Solicitor General Recommends That Supreme Court Accept Review Of Case Involving Extraterritorial Reach Of U.S. Trademark Law

In an earlier post we noted that the Supreme Court called for the views of the Solicitor General on whether to accept review of Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., a case involving the international reach of U.S. trademark law. The issue is whether a U.S. trademark owner can recover damages for infringing sales outside the U.S. to non-U.S. customers. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals said yes, if those non-U.S. sales diverted sales that […]

By | September 29th, 2022 ||

Warby Parker Beats Back 1-800’s Infringement Claims

In our Fall 2021 issue, we reported on the Second Circuit’s decision in 1-800-Contacts, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, 1 F.4th 102 (2d Cir. 2021). In that case, the Second Circuit reviewed the online contact lens retailer’s practice of filing trademark infringement lawsuits against competitors who purchased 1-800-Contacts related “keywords” so that their own paid advertisements would appear in the search results of consumers searching online for 1-800’s website. 1-800 typically then entered into settlement agreements […]

By | September 28th, 2022 ||

Type C Patent Term Adjustment Requires Fully Successful Appeal

In Sawstop Holding LLC v. Vidal, the Federal Circuit upheld the USPTO’s interpretation of the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) statute that limits the availability of PTA for time spent appealing an Examiner’s rejection. The decision may lead to more scrutiny of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that “affirm” an appealed rejection on the basis of “a new ground of rejection.” The decision also may encourage applicants to structure their appeals such that a favorable […]

By | September 26th, 2022 ||