Trade Secrets: Congress passed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, one of the most momentous changes in the history of trade secret protection. The new law opens up the federal courts to trade secret cases, provides for ex parte seizures of misappropriated trade secrets in “extraordinary circumstances,” and establishes immunity for whistleblowers.
Patents: The past several years have witnessed some of the most significant developments in U.S. patent history — from the establishment of the new administrative review proceedings at the Patent Office to important shifts in patent-eligibility, claim indefiniteness, enhanced damages, and equitable remedies at the Supreme Court and means-plus-function claim interpretation and infringement doctrine at the Federal Circuit. We have restructured the patent chapter to illuminate these areas. We have also significantly expanded coverage of design patents in response to the growing importance of this form of protection.
Copyrights: The Supreme Court issued important decisions addressing the useful article doctrine, public performance right and the first sale doctrine. The past few years also witnessed important developments in the Online Service Provider safe harbor, fair use, and state protection for pre-1972 sound recordings. We have also integrated the digital copyright materials into a unified treatment of copyright law and substantially revamped the fair use section to reflect the broadening landscape of this important doctrine.
Trademarks: We have integrated important cases on federal registrability of disparaging marks, merchandising rights, likelihood of confusion on the Internet, and remedies.
Other State Protections: We have updated material on the right of publicity, an active and growing area. We have also reorganized the chapter and focused it on IP regimes.”
UC Berkley Law School
2017
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