Chinese court allows copyright protection for AI-generated images
The Beijing Internet Court ruled on Monday, November 27, that images generated by the artificial intelligence-powered software Stable Diffusion were entitled to copyright protection.
According to publicly available data, the ruling marks the first time a Chinese court has delved into the copyright eligibility of AI-generated works.
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Proceed cautiously on SEPs, USPTO warns EU
The European Commission should proceed “cautiously” and trust judges to adjudicate standard-essential patent disputes, USPTO official Chris Hannon warned on Wednesday, November 29.
Speaking at a Nokia-sponsored event on the commission’s proposed SEP Regulation, Hannon, a senior patent attorney, suggested other regulators could learn from the US government’s approach to standards policy.
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New Foley Hoag partner seeks more collab with pharma team
A lawyer was drawn to Foley Hoag for the opportunity to collaborate with the life sciences department on artificial intelligence-related matters, he told Managing IP.
Foley Hoag announced that John Lanza, who has been practising law since 1995, had joined the firm from Foley & Lardner in Boston on Monday, November 27.
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UPC makes long-awaited legal teams fix to CMS
The Unified Patent Court unveiled a new online function on Tuesday, November 28, that will allow more representatives and their legal teams to work on cases.
The long-awaited tweak will come as a relief to users of the case management system who had complained that only one representative could work on a case online.
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Publish the pleadings, law firm tells UPC
Law firm Mathys & Squire has filed a test case to push the Unified Patent Court to publish more case documents, it was confirmed on Monday, November 27.
The firm wants the UPC to make pleadings available and has intervened in two cases where judges have taken differing approaches to the publication of documents.
Click here to read the full story.
Other articles published by Managing IP this week include:
Law firms reveal bugbears after USPTO Patent Center switch
Weekly take: Indian courts must scale up before tackling global SEP rates
Lawyers: India needs major legal reform to cope with deepfakes
Five minutes with … Charlene Azema, Knobbe Martens
Elsewhere in IP
Judicial callout
Judge Colm Connollyreferred several plaintiffs’ attorneys associated with non-practising entity IP Edge and its affiliate Mavexar to the Texas Supreme Court's Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee, as well as to the USPTO and the US Department of Justice, on Monday, November 27.
Connolly, chief judge of the District Court for the District of Delaware, said it appeared that lawyers associated with IP Edge engaged in the unauthorised practice of law in Texas and that IP Edge-affiliated plaintiffs violated numerous rules of professional conduct.
It also appeared that real parties in interest weren’t disclosed to the USPTO, defendants or the court, Connolly found.
Jumpman v Skiman
Nike has told Colorado-based clothing brand Skiman to stop using a logo that is confusingly similar to its Jumpman trademark, or face legal actions, it emerged this week.
Skiman’s owner, Stephen Fucik, created the logo and secured a trademark registration with the USPTO in 2020.
Nike sent multiple cease-and-desist letters to the clothing brand, asking it to voluntarily cancel its trademark.
Fucik said his negotiation attempts with Nike haven’t yielded a positive result, adding that he doesn’t plan to abandon his mark.
X confronts patent impasse
X Corp (formerly known as Twitter) sued Adeia at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday, November 28, seeking a declaratory judgment that the social media platform doesn’t infringe the licensing company’s video patents.
X, a former licensee of the original patent owners TiVo and Rovi, said licensing negotiations with new owner Adeia had “reached an impasse”.
According to the complaint, X no longer has any reason to license Adeia’s patents because they don’t cover the products and services X offers. However, X felt that its refusal to license exposed it to imminent patent infringement risks.
Vespa wars
The owner of the Vespa scooter brand has convinced the EU General Court to restore its trademark covering the shape of the vehicle, after it was cancelled by an EUIPO Board of Appeal.
The court’s decision, handed down on Wednesday, November 29, is a defeat for Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Zhongneng Industry Group, which bid to invalidate the mark.
Flood of fakes
EU authorities seized 86 million fake items worth more than €2 billion ($2.18 billion) in 2022, a joint report published by the EUIPO and the European Commission on Wednesday, November 29, found.
The value of seized goods represents an increase of 3% on the previous year.
Three quarters of the goods (74.3%) originated from China.
That's it for today, see you again next week.
