Around the Blogs

Welcome to this week’s roundup of interesting stories from around the IP blogosphere.

Copyright

If you’ve been putting your socially-distanced time to good use (i.e. spending a lot of time on Netflix), you may have become a fan of a certain big cat keeper’s exploits. The Copyright Alliance answers any questions you might have about Joe Exotic’s intellectual property battles with Carole Baskin.

Over on SpicyIP, there’s an interesting overview of questions of fair use and copyright in Indian law in relation to online education during the coronavirus pandemic.

The CREAte blog (University of Glasgow) has published an update to its copyright evidence wiki, which collates empirical copyright studies. The latest post links to a range of sources on Piracy, User-Generated Content and Copyright Literacy.

Patents

Comparative Patent Remedies discusses a precedential opinion of the US Federal Circuit on litigation costs in the patent context, including linking to further analysis on the issues raised.

The issue of patent eligible subject-matter cropped up on PatentlyO, with an explanation of the decision and reasoning of the US Federal Circuit in reversing a decision of the district court that a patent for a diagnostic tool constituted invalid subject matter as an abstract idea.

Retired federal judge Paul Michel, along with Paul Battaglia, have prompted a lively discussion on the present state and potential reform of US patent law and incentives to innovate in light of COVID-19, over on IP Watchdog.

Trade Marks

The Fashion Law reports on a recent decision of the Pudong New Area People’s Court in Shanghai, which found that a company calling itself ‘New Barlun’ and making sports shoes bearing an ‘N’ mark had infringed New Balance’s mark.

Is ‘spike’ merely descriptive in relation to clothing and leather goods? The TTA Blog hosts an overview of the USPTO’s affirmative answer and resultant refusal to register the mark ROCKSTUD SPIKE.

Afro IP comments on the efforts of social activist Yusuf Abramjee in bringing economic and social issues, such as entrenching poverty and losing foreign investment, caused by counterfeiting in South Africa to public attention.