Assignor Estoppel: When Can A Party Challenge A Patent They Sold?

In patent law, the doctrine of “assignor estoppel” refers to barring a party who assigned a patent from later challenging the validity of the patent. Assignor estoppel is an equitable doctrine that has been relied upon in order to prevent someone who has assigned the rights to a patent (or patent application) from later contending that what was assigned was, in fact, worthless. The doctrine has been applied to not just inventors, but also […]

By | July 13th, 2021 ||

Google v. Oracle – Supreme Court Issues Landmark Opinion On Fair Use; Sidesteps Interface Copyrightability

On April 5, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Google’s copying of Oracle code was fair use, putting an end to a $9 billion infringement suit, clarifying or revising several important points of copyright law, and significantly altering the legal rules for software interoperability.

The dispute between Oracle and Google stemmed from Google’s desire to (1) make its Android smartphone platform similar enough to Oracle’s Java programming language that the significant existing population of Java […]

By | July 9th, 2021 ||

Trademark Modernization Act Of 2020 Provides New Tools For Removing Deadwood Trademark Registrations

Under US law, to obtain a trademark registration, an Applicant must demonstrate a bona fide use of the mark in the ordinary course of trade. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in trademark applications that falsely claim a bona fide use in trade. As a result, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has been issuing and maintaining registrations for trademarks that should never have issued. When such fraudulent registrations remain on the Trademark […]

By | July 8th, 2021 ||