Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management profiled my recent publication, co-authored with Kellogg faculty member James Conley. This work examines amicus (friend of the court) briefs submitted during U.S. Supreme Court patent litigation, and published in the University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy.
Archive for the ‘Intellectual property controversies’ category
Research Spotlight: Friends of the court: Using Amicus Briefs to Identify Corporate Advocacy Positions in Supreme Court Patent Litigation
October 3, 2011Apple Asserts iPhone and iPad Shape Trademarks
April 25, 2011Apple recently sued Samsung, claiming that the Korean manufacturer’s mobile phones and tablets infringe the trademark rights related to the iPhone and iPad line of products. I have written extensively about Apple’s unique and sophisticated approach to securing its design-related innovations with overlapping intellectual property rights. As I’ve mentioned in those writings, very few manufacturers [...]
Independent Designers: Here’s a Powerful Tool to Combat Knock-Offs
June 19, 2010I’m always troubled when I hear stories about independent designers who are ripped off by knock-off artists, large retail chains and unscrupulous exporters who take advantage of low-cost manufacturing costs to catch a free ride from a designer’s work. Reporter Christina Binkley wrote an interesting article on this very topic in The Wall Street Journal [...]
Trademarks & Gray Market Pharmaceutical Law in the E.U.
April 16, 2010I was invited to post a response on the Opinio Juris international law blog to an article written by Robert C. Bird (U. Connecticut) and Peggy Chaudhry (Villanova). Their article, ” Pharmaceuticals and the European Union: Managing Gray Markets in an Uncertain Legal Environment” was published by the Virginia Journal of International Law. The article [...]
Do Androids Dream of Cell Phones?
January 24, 2010The Wall Street Journal reports that an heir to the estate of sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick has alleged that Google’s “Nexus One” phone infringes the author’s intellectual property estate. Mr. Dick is the author of “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”, which was the basis of the sci-fi cult classic “Blade Runner“. In that [...]
Bud Light’s Trademark Fiasco
September 16, 2009I came across a recent post on an ip blog that does a nice job describing the trademark issues surrounding beer cans using university colors.
Vote For Your Favorite Shape Trademark
September 10, 2009My research has led me to a somewhat exotic area: 3-D product shape trademarks. These are rare but powerful forms of intellectual property. They are usually reserved for product shape designs that have iconic characteristics. Their rarity suggests that the average company does not typically invest as much in product design as they should. Here [...]
Google Obtains Design Patent For Its Website
September 4, 2009For some time now, I have noticed how Google has obtained several design patents for its website and user interface. See below. They also recently applied for and obtained a new design patent for the layout of search results. Click here to see it. A design patent is not your typical patent, and it only [...]
Louis Vuitton Wins a $32 Million Trademark Judgment
September 2, 2009That’s a pretty big sum for a trademark infringement case, litigated in a federal court in Northern California. What is interesting is it wasn’t levied against some knock off artists directly. Instead, the charge was contributory infringement (kind of like aiding and abetting) against web site hosts that allowed fake L.V. hand bags to be [...]
