INSIGHTS | APRIL 2021
Selling Genuine Goods With Unauthorized Alterations Is
Risky Business
Consumers of pop culture news received a lesson in trademark law last month when Nike sued rapper Lil Nas X and his art collective partner, MSCHF, for trademark infringement. The dispute involved the sale of genuine Nike sneakers that MSCHF modified with Satan-themed adornments. The sneakers were released as a promotional tool for Lil Nas X’s new song “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name).” The case quickly settled, serving as an example to future collaboration partners that re-selling genuine products with unauthorized alterations runs the risk of infringing trademarks of the manufacturer and seller of the original genuine unaltered product. 
Google v. Oracle: Unanswered Questions, Unintended Consequences
The Supreme Court’s decision in Google v. Oracle was expected to be the copyright “case of the decade.”  Practitioners hoped the Court would conclusively answer the question of whether the “declaring code” of an API (and potentially the larger issue of software generally) can be protected by copyright at all, and to bring clarity to the hopelessly splintered law of “fair use.” Unfortunately, for every question the Court answered, it raised numerous others that throw what had been well-settled principles of copyright law into question, as well as likely creating unintended consequences. READ MORE
Denied Institution of Inter Partes Review?
Relief May Now Be Available, At Least for the Extraordinary
In Mylan Labs Ltd. v. Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., after reaffirming the general rule that decisions denying institution of inter partes review proceedings (IPRs) are not appealable, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for the first time explicitly acknowledged its jurisdiction over mandamus petitions challenging such decisions. The court reminded however, that mandamus relief is a “drastic and extraordinary remedy reserved for really extraordinary causes.” READ MORE
OBWB SPONSORS AIPLA SPRING MEETING
#aiplaSM21
Osha Bergman Watanabe & Burton is pleased to announce official sponsorship of AIPLA's 2021 Virtual Spring Meeting! The meeting will be held May 10th - May 14th. We wish all attendees a successful conference and productive networking.
HOT TOPICS
Conversation on IP & AI
Video footage was recently made available of the third session of WIPO's "Conversation on IP & AI." Jonathan Osha presented an intervention on behalf of IPO in his role as Vice-Chair of the AI and Emerging Technologies Committee.
The focus of the intervention was on the need, as a foundation for future discussions of IP policy relating to AI, for a clear delineation among different types of AI-related inventions. You can view WIPO's "Conversation on IP & AI" here. The transcript of Mr. Osha’s comments is available here.
Diversity & Inclusion
OBWB Partner Carlyn Burton joined fellow panelists at the 2021 IPO Spring Summit to discuss the topic of diversity & inclusion within IP departments. The panel looked at ways to improve actions and behavior as well as how to foster inclusive environments at firm-level.