On June 10, 1922, Arthur Maynard of Warwick, Rhode Island filed his patent application with the United States Patent Office for what ultimately issued on August 24, 1924 as U.S. Patent No. 1,506,073 entitled, “Stapling Machine.” Original stapling devices first arrived in offices in approximately 1914.  Back then, these machines were known as “wire stichers.”…

On April 24, 2018, the Supreme Court issued the much anticipated decision in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-712_87ad.pdf). The Court held Constitutional the provisions of the America Invents Act authorizing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) to conduct an Inter Partes Review (IPR) in which the PTO reconsiders…

On January 8, 2018 the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a settlement with the toy manufacturer VTech Electronics concerning alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) arising from VTech’s collection of personal information from children through internet connected toys.  Under the terms of the settlement VTech is required to pay a fine…

On December 15, 2017 a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) held that Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, which prohibits registration of a trademark that is immoral or scandalous, violates the First Amendment and is, therefore, unconstitutional.  In re Brunetti, Appeal No. 2015-1109 (Fed. Cir. December 15, 2017). …