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Patent/Trademark Search iPhone App
Banner & Witcoff’s IP LawyerTM is an iPhone application providing iPhone-customized full search access to patents* and trademarks issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well as corresponding assignments.…
Case Update: Miller v. Facebook
Miller v. Facebook Inc. et. al. N.D.Cal., Case no. 10-cv-00264 Facebook’s attempts to end a lawsuit with Daniel Miller before trial has again apparently failed. On July 23, 2010, the United States…
Case Analysis: Sony v. Connectix
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. v. Connectix Corp. 203 F.3d 596 (9th Cir. 2000) I. Background Connectix Corporation created and sold a software program called “Virtual Game Station” (VGS), an emulator of…
Case Update: Worlds.com Reopened???
In an interesting turn of events, on July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested that the court reopen its case against NCSoft. The dismissal of the case on April 23, 2010, was conditional on…
Pikachu: “I Sue You!”
Pikachu may be cute, but he’s got teeth. The Pokémon Company Int’l. Inc. (“Pokémon”) filed suit last Friday against Beckett Media LLC (“Beckett”), accusing Beckett of copyright infringement. Specifically, Pokémon alleges that…
Case Analysis: Sony v. Filipiak
Sony Computer Entm’t America, Inc. v. Steven Filipiak, et al. 406 F. Supp. 2d 1068 (N.D. Cal. 2005) In this case decided in 2005, Sony received over $6 million in…
Case Analysis: Sega v. Fox
Sega of America v. Fox Interactive et al. N.D. Cal., Filed Dec. 4, 2003, Settled in 2004 In December of 2003, Sega brought a lawsuit against video game publishers Fox Interactive…
Extra Life: Evolution
A pretty funny comic from Scott Johnson at Extra Life:
Article: Bilski’s Potential Impact on the Gambling Industry
Further to the previous post on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bilski v. Kappos, here is a link to an article discussing potential impacts of the decision on the gambling industry. The…
Case: Bilski v. Kappos (at last!)
In its long awaited decision, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in the Bilski case. The Supreme Court affirmed the Federal Circuit’s decision, but on different grounds, holding that Mr. Bilski’s…
Case Analysis: Minsky v. Linden Research, Inc.
Minsky v. Linden Research, Inc. United States District Court for N.D.N.Y. Case No. 1:08-cv-819-LEK-DRH, Settled January 22, 2009 In July 2008, Richard Minsky filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against…
Case Analysis: Debonneville v. Pierce
Debonneville v. Pierce United States District Court for C.D. Cal. Case No. 2:07-CV-03776-R-MAN), Settled May 5, 2008 This wasn’t an IP lawsuit, but it was a bitter dispute between…
Curtain Call on Gibson v. Harmonix
It seems that Gibson’s efforts to enforce its musical concert participation patent (U.S. Patent No. 5,990,405) have officially ended. Previously we told you that Gibson’s Tennessee case against Harmonix (and its “Rock…
Case: The Magnavox Co., et al. v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al.
The Magnavox Co., et al. v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. 201 U.S.P.Q. 25 (N.D. Ill. 1977) For those of you who love home video games as much as we do, the…
Law360 Article: Virtual-World Conflicts Lead To Real-World Suits
There’s an interesting article on Law360 today: Virtual-World Conflicts Lead To Real-World Suits. Here’s an excerpt from the article: Law360, New York (June 08, 2010) — As the market for online games…
Case: Red Baron-Franklin Park, Inc. v. Taito Corp.
Red-Baron-Franklin Park, Inc. v. Taito Corp. 883 F.2d 275 (4th Cir. 1989). I. Background Some of you may remember twin martial artists Billy Lee or Jimmy (who also went by Hammer and…
Case Update: Harmonix v. Konami close to settlement
Well it looks like one of the two Harmonix/Konami cases might be settling. In Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. v Konami Digital Entertainment Co, Ltd., civil action 1:09-cv-10206 (D.Mass), the parties on June…
Case: Okor v. Atari Games Corp. et al.
Okor v. Atari Games Corp. et al76 Fed. Appx. 327 (Fed. Cir. 2003). I. Statement of Facts This case is one in a series of attempts by Joseph Kwame Okor to enforce…
Attending Trade Shows Leads to Personal Jurisdiction
Patent Rights Protection Group, LLC (“PRPG”), a patent-holding company, previously filed suits in the District of Nevada accusing various organizations of allegedly infringing U.S. Patents No. 6,475,087 (‘the ‘087 patent) and No.…
LimeWire liable for copyright infringement
Not exactly video game related, but our readers tend to also be interested in file-sharing and online music distribution cases, so… LimeWire was recently found liable for copyright infringement of its users…