1. FM
Indus. v. Citicorp Credit Servs., Nos. 08-3154, 08-3781, 09-1382, 09-1406
& 09-1637, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT, 2010
U.S. App. LEXIS 15057, November 3, 2009, Argued, July 22, 2010, Decided
OVERVIEW:
In copyright
case, as plaintiff's lawyer failed to submit proper draft pretrial order,
despite having had several opportunities to do so, suit was properly dismissed
for want of prosecution under Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f)(1)(B) and 37(b)(2)(A)(v)
and plaintiff was properly ordered to pay defendant's counsel fees under 17
U.S.C.S. § 505.
CORE
TERMS: pretrial,
software, billion, discovery, want of prosecution, infringement, law firms,
random access memory, statutory damages, attorneys' fees ...
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Indus. v. Citicorp Credit Servs
2. Baby
Buddies, Inc. v. Toys "R" Us, Inc., No. 08-17021, UNITED STATES
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 15081, July 22,
2010, Decided, July 22, 2010, Filed
OVERVIEW:
A holder of a
patent for a teddy bear pacifier holder failed to establish infringement as a
matter of law because no properly instructed juror could have found the bears
substantially similar, particularly since the infringer's bear was larger, had
few details, and cruder representations of anatomical features than the patent
holder's bear.
CORE
TERMS: baby's,
pacifier, holder, paw, teddy bear, bow, ribbon, summary judgment, tether, ear
...
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Buddies, Inc. v. Toys "R" Us, Inc.
3.
MGE UPS Sys. v. GE Consumer & Indus., No. 08-10521, UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 14891, July 20, 2010,
Filed
OVERVIEW:
Because a
copyright holder's external security key only prevented initial access to its
software and not the software's literal code from being freely read and copied
upon access, absent evidence the infringers actually circumvented the
technology, dismissal of the holder's 17 U.S.C.S. § 1201 claim on a Fed. R.
Civ. P. 50(a) motion was affirmed.
CORE
TERMS: software,
trade secrets, infringement, dongle, gross revenue, copyright infringement,
misappropriation, copyrighted, infringer's, machine's ...
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4.
Novak v. Warner Bros Pictures, LLC, No. 08-56957, UNITED STATES COURT OF
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 14549, March 4, 2010 ** ,
Submitted, Pasadena, California** The panel unanimously concludes this case is
suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).,
July 15, 2010, Filed, PLEASE REFER TO FEDERAL RULES OF APPELLATE
PROCEDURE RULE 32.1 GOVERNING THE CITATION TO UNPUBLISHED OPINIONS.
OVERVIEW:
Where copyright
holders alleged that defendants' dramatic film, about a football program
following a plane crash, infringed their documentary film, the copyright
infringement and breach of contract claims failed because the works were not
substantially similar except for matters of historical fact, and the parties
did not enter into a contract.
CORE TERMS:
similarity,
film's, historical facts, summary judgment, substantially similar, triable
issue, infringement, articulable, concrete, copyright infringement ...
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5. United
States v. Sweeney, No. 09-1759, No. 09-1823, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 14247, February 10, 2010, Submitted,
July 13, 2010, Filed
OVERVIEW:
The evidence was
sufficient to convict defendants of the illegal manufacturing and distributing
of cable descramblers, in violation of 47 U.S.C.S. § 553, including evidence
that there was no purpose for the nonaddressable feature of the descramblers
that defendants' company produced and sold other than facilitating the theft of
cable programming.
CORE
TERMS: descrambler,
cable, structuring, currency, reporting requirements, infringement, signal,
interception, conspiracy, unauthorized ...
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6. Love
v. Associated Newspapers, Ltd., No. 07-56008, No. 07-56568, UNITED STATES
COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13935, February
10, 2010, Argued and Submitted, Pasadena, California, July 8, 2010,
Filed, As Amended July 13, 2010.Related proceeding at Love v. Sanctuary
Records Group, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13954 (9th Cir. Cal., July 8, 2010)
OVERVIEW:
A California
district court properly dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction a trademark
rights holder's claims against the recorder of a compact disc that was
distributed in the United Kingdom and Ireland because the recorder did not
purposefully direct any of the relevant intentional acts at California.
CORE
TERMS: Lanham
Act, publicity, attorney's fees, trademark, distributed, exceptional,
promotion, extraterritorial, attorney's fees, recording ...
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7. Golden
v. Helen Sigman & Assocs., No. 08-1506, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13585, September 16, 2009,
Argued, July 2, 2010, Decided
OVERVIEW:
Awarding
attorneys' fees as Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b)(2) sanctions was within a district
court's discretion because with regard to a plaintiff's state-law claims
against a court-appointed representative for the plaintiff's child, existing
caselaw clearly granted the representative absolute immunity under Illinois
law.
CORE
TERMS: absolute
immunity, state-law, custody, guardians ad litem, attorneys' fees, methodology,
frivolous, impose sanctions, state-court, sanctioned ...
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8. Robinson
v. Sanctuary Music, 08-2078-cv, 08-2320-cv, 08-2333-cv, UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13474, July 1, 2010,
Decided, PLEASE REFER TO FEDERAL RULES OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE RULE 32.1
GOVERNING THE CITATION TO UNPUBLISHED OPINIONS.
OVERVIEW:
In a contract
suit, substitution of assignees' correct name in a complaint and default
judgment under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(a) was not an abuse of discretion because it
was clear the right defendant was sued by the wring label, but the judgment
should have been vacated under Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(c) because the assignees'
default was not willful.
CORE
TERMS: default
judgment, music, vacate, default, envelope, entity, recording, abuse of
discretion, meritorious defense, rescission ...
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9. Murphy
v. Eddie Murphy Prods., No. 09-3267, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE
SEVENTH CIRCUIT, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13477; Copy. L. Rep. (CCH) P29,945, April
12, 2010, Argued, July 1, 2010, Decided
OVERVIEW:
District court
did not err under Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B) in denying a copyright holder's
request for an extension of time to file an amended complaint; defendants would
have suffered prejudice from the delay, and the holder never identified a valid
reason for the delay, In addition, the proposed amendment alleging fraud was
futile.
CORE
TERMS: videotape,
summary judgment, deadline, blank, time to file, excusable neglect, television,
proposed amendment, properly denied, independent grounds ...
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10. Mattel,
Inc. v. MGA Entm't, Inc., No. 09-55673, No. 09-55812, UNITED STATES COURT
OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 29187, December 9, 2009,
Argued and Submitted, Pasadena, California, July 22, 2010, Filed, As
Amended July 22, 2010.
OVERVIEW:
In a complex
copyright and trademark infringement case, it was inequitable to transfer an
entire billion dollar brand to a doll designer's former employer merely because
it may have started with two misappropriated names; imposition of a
constructive trust forcing the second employer to hand over its sweat equity
was an abuse of discretion.
CORE
TERMS: doll,
sculpt, sketches, substantially similar, invention, constructive trust,
similarity, unprotectable, assigned, employment agreement ...
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