In United States Patent And Trademark Office, Et Al., v. Booking.Com B. V. (No. 19-46, Jun. 30, 2020), the Supreme Court held that the combination of a generic term with “.com”—referred to as a “generic.com term”–could be a protectable trademark. Booking.com, an enterprise that maintains a travel-reservation website by the same name, sought federal registration … Continue reading
In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court held in Georgia et al v. Public.Resource.Org., Inc. (No. 18-1150) (April 27, 2020) that the state of Georgia is not entitled to copyright protection for its official annotated code. The Copyright Act grants expansive rights for “original works of authorship.” 17 U.S.C. § 102(a). Georgia claimed … Continue reading
A trademark infringement suit is not required to show willful infringement as a precondition to a disgorgement of the infringers’ profits.… Continue reading
In an unanimous ruling, the United States Supreme Court held that copyright owners cannot sue states for copyright infringement when states have copied or made use of their works without their consent. Sovereign immunity shields the states from any such claims and Congress’ attempt to abrogate that immunity in the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of … Continue reading