On February 23, 2017, Prof. Hugh C. Hansen joined an amicus curiae brief by 44 professors and scholars in support of Lexmark International in its Supreme Court case against Impression Products. in Impression Products v. Lexmark International. The professors argue that although patent exhaustion provides the baseline rule for sales of a patented product by a […]
On February 17, 2017, Prof. Hugh C. Hansen joined an amicus curiae brief submitted by thirteen intellectual property scholars in support of the plaintiff-appellant, Oracle America, Inc., in Oracle Am. v. Google, Inc., 2017-1118 (Fed. Cir.). The appeal concerns the proper copyright fair use analysis as applied to computer software, specifically APIs. In supporting a reversal of […]
Last June, in Converse v. ITC, the International Trade Commission (ITC) found that Wal-Mart, Skechers, and New Balance, among others, could copy an athletic shoe design – Converse’s Chuck Taylor – because it lacked “secondary meaning” to consumers, and therefore failed to qualify for trade dress protection under the Lanham Act. In trademark law, secondary […]
On February 3, 2017, Prof. Hugh C. Hansen joined an amicus curiae brief submitted by 11 Law Professors in support of the appellant, Converse, in Converse v. ITC, 2016-2497 (Fed. Cir.). The appeal concerns the ITC’s invalidation of Converse’s registered trademark in the mid-sole of its iconic Chuck Taylor All-Star shoe, and that further there was insufficient […]
