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EDM’s “House” Mouse vs. the Magic Kingdom

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Famed DJ Deadmau5 and The Walt Disney Company have settled their trademark dispute over the use of the “Deadmau5 Mouse Head” Logo. Just when it seemed likely that the two sides were headed for a lengthy legal battle over the use of the Deadmau5 logo, it has been revealed that the two sides have reached a settlement agreement.

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Apple is Being Sued Over “iWatch” Trademark

Apple’s newest device the Apple Watch, which was released a few months ago, is now the subject of a trademark dispute with a European trademark holder. Probendi, an Irish software development company and owner of the rights to the “iWatch” trademark in the European Union, is upset that Apple bought Google ads for the term “iWatch”. If you run a Google search of the term “iWatch”, the top result and advertisement will be for the Apple Watch.

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USPTO Releases July 2015 Update to Patent Eligibility Guidance

The Supreme Court in AliceMayo, Myriad, and Bilski — four cases in just four years — dramatically redefined the issue of subject matter eligibility in patent law.  That is, the initial threshold question of whether an invention is eligible for obtaining patent protection in the first place.  The broad strokes of these cases left much to be desired, particularly and most recently in Alice, in which the Supreme Court created a vague 2-step analysis in determining when a (software or business method) invention is merely an “abstract idea”, and therefore not patent eligible.  Understandably, the US PTO has encountered difficulty in applying the Alice analysis following the case, but has strived to offer some additional clarity in its latest July 2015 update to its prior 2014 Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility.

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