Google® CEO Sundar Pichai demonstrated the capabilities of Google Assistant onstage at Google I/O.1 Triggered by a voice command, the Google Assistant software seamlessly and successfully communicated with a hair salon employee, via a phone call that the software initiated, to book the appointment. Pichai explained that Google Assistant actually "understand[s] the nuances of conversation" by combining natural language understanding, deep learning and text-to-speech technology. This represents a new and less blatantly artificial development in the [...]

Before 1988, the U.S. Trademark Law (known as the Lanham Act) required an applicant to have begun to use a mark in commerce before applying to register it.  This use requirement was loosely interpreted to permit owners to obtain rights by making "token use" of their marks. In 1988, the Law was changed to permit an application to be filed before use if, at the time the applicant applies for registration, the applicant has [...]

The federal patent laws provide for an award of attorneys' fees to the prevailing party in exceptional patent infringement cases.  35 U.S.C. §285.  An exceptional case is determined based on the totality of the circumstances.  A case can be exceptional due to a substantive legal position taken by a party or a party's unreasonable litigation tactics.  Courts can and will award attorneys' fees to a prevailing defendant if the plaintiff was not justified in [...]