The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) regulates U.S. trade and oversees Section 337 investigations that address unfair competition based on alleged infringement of intellectual property rights. The ITC has been a popular alternative to litigation in district courts because of the relatively swift resolution it provides. (Final phases of the…
Stories of interest include the return of the bots, an exploration of Facebook’s interest in virtual reality, a host of wearable tech developments, and more. Apple acquires artificial intelligence startup Emotient. (Drew Olanoff, TechCrunch) Whether they crawl, answer queries, message or just chat, the re-rise of the bots is upon…
We have previously discussed how the use of the hashtag in trademarks is continuously evolving. As it turns out, the latest evolutionary wrinkle might have started to form this past March, thanks to one of pop culture’s more prominent mothers. In the case discussed in our initial post, the Court…
Stories of interest this week include Toyota’s high-precision mapping system, a European ToS fight, 3D printing with glass, a recap of VR breakthroughs in 2015, and more. • Google and Ford reported to team up for self-driving cars. (Sneha Teresa Johny, Reuters) • Researchers use a robotic arm to bring…
Stories of interest this week include a developers showcase for the HoloLens, robots able to feel textures like humans, a cool billion invested in AI, and more. Giroptic is building a GoPro for virtual reality. (Romain Dillet, TechCrunch) MIT app lets you use augmented reality to reprogram your world. (Liz…
Last month, Google announced a groundbreaking policy that may help shift the balance of power between copyright claimants and those who upload YouTube videos that may be covered by fair use. According to Google’s Public Policy Blog, users upload more than 400 hours of video every minute. Those uploads sometimes…
Stories of interest this week include Google’s quantum computer (and bucket-load of patents), an AR-based visual browser, concerns over spying and toys, and more. Google proclaims its quantum computer a 100 million times faster than a regular computer chip. (Jordan Novet, VentureBeat) MIT introduces a text messaging system that…
Patents related to games are facing new challenges for being too “abstract,” but a recent court ruling highlights the limits to this line of attack. Last year, the Supreme Court reinvigorated a body of law that defines the types of inventions eligible for patent protection. Generally, inventions deemed “abstract” are…
In 2016, Niantic will blur the lines between our world and the world of Pokémon with the release of Pokémon Go, its upcoming augmented reality game for mobile phones, which will allow fans to see and interact with Pokémon in the real world. Similar to its AR game Ingress, Niantic’s…
In a recent federal district court case in the Northern District of California (Case No. 13-cv-04608-HSG), Pintrips Inc., a website-based travel planning service, effectively pinned to the mat the trademark claims brought against it by Pinterest Inc., the operator of the popular image-sharing website. Following a bench trial, the Court…