As digital technology and the online environment transform the distribution and use of intellectual property, our Copyright & Trademark group is on the front lines in protecting and enforcing our clients’ most important creative assets. Our trial-tested team represents a wide range of clients, from entrepreneurs to major corporations, from playwrights to media giants, and from individual songwriters to the country’s largest performing rights organizations.
Intellectual Property Litigation: Attempts to Create Exceptions to 'Florida Prepaid' Rejected
August 31, 2006 Full PDF
Partner Lew Clayton's "Intellectual Property Litigation" column is featured in the August 30 New York Law Journal. The article, "Attempts to Create Exceptions to 'Florida Prepaid' Rejected," discusses how sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution has limited the ability of private parties to sue state instrumentalities for infringement of federal intellectual property rights. This application of sovereign immunity is controversial because state actors may themselves bring suit under federal patent, copyright and trademark law, but need not defend such suits in federal court. The article also looks at other recent developments in patent, trademark and copyright law, including a case on whether claims of inequitable conduct in patent litigation should be heard by a jury, and on recent litigation concerning the doctrine of fair use under the Copyight Act. Associate Susanna Buergel assisted with the preparation of this article.