2023

In Brief:  As we enter awards season, it’s time to acknowledge those who achieved infamy in the world of Intellectual Property.  Here’s What Happened: HONORABLE MENTION GOES TO: Los Angeles, attorneys Elizabeth Yang and Di Li. Yang and Li weren’t accused of or prosecuted for a specific crime. What they did was a wholesale violation […]

About one year ago, President Biden informally observed that the COVID emergency was over in anticipation of social gatherings to celebrate the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. Subsequent legislative and executive action formally ended the COVID national emergency as of May 11, 2023. Various relief provisions relating to employee benefits, like COBRA continuation coverage, wound […]

In Brief:  The case of the Andy Warhol Foundation and Lynn Goldsmith regarding photos of Prince has been kicking around the courts and this blog for 4 years. The Supreme Court has spoken holding that there was no fair use. Here’s What Happened: The facts are convoluted but important. Lynn Goldsmith took some photos of […]

In Brief:  A popular catch phrase can become someone’s trademark. Here’s What Happened: Melissa Viviane Jefferson is better known by her stage name Lizzo. Lizzo’s limited liability company, Lizzo LLC filed several trademark applications for the phrase “100% THAT BITCH” as used for a variety of goods and services, including wearing apparel. The USPTO refused […]

In Brief:  The Copyright Office will register a work that has some AI. Here’s What Happened: In the past, the Copyright Office has refused registration of works created by non-humans. For example, photographer, David Slater, didn’t own the copyright in a selfie taken by a macaque monkey who used David’s camera. The big thing these […]

The Secure Act 2.0 deals with many benefit-related matters including changes to the prior law which generally required retirement plan fiduciaries to take reasonable action to recover any overpayment of plan benefits – even if the overpayment resulted from mistakes made by administrators of the plan. Such action would require efforts to recover benefit overpayments […]

In Brief:   Automating how to choose an outfit is not patentable subject matter. Here’s What Happened: Stylitics, Inc.’s is an e-commerce platform that allows its commercial website clients to create aggregated shoppable content. Stylitics’ “Auto-Styler” creates collages of merchandise. It automatically generates a plurality of outfits that conform to one or more styles. It gives […]

In Brief:  Using a different product’s favorable reviews on Amazon can lead to substantial FTC fines. Here’s What Happened: The Bountiful Company manufactures and sells vitamins and other supplements. Its brands include Nature’s Bounty and Sundown. Bountiful sells its products on Amazon.com. Amazon’s product pages contain useful information about products such as the total number […]

President Biden signed a resolution terminating the COVID National Emergency as of April 10, 2023. This accelerates the May 11 termination date for the COVID National Emergency announced on January 30, 2023, and means that the benefits-related COVID relief provisions will now expire one month earlier. This leaves plan sponsors and their advisors one month […]