Monday, May 2, 2016

Closing The (Google) Books On Fair Use

The United States Supreme Court wrote the final chapter on Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.. on April 18, 2016, simply ordering that
[t]he petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Justice Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
Lexvivo previously covered the Google Books case on October 16, 2015, in Book 'Em Google!.  Perhaps now we can all turn the page on this type of fair use.

However, never fear, intellectual property aficionados, for, on May 2, 2016, the Supremes also issued the following two orders:
CERTIORARI GRANTED 
15-866  STAR ATHLETICA, L.L.C. V. VARSITY BRANDS, INC., ET AL. The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to Question 1 presented by the petition. 
15-927  SCA HYGIENE PRODUCTS V. FIRST QUALITY BABY PRODUCTS The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted.
The former involves a copyright case probing the contours of functionality in copyright.  The latter is a patent case on whether laches is available as a defense to infringement within the statutory six-year window for recovering damages authorized by 35 U.S.C. §286 (Time limitation on damages).

So, there will be much more intellectual property fun to come.