Category Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

On June 30, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in USPTO v. Booking.Com (available here). The Court rejected the PTO’s suggested rule that “[t]he combination of a generic word and ‘.com’ is generic.” Because consumers do not perceive the … Continue reading →

On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Romag Fasteners v. Fossil, Inc. (decision available here). The Court found that a plaintiff can obtain the defendant’s profits even without showing that defendant willfully infringed the plaintiff’s trademark. … Continue reading →

On April 27, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org (available here). The Court found that Georgia could not copyright, via a third-party contractor under a work-for-hire agreement, the official version of its annotated code. Under … Continue reading →

On April 20, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Thryv, Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies, LP (available here). 35 U.S.C. § 314(d) provides that, with respect to inter partes reviews, “[t]he determination by the [Patent & Trademark Office’s] Director … Continue reading →

On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Allen v. Cooper (available here). At issue was Congress’ attempt to strip the States of their sovereign immunity for copyright infringement. In 1999, the Supreme Court struck down Congress’ … Continue reading →

On December 11, 2019, the United States Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Peter v. NantKwest, Inc. (available here). The statute-at-issue was 35 U.S.C. § 145, which allows an applicant who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Patent … Continue reading →

On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Iancu v. Brunetti (available here). The Supreme Court found that the Lanham Act’s ban on registering trademarks that are “immoral or scandalous” violated the First Amendment and, accordingly, struck … Continue reading →

On May 20, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC (decision available here). At issue was whether, when a bankruptcy trustee rejects a trademark-licensing executory contract under 11 U.S.C. § 365(a), the … Continue reading →

On June 10, 2019, the Supreme Court issued its 6-3 decision in Return Mail, Inc. v. United States Postal Service (decision available here). The American Invents Act of 2011 created the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and allowed three new … Continue reading →

On March 4, 2019, the United States Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision (available here) in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com. The Court held that 17 U.S.C. § 411(a), which states that “no civil action for infringement of the copyright in … Continue reading →