Copyright Alert: Supreme Court may clarify copyright “Registration/Application” split A question often presented in my copyright practice is whether an infringement claim can be brought after a copyright applicant has filed its application, made its deposit and paid its fees, or whether the PTO must issue a registration. The answer...
The United States Supreme Court has recently issued a decision which gives plaintiffs who bring both state and federal claims in federal court something of a breather. In Artis v. District of Columbia, a five-four majority held that the statute of limitations for state claims is tolled (i.e., stops running) during...
As the rate of sexual harassment claims in the entertainment industry continues at a breakneck pace, artists gained a new avenue last week for resolving disputes surrounding such claims. The HR4A Mediation Pilot Program opened its doors on January 16, 2018, and offers a free and confidential mediation program platform for...
Software licensors routinely require written agreements which prohibit the “reverse engineering” of the software being licensed. The U. S. Circuit Court for the Fourth Circuit has issued an important decision which broadly defines the term “reverse engineering” of software to include the analysis of the licensed software to “learn how...
From February 22nd to 25th, the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Women and Hollywood will host their 8th Annual Athena Film Festival, a yearly celebration of women’s leadership on view in an engaging weekend of feature films, documentaries, and short films that highlight powerful and courageous...
The United States Department of Labor rescinded its 2010 guidance for assessing whether persons qualify as interns rather than employees under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Instead, the DOL aligned itself with the so-called “primary beneficiary” standard announced by the Second Circuit in its 2015 Glatt v. Fox Searchlight...
On January 30, RPJ Partner Nicole Page will moderate a panel for the Realscreen Summit 2018. The panel will discuss how the unscripted and non-fiction content community can use this moment of cultural awareness as a catalyst to create safe workplaces for all individuals and lasting change in the industry. Ms....
The past few months have been the among the most thought-provoking of my career. I am a litigator and employment lawyer who started practicing in the early 1980s when, for the first time in American history, women were entering the legal profession in large numbers. In law school, feminism was...
Intellectual Property Update: Federal Court Allows Registration of “Scandalous” “FUCT” Trademark Following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year that the Lanham Act’s statutory bar to registration of “disparaging” trademarks ran afoul of the First Amendment, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down a companion...
RPJ Partner Nicole Page wrote an article for Refinery29 entitled, "Don't Let 2018 Be Business as Usual: How to Fight Discrimination and Harassment at Work" on December 18, 2017. "Women and men don't show up to the workplace as blank slates. By the time most of us enter the work force, we've had more than...