On October 19, 1926, Lysol Incorporated received a registration for the logo identifying its brand of antiseptic cleanser:                                         The LYSOL trademark was first registered in 1906. For many years, LYSOL had no serious competition in…

On September 10th the Federal Circuit issued its ruling, 2-1, in the case of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. v. Roxane Laboratories, Inc. upholding the judgment of the District Court of Delaware which had invalidated four of Acorda’s patents (“the Acorda Patents”) on the basis of obviousness. One of the issues on appeal was whether the district…

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…