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Here’s What Happened: Justin Pethick worked for DeWolff, Boberg & Associates (DBA), a consulting company. Justin left DBA to work for a competitor, Randall Powers Company (Powers), and some potential clients of DBA hired Powers instead. DBA sued Justin and Powers for trade secret misappropriation. DBA claimed that Justin and Powers used DBA’s trade secrets […]

Here’s What Happened: In October 2024, high school student, Francesca Mani, found out that boys in her class used artificial intelligence (AI) software to fabricate sexually explicit images of Francesca and some of her female classmates. These images are called “deepfakes”. For some of us, high school has long been in our rearview window. But […]

Here’s What Happened: Healthier Choices Management Corp is a grocery and vape store chain. Healthier Choices applied to patent its own electronic vaping pipe. Philip Morris also had a line of electronic vaping pipes. In an interparty proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Philip Morris challenged Healthier Choices’ patent. The Board agreed with […]

Here’s What Happened: Bucky Woodall wrote a screenplay titled “Bucky the Wave Warrior”. It was about a modern day teenager who wants to learn about the ocean and surfing. Bucky gave the script to his sister-in-law’s stepsister who worked for Disney Company in the live action division. The stepsister inquired if Disney accepted unsolicited scripts […]

Here’s What Happened: Dewberry Engineers Inc. (“D. Engineers”) is a real estate development company. Dewberry Group Inc. (“D. Group”) is a competitor of D. Engineers. D. Group provides services for rental properties. The properties are owned by separate corporate affiliates of D. Group. D. Group operated at a loss for most years and was only […]

Here’s What Happened: Westlaw (owned by Thomson Reuters) gives attorneys handy headnotes and a key system for legal research. The headnotes summarize and organize a judge’s opinion so that an attorney can, at a glance, determine the relevance of a court’s opinion. Thomson Reuters owns the copyrights to the headnotes. Ross Intelligence Inc. used an […]

Here’s What Happened: “Dupes” are products that look and work like a popular item. In the cosmetic industry, dupes can give consumers on a budget access to products that they might not otherwise be able to afford.  Benefit Cosmetics LLC sells mascara using the trademark “Roller Lash” that includes an applicator known as a “Hook […]

On January 1 of each year, some copyrighted works fall into the public domain. That means, they are free for use, copying and as a basis for derivative works. Works created before 1929 are now in the public domain. Thousands of works spanning all copyright categories make up the Public Domain Class of 2025. Members […]

Here’s What Happened: Fans of the movie Home Alone 2 may remember the prank Kevin pulled on the hotel staff that ended with the phrase, “Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal”. DT Fashions LLC registered the trademark in 2013. DT’s best-selling products included t-shirts, sweatshirts, and sweaters containing the phrase “Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal.” DT […]