By: Christina E. Brule and Teige P. Sheehan On May 5, the Biden administration signaled the United States’ support for a proposed waiver of certain World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that require member countries to enforce intellectual property (IP) rights, particularly those related to confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. This article sets out an explanation of…
Rochester and Albany, NY: Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti, an intellectual property firm with offices across New York, is proud to announce that partner Alana M. Fuierer has been named to the Rochester Business Journal (RBJ) and The Daily Record “Power Lists for Law.” Ms. Fuierer was selected by the editorial staff of the RBJ…
By: Thomas L. Sica On April 5, 2021, the Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Google LLC v. Oracle Am., Inc., 593 U.S. ___, No. 18-956 (U.S. 2021), ending an 11-year legal battle between the two companies over Google, LLC’s (“Google”) copying of certain aspects of Oracle America, Inc.’s (“Oracle”) Java programming…
By: Christina E. Brule The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (the “Act”), a.k.a. the Coronavirus Relief Bill, was signed into law on December 27th, 2020. In addition to COVID-19 relief, the Act includes several provisions that will significantly influence intellectual property law. This article will focus on provisions of the Act that affect copyright law, namely…
By: Alana M. Fuierer On December 27th, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 (the “Act”) was signed into law. Despite commonly being thought of as merely a “Coronavirus Relief Bill”, it surprisingly contained much more than COVID-19 relief. One of the lesser-known parts of the Act is the Trademark Modernization Act (“TMA”) which amends the…
By: David P. Miranda In 1986 Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), to address crimes that occur via unauthorized access to computer. In Van Buren v. United States, 206 L. Ed. 2d 822 (2020), Nathan Van Buren, a police officer in the state of Georgia, was charged under the CFAA after he…
By: David P. Miranda This column typically discusses legal topics related to technology, this month we look at how technology relates to the law, specifically our court system. In the midst of a pandemic, our world in lockdown, lawyers are learning to navigate the challenges of working remotely. These circumstances provided the Chief Judge of…
By: Wayne F. Reinke There is some concern in the patent-sphere about the CAFC conflating §101 (patentable subject matter) with §112 (issues with claim wording and/or support of claims in specification) and other considerations. There is no better example of this than the recently modified (twice) opinion of July 31, 2020 for American Axle &…
By: Benjamin D. Bucinell In Boesen v. United Sports Publications, Ltd., Case No. 20-CV-1552 (ARR) (SIL) (E.D.N.Y.), United Sports Publication (USP) prevails in a Copyright infringement claim by photographer, Michael Boesen related to a social media post. On December 6, 2019, Caroline Wozniacki, announced her retirement from professional Tennis on Instagram. This announcement was accompanied…
By: Benjamin D. Bucinell In 1718 Black Beard’s ship, Queen Ann’s Revenge, ran aground and sank about a mile of the shore of North Carolina. Black Beard’s ship belonged to North Carolina, but the videos and images of its recovery efforts were the intellectual property of Frederick Allen, who registered copyrights in all his works….