In the biggest jury trial award of 2013 involving a patent case, Apple won damages from Samsung on Nov. 21 amounting to nearly $300 million. The week-long jury trial in a California federal court was the culmination of a retrial involving 13 Samsung devices and includes up to $100 million for just one Samsung product, the Infuse 4G.
Victoria's Secret accused of intellectual property hanky panky
We have written often on our Sacramento intellectual property blog about the disparity in sizes between companies that battle over intellectual property. In some cases, a well-known company goes on the offensive against a smaller rival that it thinks is infringing on its intellectual property by trying to pass itself off as the more-established brand. In other cases, it's the smaller company trying to stick up for itself when it feels that a big player in the industry is acting as a bully and misusing its ideas, trademarks or copyrights.
Football coaches moving to trademark their names
For many major college football programs, the face of the team -- and often the university -- is the head football coach. Players come and go after using their eligibility, but coaches can be around for decades: think Bear Bryant at Alabama, Woody Hayes at Ohio State, and -- despite his ultimate fall from grace -- Joe Paterno at Penn State. Many football fans know these coaches intimately, or at least feel that they do.
Copyright is a crucial, but overlooked, part of artistic process
Many aspects of intellectual property law may seem up-front and transparent at first glance. A copyright application, for example, is relatively easy and straightforward to complete. However, if done improperly, it could leave applicants open to being sued from others who think their copyright is being violated. This is why we refer to the process as a deceptively simple one -- it may seem easy, but the consequences of getting it wrong are severe.
