Week Ahead in Intellectual Property: Sept. 27, 2021

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(Reuters) – Here are some upcoming events of interest to the intellectual property law community. Unless otherwise noted, all times are local, and court appearances are in person.

Monday, September 27

2:30 p.m. – U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan will hear oral arguments in a copyright dispute between former President Donald Trump and “Electric Avenue” musician Eddy Grant, who alleged last September that a 55-second anti-Biden video Trump shared to his personal Twitter account during the run-up to the 2020 election used his song without permission. Trump and his campaign moved to dismiss the complaint soon after the election, arguing they made fair use of a short part of the song.

The case is Grant v. Trump, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:20-cv-07103. For Grant: Brian Caplan, Robert Clarida, and Julie Wlodinguer of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt. For Trump: Darren Saunders of Peroff Saunders, Ken Caruso of Mukasey Frenchman.

Thursday, September 30

1 p.m. – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will hold its second quarterly webinar on new developments in Chinese IP law. The one-hour program will include sections on patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and IP enforcement, and will be led by senior USPTO attorneys. Registration for the free webinar is open here.

1:30 p.m. – A four-day jury trial is scheduled to begin in U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s Waco, Texas court on Profectus Technology’s claims that Google’s Nest Hubs infringe its patent covering a digital picture frame. Google has argued among other things that the patent is invalid because it “merely invokes well-known, generic, and conventional components” to replace a normal picture frame.

The case is Profectus Technology LLC v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No. 6:20-cv-00101. For Profectus: Casey Griffith, Michael Barbee, Maeghan Whitehead, and Kirk Voss of Griffith Barbee; Steven Ross of Ross IP Group. For Google: Darin Snyder, Marc Pensabene, and Stacy Yae of O’Melveny & Myers; Eugene Mar and Stephanie Skaff of Farella Braun & Martel; Stephen McConnico and Paige Amstutz of Scott Douglass & McConnico.

Know of an event that could be included in an upcoming Week Ahead in Intellectual Property? Contact Blake Brittain at blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com

Blake Brittain

Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Reach him at blake.brittain@thomsonreuters.com

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