The Supreme Court has granted cert on several new cases today including four relating to intellectual property issues, including a copyright case, a trademark case, as well as two patent cases. Lyle Denniston of the Scotus Blog reports that the new cases will probably be argued in April, the last sitting of the term.

The copyright case is ABC, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (13-461), and includes a major dispute on the right of the television industry to stop the Internet streaming of its copyrighted over-the-air programs by an unauthorized firm. Specifically, whether an Internet transmission could be a “public performance” under U.S. Copyright Laws.

The trademark case, POM Wonderful v. Coca-Cola (12-76), relates to whether a private individual or a company has standing to challenge a food or beverage label as misleading or false under the Lanham Act.

The first of the two patent cases, Limelight Networks v. Akamai Technologies (12-786), asks whether inducement to infringe, as a prerequisite, first requires an underlying direct patent infrignement by another.

The final patent case, Nautilus v. Biosig Instruments (13-369) is directed to the scope of the Patent Act requirement that invention claims must be clear and distinct, or in other words, what is the proper standard for indefiniteness under 35 USC § 112.