Should the Slants Get a Trademark?
By David Kline The latest release from Simon Tam’s dance rock group The Slants is called “The Band Who Must Not Be Named” — and for good reason. Despite making music for more than a decade, the world’s first all Asian-American dance rock band has...
Should Software Patents Be Outlawed?
By David Kline in June of 2014, The U.S. Supreme Court issued its most consequential decision on the patentability of software in since it upheld the first software patent 33 years previously. In Alice v. CLS Bank, the Court ruled that taking some activity that people...
Do Infringers Pay for the Whole Product or the Infringing Component?
By Richard Stockton, Kevin Keenan, and Brad Van Pelt In 2011, Apple sued Samsung for, among other things, infringement of three U.S. patents — two claiming designs for parts of a smartphone, and one for a graphical user interface of a smartphone display screen. A jury...