Articles Posted in Intellectual Property

On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, Triller, Inc. sued TikTok, Inc. and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, over patent infringement claims. The complaint alleges that TikTok and ByteDance infringe on Triller's U.S. Patent No. 9,691,429 for "[s]ystems and methods for creating music videos synchronized with an audio track."

Tesla alleges that former Tesla employees who now work at Rivian brought confidential and proprietary information to their new jobs.

Instacart is suing Uber's Cornershop grocery service as both companies are taking advantage of the demand for food deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, July 2, 2020, Grammy award-winning composer and musician Maria Schneider filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, against YouTube, LLC, Google, LLC, and Alphabet, Inc. The lawsuit concerns copyright piracy on YouTube and alleges that YouTube's copyright management tool, Content ID, "actually insulates the vast majority of known and repeated copyright infringers from YouTube's repeat infringer policy" and leaves plaintiffs in the class with "no meaningful ability to police the extensive infringement of their copyrighted work." The complaint requests, among other things, equitable relief in the form of providing Content ID to all copyright owners and monetary relief in the form of defendants' profits derived from copyright infringement on YouTube.

The Court determined that internet companies can trademark the combination of a generic word and ".com" if the combination has acquired a secondary meaning.

The dispute between the tech giant and the smart speaker maker raises issues involving antitrust and anti-competition in addition to intellectual property.

The U.S. Congress plans to update the Digital Millennium Copyright Act later this year. A lengthy report produced by the U.S. Copyright Office suggests that this update may enhance protections for rights holders.

Ubisoft argues that the American tech giants should have removed a mobile game from their digital marketplaces that infringed on the popular Rainbow Six Siege game.

A lawsuit between competing tobacco companies involves the tobacco heating technology used in their devices, which are alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

On Tuesday, March 31, 2020, Judge John Padova, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ruled mostly in favor of Epic Games, Inc. in a lawsuit involving the Fortnite dance emote "Phone It In." Judge Padova granted Epic Games, Inc.'s motion to dismiss concerning plaintiff Leo Pellegrino's causes of action concerning the following claims: (1) unauthorized use of name or likeness; (2) misappropriation of publicity; (3) invasion of privacy by misappropriation of identity; (4) unjust enrichment; (5) unfair competition; (6) trademark infringement under Pennsylvania common law; and (7) trademark dilution under the Lanham Act. However, Judge Padova ruled that plaintiff's claim for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act could proceed.