In case you’re curious about what happened after, here’s an update from a previous post. %CUT%

No group of artists suffers copyright infringement more than photographers. %CUT% Professional and amateur photographers post their photos on the Internet to proudly display their work. Photographers have a hard time reigning in unauthorized uses of their photos. It’s hard to track unauthorized downloads, hard to find the downloaders and the damages are usually not pursuing given the costs of litigation. That’s why VHT, Inc.’s $8.3 million judgment against Zillow Group, Inc. deserves acknowledgement. VHT licenses its photos of properties that are for sale to real estate agents. The real estate agents have a license to post the photos for marketing purposes. Zillow’s infringement resulted from use of the photos outside the scope of the license in two ways. First, it left the photos on its website even after the properties were sold. Second, Zillow posted the photos on its “Diggs” website which provides home design and improvement services.

When a virtual reality tech developer leaves, the real world intercedes. %CUT% Zenimax, owned by programming guru John Carmack, worked with Palmer Luckey to improve his Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming device. Zenimax allowed Luckey access to its proprietary technology. Luckey signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Facebook bought Luckey’s company. Right after the sale, a group of Zenimax employees left to work with Luckey. Zenimax sued Luckey and his company seeking $4 billion for trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement and trademark infringement. And, oh yes, breach of the NDA. After trial, the jury rejected all but the breach of the NDA claim and awarded $500 million to Zenimax.

The conventional wisdom is that in a foreign company v. Chinese company patent suit, the Chinese company will always win. Maybe not. %CUT% Danish company, Novozymes, had patented an enzyme for use in bioenergy and beverages. Novozymes sued two Chinese companies, Shandong Longda Bio Products and Jiangsu Boli Bioproducts for patent infringement. Novozymes brought the case in China. After six years of litigation, the Supreme People’s Court entered judgment against the Chinese companies. Two things make this victory even sweeter. First, certain types of biotechnology are harder to support under Chinese patent rules than patent rules in the U.S. and Europe. Second, the Chinese government devotes significant resources to Chinese companies’ research and development in the area of biotechnology.

Many 401(k) plan sponsors have wisely selected investment professionals to assist in selecting the plan’s investment menu, typically a listing of various mutual funds. Other plan sponsors may allocate this duty to company officers and other key employees. In either case, the resident plan fiduciaries (the company officers and key employees who act on behalf of the sponsor as plan administrator or trustee) have a legal duty to “select and monitor” plan investments and, in the case of sponsors who have hired investment professionals – to monitor not only investment performance but also the performance of the investment professionals.