Christou v. Beatport
Christou owned night clubs, and Bradley was his employee. Bradley's primary role was to find good DJs and organize events at Christou's night clubs. By virtue of his role, Bradley had access to the MySpace account of Christou's night club group. While working with Christou, Bradley founded Beatport and later left his job.
Subsequently, Bradley started a competing night club after a few days. Aggrieved by his actions, Christou sued for trade secret misappropriation among other grounds.…
When an individual comes up with an idea followed by an invention drawn from that idea, it is wise on his part to monopolize his right over the invention. In such a scenario one has to seek protection for his invention with the respective authorities. This write up briefly summaries the essentials of patent filing.
Any invention or technology which has not been anticipated by publication in any document or used in the country or anywhere in the world before…
Zu Technologies, a non-practising entity, has recently filed patent infringement suits against KickStarter and seven makers of sex toys having haptic features. The patent in the suit relates to a device and method for interactive virtual control of sexual aids using digital computer networks. The patent is popularly referred to as Teledildonics Patent as it relates to electronic sex toys that can be controlled by computing devices. In addition to KickStarter, the suit was filed against omingle, Holland Haptics, Vibease,…
Earlier this year, the USPTO published a patent application, filed by the American automaker Ford, for a new car that would give users an option to remove certain car parts and reassemble them into a bicycle. The invention titled as “Collapsible Bicycle” could become an important innovation in the field of future mobility. The publication discloses a bicycle that can be stored in the body of a vehicle. With the new proposal, the automobile giant is trying to solve the…
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 101
Rejections under this clause are based on the fact that claims do not fall within one of the four statutory categories of acceptable subject matter: process, machine, article of manufacture or composition of matter.
One of the ways to overcome this rejection is by claiming an invention by properly citing the subject matter.
In telecom patents, ‘signals’ cannot be claimed even though they are a part of the telecom industry.
For example : A method…
Conventional IC engines generally use diesel or petrol as a mode of fuel in the combustion chamber for generating power. A major problem with this is that the IC engine emits harmful gases into the atmosphere resulting in adverse effects on living things and environment. Another problem that the IC engines faces is the lack of fuel efficiency.
Caterpillar is a leader in manufacturing heavy duty vehicles and earth movers like bulldozers, articulated trucks, excavators, compactors, harvesters, etc. The firm…
Recently, the USPTO announced two new programs under the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) that are designed to improve the quality of Patent Prosecution in the United States. This program will add more detail to the record of each U.S. patent application. According to the PTO Director Michelle K Lee “Patents of the highest quality can help to stimulate and promote efficient licensing, research and development, and future innovation without resorting to needless high-cost court proceedings. Through correctness and clarity,…
This post provides short briefs of two publicity rights cases, which provide insights about publicity rights on social media. A previous post on the subject covered a couple of other cases.
Ranveer Singh and Slippers
Just before the movie Kill Dil, a Bollywood film starring Ranveer Singh, Govinda and others was released, a company by the name 'Yo Custom Freak' uploaded a Facebook image of slippers. The phrase 'Kill Dil' was written on the slippers and Ranveer Singh's photograph was…
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently passed a decision against an order of the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) which sought to block the import of digital data that violated patents. The decision was passed on 10th November this year, in the case of ClearCorrect Operating, LLC, ClearCorrect Pakistan (Private), Ltd., v. International Trade Commission and Align Technology, Inc.
Align Technology is a multinational medical device company based out of San Jose, California. Align Technology…
Standards are important for the purposes of compatibility and inter operability of components/devices and products. Technical standards mainly decide the interoperability in operation. These standards are mainly defined and set by a competent body such as an SDO (Standards Development Organization), even though there is no universally set standard used to qualify a patent as an essential patent. The process of qualifying and determining a patent as a standard essential patent(SEP) may depend on many factors, such as the type…