Intellectual Property

Federal prosecutors may have more trouble seizing defendant companies’ domain names – an increasingly popular tactic – after a U.S. District Court ruled it is not considered property.

Patent owners may be entitled to extended patent terms, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in a case of particular significance to pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device patents where extending patent life can result in significant additional revenue.

A recently-filed class-action lawsuit seeks to ride the coattails of the recent decision finding that Samsung violated Apple patents in many of its smart phones, claiming that customers would not have purchased the phones if they knew of the infringement. Whether the courts will accept the notion that the alleged infringement harms consumers remains to be seen.

Because its products don’t exactly fit current copyright and patent protection laws, fashion designers are taking to the courts to fight for increased protections for “quasidesigns” – patterns or shapes that walk the line between logos and designs.

In looking to acquire smaller firms, large companies see positives in a healthy backlog of patents. But it may make little sense for startups to make that investment.