Richard Hung, Bita Rahebi, and Rose Lee authored an article for Bloomberg Law covering what lies ahead in the intellectual property arena for 2021, including the copyright dispute between tech giants Google and Oracle, the impact of the upcoming Supreme Court case involving the constitutionality of Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge appointments, and whether more uniformity will come to trade secret litigation.
"The most anticipated copyright case of 2020 was Google v. Oracle," the authors wrote. "Due to COVID-19, however, the Supreme Court deferred oral argument until October 2020. The upcoming decision could be the first time the court decides whether copyright protects software interface code, and the first time in decades that it addresses copyright's fair use doctrine."
They added: "The potential outcomes vary widely. The Supreme Court could decide the extent to which software interface code can be copyrighted and fair use applies, or it could simply rule that the jury verdict in Google's favor should have received greater deference. It could also decide something in between."
"After more than a decade of litigation, IP lawyers are eager for a decision."
Read the full article.
Reproduced with permission. Published Jan. 27, 2021. Copyright 2021 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. 800-372-1033. For further use, please visit http://www.bna.com/copyright-permission-request/
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