A pre-pandemic survey by the Economic Policy Institute in 2019 concluded that approximately one-half of all workplaces in the United States require at least some employees to enter into a non-compete agreement.[1] A lot has changed since, and a lot fewer people will be “on the beach” in times to...
In a grand gesture of altruism within our otherwise fiercely capitalist climate, leaders of industry in the fields of medicine and technology, such as Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft, have voluntarily relinquished their exclusive rights to their intellectual property in an effort to combat COVID-19 as part of the Open COVID...
Earlier this month, New York federal district court Judge Laura Taylor Swain denied a motion to dismiss a case filed by Sketchworks Industrial Strength Comedy Inc. seeking to obtain the court’s preemptive declaration that its musical Vape, which it created as an alleged parody of the musical Grease, constitutes “fair...
We are pleased to announce that RPJ Partner Deena R. Merlen, who heads RPJ’s Connecticut practice, has been appointed as Chair of the Connecticut Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society (LES) of the USA and Canada, an independent professional organization that facilitates global intellectual property commerce through education, networking, standards...
A licensor of copyrighted software is often faced with two potential pathways for a claim that the copyrighted material was misappropriated: (1) a claim under the Copyright Act or (2) a claim for breach of the licensing agreement. A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second...
Intellectual Property litigation partner Larry Brocchini will be one of several attorneys representing Fossil, Inc. and Macy’s, Inc. in a matter to be briefed and argued before the United States Supreme Court when the Court reconvenes in the fall of 2019. The issue before the Supreme Court is the interpretation...
Recent developments in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Alfonso Ribeiro, known for playing Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, against video game maker Epic Games confirm the questions raised in my prior post as to whether Ribeiro could register a copyright in the Carlton dance and bring a...
As I reported previously, following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling 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 portion of the federal trademark law that precluded registration...
Trademark and patent applicants and practitioners have grown used to (and weary of) ever-increasing Patent and Trademark Office [PTO] fees, particularly since Congress mandated that the PTO’s operations be self-funded. But, even the most cynical PTO practitioner might be surprised at the ingenuity of the PTO Director’s latest revenue generating...
RPL Partner Deena R. Merlen and her co-chairs of the Entertainment, Media and Intellectual Property Law Committee of the Fairfield County Bar Association are hosting a luncheon today on intellectual property due diligence do’s and don’ts called, “Deals and Transactions: Taking a Closer Look at IP Buyer Issues. Buyer Beware? or Buyer Aware?" The program...