Licensing Law Lawyers in the USA

British manufacturer Dyson, famous for their revolutionary vacuum cleaners and bladeless fans, has instituted legal action against electronics giant Samsung, citing patent infringements.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office allow trademark applicants to conduct much of their business electronically through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS).

For those who have ever engaged in creative pursuits, the term “fair use” is often greeted with equal measures of delight and disdain. Fair use is an important part of copyright law that provides some flexibility for how copyrighted works can be used by others. In essence, fair use ensures that there are some kinds of uses that do not require someone to obtain permission or pay licensing fees to use certain works in certain ways.

Highway signs for famous roadways are increasingly popping up on a variety of consumer merchandise from home décor to t-shirts. But can companies who use these logos obtain trademark protection?

The Supreme Court issued an important copyright decision, ruling that Congress acted constitutionally when it restored copyright protection to foreign works that had once been in the public domain. The 1994 law was part of an effort to implement the Berne Convention, a treaty that gives U.S. works reciprocal protection overseas.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently ruled that an eBay reseller of copyrighted software could not rely on the first sale doctrine. The decision centered on the distinction between a sale and a license, as the Ninth Circuit previously held that the first sale defense is unavailable to licensees.

The blockbuster jury award issued in the ongoing and high-profile patent litigation between Apple and Samsung has certainly caught everyone’s attention. The jury concluded that Samsung infringed on several Apple patents and awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages.

Pinterest, a social networking website that allows users to create a virtual bulletin board of their favorite online content, is rapidly gaining popularity. Unique visits to the website reportedly topped 11.7 million. However, questions have surfaced about whether Pinterest could be held liable for copyright infringement by encouraging the unauthorized sharing of protected images and videos.

Groupon Inc. has filed a trade secret lawsuit against two former sales managers, accusing them of taking confidential trade secrets with them when they left to join a competing venture run by Google Inc. Lawsuits like these are extremely common in the technology industry, where the competition to roll out innovative products is intense.

Patent trolls cost the country’s top tech companies an estimated $29 billion last year, according to a new report. The Boston University School of Law study contends that the rise in opportunistic patent litigation is stifling innovation and harming inventors.