| Patent Law |
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| It has been held by the United States Supreme Court that laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas may not be the subject of a patent. The reasoning behind this rule is that laws of nature and abstract ideas are not created; rather, they exist independent of any person and are merely described by the person that discovers them. Included in the types of abstract ideas for which patents may not be obtained are mathematical formulae and algorithms, which are sets of steps or procedures designed to solve a problem.
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| Patent Law and Collateral Estoppel |
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| In a patent case, under collateral estoppel, once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its judgment, that decision may preclude relitigation of the issue in a suit on a different cause of action involving a party to the first case. Once a patent has been declared invalid via judicial inquiry, a collateral estoppel barrier is created against further litigation involving the patent, unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that he or she did not have a full and fair chance to litigate the validity of the patent in the prior case. Defendants may be collaterally estopped from contesting issues of infringement and patent validity. More... |
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| Patent Claims and the Definiteness Requirement |
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| An applicant for a patent must include in the specification accompanying the application for the patent one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his or her invention. Patent claims serve two functions. First, they define the invention for the purpose of applying the conditions of patentability, the statutory bars, and the disclosure requirements. Second, they define the invention for the purpose of determining infringement. More... |
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| Right to Perform Copyrighted Work |
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| Under the Copyright Act, to perform a copyrighted work means "to recite, render, play, dance, or act it, either directly or by means of any device or process." "Performing" a motion picture or other audiovisual work means "to show its images in any sequence or to make the sounds accompanying it audible." The Copyright Act defines the term "publicly perform" to mean "to perform or display [a copyrighted work] at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered." "To perform or display" includes to broadcast to such place open to the public. Therefore, performances in concert halls, theaters, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other common public facilities are covered by the exclusive right of performance, whether the performance is live or broadcast to the public place, while the viewing of a movie in a private home is not a public performance and thus is not covered by the right of performance. More... |
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| Typeface as Trademark Subject Matter |
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| There are three types of protection that can be afforded to typefaces and fonts in addition to basic license agreements: trademark, design patent, and copyright. These are intended to keep non licensees from copying the fonts in some way and passing them off as original material. The trademark system is the weakest form of protection, allowing only the font name itself to be protected. This means that no one is allowed to use a currently existing typeface name for a new font, even if the fonts are completely unrelated. The design patent system is the strongest, but it is the most uncommon type of protection. More... |
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