First lawsuits filed under the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA): Patentlyo.com reported that the first (of many more to come) lawsuits were filed under the newly enacted DTSA in the Southern District of Florida (two cases filed on May 16, 2016), the Northern District of Texas (one case filed on May 19, 2016), and the Northern District of California (one case filed on May 24, 2016). We covered the DTSA in our June 6, 2016 Newsletter under "Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016: An Overview."
Other recent high-profile music copyright infringement lawsuits:
- On June 8, 2016, a complaint for copyright infringement seeking $20 million in damages was filed against Ed Sheeren in the Central District of California by prominent songwriters who claimed that Sheeren's song "Photograph" copied a song they wrote that was recorded and released by an "X Factor" winner.
- On May 26, 2016, a complaint for copyright infringement seeking unspecified damages was filed against Justin Bieber in the Middle District of Tennessee by a singer-songwriter who claimed that Bieber copied the "core" of his hit song "Sorry" from one of her songs. Also named in the complaint were the artist Skrillex and other collaborators and several Universal Music Group units.
New IP-related cert petition filed with Supreme Court—Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) v. Cisco Systems, Inc.: On May 25, 2016, CSIRO filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking the Court to review the question presented of "[i]s the Federal Circuit's promulgation of rigid legal rules to control the weight to be given by the trier of fact to evidence of patent infringement damages proper under 35 U.S.C. § 284?" Cert pending.
