Weekly IP Buzz for week ending in July 27, 2018

Here's a summary of interesting developments in intellectual property, technology, social media, and Internet law for the week ending July 27, 2018.

Federal Circuit Vacates Apple Patent Decision | Standards for CBM Review Requirements

Earlier this month, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an earlier decision handed down by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”). The PTAB had previously decided that a covered business method (CBM Review) proceeding was required to be instituted in the Apple v. ContentGuard Holdings case.

On appeal, the Federal Circuit disagreed. The judges held that the PTAB had decided the case using the incorrect legal standard for deciding whether or not CBM review was necessary in this instance. Using the precedent set by the Federal Circuit in Unwired Planet v. Google, the Federal Circuit held that the standard used to decide whether CBM review should be instituted was not properly applied in this case. Read more about Patent Litigation.

Could This Case Change the DMCA Safe Harbor Provisions?

2017 has been shaping up to be an exciting year for copyright practioners. And with Capitol Records, LLC. v. Vimeo, LLC (“Vimeo”), practitioners could see a change in how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) provides safe harbor and protection to online service providers that are accused of copyright infringement.

In 2009, several music publishing and record companies banded together to sue Vimeo. In their complaint, they alleged that Vimeo, software that acts as online video-sharing platform, infringed upon their copyrights by allowing users to upload videos that included sound recordings owned by the plaintiffs. While the sound recordings that were allegedly infringed upon ranged from recordings that had been recorded before 1972 to present-day, this wrinkle made it especially difficult for courts to determine if there had been outright copyright infringement.

As practioners know, sound recordings that were recorded before 1972 are not entitled to federal copyright protection. Instead, the common practice for legal practioners at that time was to submit the sheet music for the song for copyright registration and protection. Read more about Copyright Litigation.

Beware the Tweet! You May Face an Unintended Tweetstorm

Tweets can be a great way to reach a large audience quickly. But tweets may have unexpected and unintended consequences. Here are some social media blunders from the last few years that had companies in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Read more about Kit Kat's, Cinnabon's, and Delta Airlines' mistakes. 

Click to read last week's Weekly IP Buzz.

For more posts, see more at our intellectual property law blog.

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Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. He also co-founded Project K, a charitable movement devoted to changing the world one random act of kindness at a time, and publishes Thriving Attorney, a blog dedicated to exploring the business of the practice of law, productivity and performance for attorneys, and other topics such as law firm leadership and management, law firm culture, and business development for attorneys.

Click to learn more about Darin M. Klemchuk's law practice as an intellectual property lawyer.