Monthly Archives: December 2017

The Marking Requirement is Alive and Well; Don’t Forget about Virtual Marking

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The Federal Circuit recently faced a patent marking issue in Arctic Cat Inc. v. Bombardier Recreational Products Inc., [2017-1475] (December 8, 2017).  In that case, the patent owner Arctic Cat had previously licensed the patents in suit to Honda. The license agreement with Honda specifically stated that Honda “shall have no obligation or requirement to mark” its licensed products.  While this provision no doubt made sense to Arctic Cat at the time, it put at risk the damage award against accused infringer Bombardier for the period of time before Arctic Cat received actual notice of infringement.

The Federal Circuit held that an alleged infringer who challenges the patentee’s  compliance with § 287 bears an initial burden of production to articulate the products it believes are unmarked “patented articles” subject to § 287. Once the alleged infringer meets its burden of production, however, the patentee bears the burden to prove the products identified do not practice the patented invention.

Compliance with the patent marking statute can be difficult because the patent owner may have to change the molds or other equipment used in manufacture as the patent issues, and again as the patents expire or are invalidated (lest the patent owner be accused of false marking).  This obligation also extends to the patent owner’s licensees, but it is easy to understand why a licensee, such as Honda in this case, would not want to be bothered with marking.

 

However many patent owners appear to be unaware that the AIA made it easier for patent owners (and their licensees) to comply with the patent marking requirement.  While it could not have helped Arctic Cat and its licensee Honda in their pre-AIA license, amended §287(a) now allows the patentee to mark by “fixing thereon the word “patent” or the abbreviation “pat.” together with an address of a posting on the Internet, accessible to the public without charge for accessing the address, that associates the patented article with the number of the patent.”  Thus when patents issue or expire, a patent owner simply has to update a website – not change molds or printing plates.

A Report to Congress on virtual marking in 2014 concluded that “virtual marking has likely met its intended objectives of reducing manufacturing costs and facilitating public notice in certain situations.”  This assessment was probably correct, but virtual marking remains under-utilized.  Among virtual markers, some provide online lists:

TIVO: www.tivo.com/patents

Nanoleaf: http://nanoleaf.me/patents/

Densify: http://www.densify.com/company/virtual-patent-marking.htm

Arthrex: www.arthrex.com/corporate/virtual-patent-marking

Hill-Rom: http://www2.hill-rom.com/usa/PDF/Patent_20120609.pdf

 Actifio: https://www.actifio.com/patents/

some provide a downloadable list:

Bunn: www.bunn.com/patents

some provide lists for individual products:

Kimberly Clark www.kimberly-clark.com/patents

and some provide a searchable database:

St. Jude Medical: http://patent.sjmneuro.com/Public.

Virtual patent marking is one of the few benefits of the AIA, but inventors and their assignees do not appear to be taking advantage of it.

 

Copyright Claim from Out of the Blue

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Leslie Weller has sued Gillian Flynn, author of the book Gone Girl, and a host of others for infringing Wellers’s copyright in a novel titled Out of the Blue.  What is interesting about this case (aside from the fact that every successful movie seems to be based upon copyright infringement) is the case for access by defendant.  Plaintiff emailed her script to a consultant whose books were edited by who was represented by the Levine Greenberg  who also represented defendant Flynn

Plaintiff’s claim is on its face plausible, but so convoluted, that defendant may be able to break the chain.  However, this Complaint, and others like it, are a reminder of the importance of keeping records of development, whether its a story as here, or a computer program or some other work, to be able to prove independent creation.

Plaintiff’s Complaint does identify a number of similarities in between Gone Girl and Out of the Blue, and it will be interesting to see the defendants response.  If there was no infringement, hopefully defendants have records to show the independent creation.

 

For God’s Sake, Copyright Does Not Protect Ideas, Only Expression

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On December 6, 2107, Judge Louis Stanton dismissed Randy Brown’s copyright law suit again Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting, Cartoon Network, and others, based upon the claim that the television series Black Jesus infringed his short story Thank You Jesus.

Judge Stanton’s opinion concisely stated what every copyright owner needs to remember:

It is a principle fundamental to copyright law that a copyright does not protect an idea, but only the expression of the idea.

Judge Stanton found that there are “no similarities between the two works beyond the abstract and unprotected idea of an African American male protagonist named Jesus who believes that he is the Son of God.”  Review plot, characters, setting, themes and total concept and feel, he concluded that the concept of an African American Jesus who engages in allegedly “un-Jesuslike” conduct is an abstract idea, which is illustrated and expressed differently by entirely different stories in each work.  Judge Stanton found that no reasonable jury, properly instructed, could finding that the expressions of Thank You Jesus are substantially related to Black Jesus.

While the law does provided limited protection for ideas under certain circumstances, copyright does not.  Merely because a second work is based upon the same idea as a first work does not mean it infringes the copyright in the first work.