August 29, 2019
Efrat's  Message : EfratMessage

Greetings to our colleagues, clients and friends!  
 
We have been digging deeper into Trade Secrets-related topics, as some of our litigation consulting work these days is focused on Trade Secrets damages. This topic has been the focus of a series of blogs covering various aspects of case law. This newsletter features the most recent blog   in the series, dealing with the flaws in the analysis of the damages expert in the highly publicized Waymo, LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc.
 
Our  IP Digest section , covering highlights from our Twitter feed, looks at the list of companies with the most US patents granted in 2018. The list is led by IBM for the 26th year in a row, with over 9,000 patents granted in 2018. IBM is followed by Samsung, Canon GE and Intel, making the top 5. On the entertainment front, we are looking at singer Katy Perry's copyright infringement lawsuit. It raises some interesting questions about the relationship between technology and copyright law.
 
Finally, we are working on several events and expert panels that are taking place in the Fall (September-October) time period, as you can see in our upcoming list of speaking events .  Please check our Call for Speakers   below, as we are looking for experts in specific areas to join our panels. These are excellent speaking opportunities and we hope some of you might be interested.
 

Warmly, 
     

Foresight Blog Highlights BlogHighlights

This is the third blog in a series on trade secrets, where we will focus on a number of cases that shed light on the methodologies involved in calculating trade secret damages. In this blog, we review the Waymo, LLC, v. Uber Technologies, Inc. case where the damages expert's failure to fulfill the requirements of the flexible approach to trade secret damages ultimately led the court to exclude the expert's testimony.



IP News Digest  IPNewsDigest
 

Apple has lost its fifth legal appeal against the holder of network protocol patents, VirnetX, inching the case forward one judgment at a time. 
This time a US federal court agreed [PDF] with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that two patents owned by VirnetX were in fact valid. It has previously - and repeatedly - been decided that Apple infringed those patents in its FaceTime video-conferencing and as a result has been ordered to pay VirnetX over $1bn in damages.
 
First patent applications filed for designs created by AI
Patent  applications have been filed on behalf of a machine called Dabus that used  AI  to design two products. If successful it is believed that it will be the first time a machine has been recognised as a creator by patent offices.
Applications have been made to the US, EU and UK patent offices to recognise that the machine is the inventor of a plastic food container and a flashing light.
At present the UK Patents Act of 1977 restricts inventorship to "natural persons", as does the European Patent Convention. In the US, inventions must be made by an "individual".
Full article here

Katy Perry  and her collaborators issued a statement calling the  recent ruling  that her 2013 song copied a 2008 Christian rap song a "travesty of justice."
A jury previously found that Perry's song "Dark Horse," which spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 in early 2014 and was performed at the Super Bowl, was so similar to a song by Flame (Marcus Gray) called "Joyful Noise" that she and her record label would be  on the hook for $2.78 million. Throughout the trial, Perry's attorneys argued that the beat in question was too basic to be reasonably copyrighted - something they echoed in the statement released by attorney Christine Lapera.



Call for Speakers  Speakers



We are looking for speakers to join some of our upcoming events. If any of the descriptions below fits your qualifications, please respond to this email ( media@foresightvaluation.com ) with the email header "Speaker Opportunity":  
  1. Blockchain expert, ideally from an operating company, with experience in Blockchain applications in the enterprise (for event on September 25th, 2019 over lunch in San Mateo).
  2. Corporate M&A expert, ideally from an operating company in the high-tech or life sciences sectors, who can discuss the valuation and taxation aspects of the deal, either around IP or in general (for event on October 21st, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona)
  3. Startup expert (focusing on Unicorns or similar high value startups), who is either an entrepreneur, an investor or a lawyer, who can address the IP strategy of the startup and how it impacts its growth and valuation (for event in March 2020 in Dallas, Texas). 



When: September 25, 2019
WhereDolcera, 155 Bovet Road, Suite 302, San Mateo, CA

Foresight president, Efrat Kasznik, will join  a panel of experts includes a diversified group of participants in the Blockchain ecosystem: corporate executives, legal experts, VC investors and startups. The panel will address some of the key topics associated with the successful deployment of Blockchain technologies in the enterprise.


 
WhenOctober 18, 2019
Where: William S. Boyd School of Law @ UNLV, Las Vegas, Nevada



When: October 20-23, 2019
Where: JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa,  Phoenix, Arizona