Jodi Benassi
Subscribe to Jodi Benassi's PostsJodi Benassi focuses her practice on litigation and investigations. Jodi has experience in federal court district actions in California, Texas, Florida and Michigan and actions before the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She has also conducted internal investigations on behalf of audit committees from high profile Fortune 500 organizations to Silicon Valley start-ups. Jodi Benassi's full bio.
De Minimis Defense Doesn’t Protect Minimal Use of Concededly Infringing Material
By Jodi Benassi on Sep 23, 2021
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant in a copyright case based on a “minimal usage” or de minimis use defense. Richard N. Bell v. Wilmott Storage Services, LLC, et al., Case Nos. 19-55882, -56181 (9th Cir. July 26, 2021)...
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Damage Expert Testimony Excluded for Failure to Disclose Evidence and to Apportion
By Jodi Benassi on Sep 9, 2021
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to preclude a damage expert from characterizing license agreements and opining on a reasonable royalty rate where the sponsoring party failed to produce key documents and to apportion for non-patented features. MLC Intellectual Property, LLC v. Micron Technology, Inc., Case No....
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Absent Proof of Government Ownership on an EEA Sovereign Immunity Defense is All Black and White
By Jodi Benassi on Aug 5, 2021
Posted In Trade Secrets
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment, charging four Chinese companies with violations of the criminal provisions of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) and finding no sovereign immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in view of the defendant’s commercial...
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Federal Circuit Puts Patent Infringement Award/Injunction Back in the Box
By Jodi Benassi on May 13, 2021
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, exploring the use of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(3) under Ninth Circuit law, affirmed a district court’s ruling setting aside a monetary damages judgment and an injunction for fraudulent misrepresentations by a corporate patent owner’s president concerning prior art. Cap Export, LLC, et al. v....
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Click Fraud: Predicate to False Designation of Origin
By Jodi Benassi on Mar 11, 2021
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed that pay-per-click advertisers may be liable under the Lanham Act for “click fraud.” WickFire, LLC v. Laura Woodruff et al., Case No. 17-50340 (5th Cir. Feb. 26, 2021) (Owen, J.) WickFire and TriMax Media are advertisers that compete in the pay-for-performance search engine marketing business,...
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A Closed Book: No Past Infringement, No Reading Between the Lines into the Future
By Jodi Benassi on Feb 18, 2021
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, finding no current or future copyright infringement. OverDrive Inc. v. Open E-Book Forum dba International Digital Publishing Forum, Case No. 20-3432 (6th Cir. Jan. 27, 2021) (Sutton, J.) OverDrive is a digital reading...
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2020 IP Law Year in Review: Copyrights
By Tina Martini, Jodi Benassi and Cecilia Choy, Ph.D. on Feb 2, 2021
Posted In Copyrights
Executive Summary Copyright jurisprudence in 2020 was, in many ways, a study in the scope of copyright protection. While certain courts brought century-year-old precedent to the forefront to interpret the scope of copyrights, other courts ruled overruled 40 years of precedent to even the playing field between popular works and works that are less known....
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How Not to Build a Case of Trade Secret Misappropriation
By Jodi Benassi on Jan 14, 2021
Posted In Patents, Trade Secrets
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a dismissal of trade secret claims, finding that although misappropriation of a trade secret prior to the enactment of the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) does not preclude a claim arising from post-enactment or continued use of the same trade secret, the publication of a...
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IP Implications of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
By Jodi Benassi on Jan 14, 2021
Posted In Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks
On December 27, 2020, Congress signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, into law. The omnibus act includes new legislation affecting patent, copyright and trademark law. A brief summary of key provisions is provided below. Patents – Section 325 Biological Product Patent Transparency 42 USC § 262(k) was amended to require that the US Food and...
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To Die For – New York Recognizes Publicity Rights of Deceased Performers.
By Jodi Benassi on Dec 17, 2020
Posted In Uncategorized
On November 20, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law Senate Bill S5959D, a law that is highly important for New York based recording artists, actors, and other celebrities. The new law recognizes post-mortem rights of publicity to protect deceased performers from exploitation of their likeness for 40 years after death. Specifically, the...
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