Does copyright law require that a human create a work? Yesterday the D.C. Circuit in Thaler v. Perlmutter held that it does and that a machine (such as a computer operating a generative AI program) cannot be designated as the author of the work. However, the D.C. Circuit refrained from saying more for now, leaving
A new federal bill aims to put golf courses on “par” with other architectural designs by expanding federal copyright protection to golf courses. Copyright law in the United States, rooted in the U.S. Constitution, ensures protection for “original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression” (17 U.S.C. § 102(a)). This broad definition
The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Jack Daniel’s in the much-anticipated trademark case pitting trademark protection against parodic products. However, SCOTUS did not reach a final conclusion on whether VIP Products’ Bad Spaniels dog toy will live to see another day as a parody of the Jack Daniel’s whiskey bottle. Instead, the Court focused on
Last month the Federal Circuit affirmed a PTAB inter partes review (IPR) decision finding that the University of Minnesota’s patent claim directed to the anti-cancer drug sofosbuvir was not adequately supported by the written description in the applications to which it claimed priority. As a result, the appellate court held in Regents of the University
The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. provides a timeline reminder to inventors and patent applicants: Do not bring your invention into public view before you have filed your patent application, and if you do, remember the one-year critical date for filing. Otherwise, your patent runs the risk of later