We report on an important decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reconfirming the availability of a laches defense in patent cases, and on an important copyright case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit requiring copyright holders to consider fair use before sending takedown notices to online content providers. We also report on copyright cases from the Second and Ninth Circuits addressing copyright protection for a derivative parody of a Hollywood movie and for a sequence of yoga poses.
Patent: Laches Defense
On Sept. 18, 2015, the en banc Federal Circuit reconsidered the viability of laches in patent cases in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer,—U.S.—, 134 S.Ct. 1962 (2014). Petrella held that because the Copyright Act contains a statute of limitations, the equitable remedy of laches cannot bar a timely copyright claim, and further suggested that laches is not ordinarily a defense to any timely cause of action at law. The Federal Circuit reconfirmed the availability of laches in patent cases even after Petrella, in a 6-5 split decision. See SCA Hygiene Prods. Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Prods.,—F.3d—, 2015 WL 5474261, at *1 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 18, 2015).
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