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Case Briefs

Case Briefs

Five-minute video briefs of the leading U.S. Supreme Court, Federal Circuit, and other selected patent, trademark, and copyright decisions — the facts, the question presented, what the Court held, and the rule each case stands for.

Trademark

Weems v. Teknor Apex (2026)

In an opinion by Judge Arnold, the Eighth Circuit affirmed the Northern District of Iowa and held that the chartreuse…

Decided July 30, 2026
Patent

Hikma v. Amarin (2026)

A unanimous Supreme Court held that Amarin failed to state a claim that Hikma induced infringement of its method-of-use…

Decided June 4, 2026
Copyright

Cox Communications v. Sony Music (2026)

In an opinion by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court reversed a $1 billion judgment and held that an Internet service…

Decided March 25, 2026
AI

United States v. Heppner (2026)

In a securities-fraud prosecution, Judge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York held that documents the defendant…

Decided February 17, 2026
Patent AI

Ex parte Desjardins (2025)

In an opinion by Director John Squires, the USPTO Appeals Review Panel — sitting under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b) — vacated a new…

Decided September 26, 2025
Patent

EcoFactor v. Google (2025)

The Federal Circuit's first utility-patent en banc decision since 2018. Sitting en banc, the court held, 8-2, in an…

Decided May 21, 2025
Copyright AI

Thaler v. Perlmutter (2025)

A unanimous D.C. Circuit panel, in an opinion by Judge Millett, affirmed the Copyright Office's refusal to register an…

Decided March 18, 2025
Trademark

Dewberry v. Dewberry (2025)

A unanimous Supreme Court vacated a $43 million trademark award, holding that a “defendant’s profits” award under…

Decided February 26, 2025
Trademark

Vidal v. Elster (2024)

The “TRUMP TOO SMALL” case. The Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act’s names clause — barring registration of a mark…

Decided June 13, 2024
Patent

LKQ v. GM (2024)

Sitting en banc, the Federal Circuit overruled the forty-year-old Rosen-Durling test for design-patent obviousness as…

Decided May 21, 2024
Copyright

Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy (2024)

In an opinion by Justice Kagan, a 6-3 Supreme Court held that the Copyright Act contains no separate three-year cap on…

Decided May 9, 2024
Trademark

Abitron v. Hetronic (2023)

The Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act’s infringement provisions are not extraterritorial: infringing “use in…

Decided June 29, 2023
Trademark

Jack Daniel's v. VIP (2023)

The "Bad Spaniels" dog-toy case. A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Kagan, held that the Rogers v…

Decided June 8, 2023
Copyright

Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith (2023)

In an opinion by Justice Sotomayor, a 7-2 Supreme Court held that the first fair-use factor — the purpose and character…

Decided May 18, 2023
Patent

Amgen v. Sanofi (2023)

A unanimous Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch, held that Amgen's patents were invalid for lack of…

Decided May 18, 2023
Copyright

Unicolors v. H&M (2022)

In an opinion by Justice Breyer, a 6-3 Supreme Court held that the safe harbor in 17 U.S.C. §411(b)(1) — which keeps a…

Decided February 24, 2022
Patent

Minerva v. Hologic (2021)

By a 5-4 vote, in an opinion by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court held that assignor estoppel — the rule barring a…

Decided June 29, 2021
Patent

United States v. Arthrex (2021)

In an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court held that the unreviewable authority the Patent Trial and…

Decided June 21, 2021
Copyright

Google v. Oracle (2021)

In an opinion by Justice Breyer, a 6-2 Supreme Court held that Google's copying of roughly 11,500 lines of "declaring…

Decided April 5, 2021
Trademark

Uspto v. Bookingcom (2020)

In an opinion by Justice Ginsburg, an 8-1 Supreme Court held that there is no nearly per se rule that a "generic.com"…

Decided June 30, 2020
Trademark

Lucky Brand v. Marcel (2020)

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Sotomayor, the Supreme Court held that there is no standalone doctrine of "defense…

Decided May 14, 2020
Copyright

Georgia v. Public Resource Org (2020)

In an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, a 5-4 Supreme Court held that the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia…

Decided April 27, 2020
Trademark

Romag v. Fossil (2020)

In an opinion by Justice Gorsuch, the Supreme Court held — unanimously in the judgment — that a trademark plaintiff…

Decided April 23, 2020
Patent

Thryv v. Click To Call (2020)

In an opinion by Justice Ginsburg, a 7-2 Supreme Court held that 35 U.S.C. Section 314(d) bars judicial review of the…

Decided April 20, 2020
Copyright

Allen v. Cooper (2020)

In an opinion by Justice Kagan, the Supreme Court held that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act did not validly…

Decided March 23, 2020
Patent

Peter v. Nantkwest (2019)

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Sotomayor, the Supreme Court held that the phrase 'all the expenses of the…

Decided December 11, 2019
Trademark

Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)

In an opinion by Justice Kagan, a 6-3 Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act's prohibition on registering 'immoral or…

Decided June 24, 2019
Patent

Return Mail v. Usps (2019)

In an opinion by Justice Sotomayor, a 6-3 Supreme Court held that a federal agency is not a 'person' who may petition…

Decided June 10, 2019
Trademark

Mission Product v. Tempnology (2019)

In an opinion by Justice Kagan, an 8-1 Supreme Court held that a debtor-licensor's rejection of a trademark license in…

Decided May 20, 2019
Copyright

Rimini Street v. Oracle (2019)

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court held that the term 'full costs' in the Copyright Act's…

Decided March 4, 2019
Copyright

Fourth Estate v. Wall Street (2019)

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Ginsburg, the Supreme Court held that under 17 U.S.C. Section 411(a), 'registration…

Decided March 4, 2019
Patent

Helsinn v. Teva (2019)

In a unanimous opinion by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court held that a commercial sale of an invention to a third…

Decided January 22, 2019
Patent

WesternGeco v. ION (2018)

By a 7-2 vote, in an opinion by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court held that a patent owner can recover lost foreign…

Decided June 22, 2018
Patent

SAS Institute v. Iancu (2018)

By a 5-4 vote, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch, the Supreme Court held that when the PTAB institutes an inter partes…

Decided April 24, 2018
Patent

Oil States v. Greenes Energy (2018)

A brief of Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene's Energy Group, LLC, 584 U.S. 325 (2018). In a 7-2 opinion by…

Decided April 24, 2018
Patent

Aqua Products v. Matal (2017)

A brief of Aqua Products, Inc. v. Matal, 872 F.3d 1290 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (en banc). In a deeply fractured decision with…

Decided October 4, 2017
Trademark

Matal v. Tam (2017)

A brief of Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. 218 (2017). The Supreme Court unanimously held that the Lanham Act's disparagement…

Decided June 19, 2017
Patent

Sandoz v. Amgen (2017)

A brief of Sandoz Inc. v. Amgen Inc., 582 U.S. 1 (2017). In a unanimous opinion by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court…

Decided June 12, 2017
Patent

Impression Products v. Lexmark (2017)

A brief of Impression Products, Inc. v. Lexmark International, Inc., 581 U.S. 360 (2017). In an opinion by Chief…

Decided May 30, 2017
Patent

Tc Heartland v. Kraft (2017)

A brief of TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, 581 U.S. 258 (2017). In an 8-0 opinion by Justice Thomas…

Decided May 22, 2017
Copyright

Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands (2017)

A brief of Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc., 580 U.S. 405 (2017). In a 6-2 opinion by Justice Thomas, the…

Decided March 22, 2017
Patent

Sca Hygiene v. First Quality (2017)

A brief of SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC, 580 U.S. 328 (2017). In a 7-1 opinion…

Decided March 21, 2017
Patent

Life Technologies v. Promega (2017)

A brief of Life Technologies Corp. v. Promega Corp., 580 U.S. 140 (2017). In a 7-0 opinion by Justice Sotomayor, the…

Decided February 22, 2017
Patent

Samsung v. Apple (2016)

A brief of Samsung Electronics Co. v. Apple Inc., 580 U.S. 53 (2016). In a unanimous opinion by Justice Sotomayor, the…

Decided December 6, 2016
Patent

Apple v. Samsung (2016)

A brief of Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., 839 F.3d 1034 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (en banc). By an 8-3 vote, in an…

Decided October 7, 2016

These videos are educational case briefs, not legal advice, and watching them does not create an attorney-client relationship with the presenter or the firm. Case law and its interpretation evolves, always check a decision's subsequent history. Do not rely on these case briefs, but read the case yourself or have your attorney read them. Videos are presented via AI avatars and voice clones of Kyle Coleman and John Goodhue, created with their participation and consent.