of the company. But they are at risk of loss through employee inattention, inadvertence, and misconduct. In this course, Russell Beck will discuss what trade secrets are, how they are at risk, and how companies can – and should – protect themselves from those risks.

Employee departures represent one of the most significant risks to an employer’s trade secrets. When an employee leaves, any information that leaves with them may be lost forever. But it’s not just the trade secret owner whose information is at risk. The new employer risks contamination of its work product by the use of another party’s trade secrets. In this course, Russell Beck will provide a quick refresher of trade secret law and then discuss the risks created by employee departures and how to think about – and protect against – those risks from all perspectives: the perspective of the former employer, the employee, and the new employer.

This course will take a deep dive into authorship and copyrightability of AI generated content, including discussing the questions of whether or not an artist can be the author of a work created using AI and if copyright authorship requires a human. This course will also review the pending litigation over AI training and explore best practices both for clients and attorneys using AI.

This course will introduce attorneys to the foundations of copyright law and the principals of fair use. This course will provide an in-depth analysis of the Supreme Court’s much anticipated decision in Warhol v. Goldsmith and its redefinition of the fair use defense to copyright infringement.

This CLE program will provide an in-depth overview of the legal issues that are arising at the intersection of intellectual property and emerging technologies. Attorney Caleb Green of Dickinson Wright will discuss IP protection, registration, and enforcement strategies while also addressing the risks and issues related to NFTs and the blockchain.

Intellectual property law is complex, but the ethics in practicing patent and trademark law can be even more difficult to understand.  This course aims to provide background that IP attorneys can take to ensure their conduct confirms to the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct. The presenter, Emil J. Ali, is a registered patent attorney who focuses his practice on USPTO ethics and disciplinary matters. The course provides practical advice on how practitioners can spot issues and conform their conduct to best practice and the USPTO’s rules.  This course is aimed at experienced IP practitioners who practice before the USPTO.