Intellectual Property Law
New Matter SUMMER 2017 Volume 42, Number 2
Content
- 2017 New Matter Author Submission Guidelines
- Case Comments
- Contents
- Copyright Commentary
- Federal Circuit Report
- Federal Government Expands Public Disclosure Requirements For Clinical Trials: Product Developers Must Publish More Detailed Information, Study Protocols, and the Results of Studies of Unapproved/Unmarketed Products
- Intellectual Property Section Executive Committee 2016-2017
- Intellectual Property Section Interest Group Representatives 2016-2017
- Ip and Art: An International Perspective
- Letter from the Chair
- Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
- Online Cle For Participatory Credit
- Standing Still: Denial of Certiorari in Belmora Llc v. Bayer Consumer Care Ag Leaves Question on Standing for Foreign Plaintiff's Unfair Competition Claims
- The Band Who Must Not Be Named: Summary of Briefs and Oral Hearing in Lee v. Tam
- The Licensing Corner
- The State Bar of California Intellectual Property Alumni
- Ttab Decisions and Developments
- Ninth Circuit Report
Ninth Circuit Report
ANNE-MARIE DAO
Mintz Levin
Happy Summer, New Matter readers! This issue of the Ninth Circuit Report deals with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Star Athletica L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, the copyright case that deals with cheerleading uniforms and has far-reaching implications.
As those who are reading this likely know, Copyright law protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression "from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."1 One of the categories of works of authorship that has the ability to be copyrighted is "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works."2 Unless the utilitarian aspects of the article can be separated from, and exist independently of, the article’s component features or elements, they cannot be copyrighted.3 Indeed, Congress has not provided copyright protection for industrial designs.4