Weekly IP Buzz for the Week Ending April 23, 2021
In this week's post, we see that the Supreme Court makes a landmark decision in Intellectual Property law, and finds fair use in Google’s Java API dispute.
Plus, Illinois’s recent holding reaffirms the importance of the confidentiality of a trade secret and that attorney fees can be awarded under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act for litigation brought for a frivolous claim.
Supreme Court Finds Copying Code Was Fair Use by Google
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court made another landmark decision in intellectual property law when it held, in a 6-2 decision, that Google’s copying of Oracle Corporation’s Java application programming interface (“API”) code was fair use.
This blog is an update to my 2020 blog post regarding whether application programming interfaces could be protected under copyright law. Now, the Supreme Court has answered, in a majority decision, that even if copying occurs, such copying may be permissible under the Fair Use doctrine.
Find the full article here.
Client Lists Are Trade Secrets - Until Disclosure Strips the IP Rights Away
A recent case decided in Illinois regarding trade secrets reaffirmed that client lists are not always held to be trade secrets. Illinois, which follows the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Defend Trade Secrets Act recently heard a case that reaffirmed that attorneys’ fees can be recovered in trade secrets litigation and that clients list will not be deemed trade secrets if disclosure of the list has been made.
Read about client lists and trade secrets here.
Click to read the previous Weekly IP Buzz on Thriving Attorney.
For more posts, see our Ideate blog for the latest news and insights into law, business, and culture.
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In addition to publishing Thriving Attorney, Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. Click to read more about Darin Klemchuk's practice as an intellectual property lawyer. For more on the latest developments in IP law, see the blogs Ideate and IP Questions Answered.