2023 Articles

ARDC Intermediary Program By Hon. James M. Radcliffe, (ret.) September 2023 An overview of the ARDC's Intermediary Program.

Combatting Child Monetization: A Discussion of the Illinois Family Vlogging Law By Kristen D. Brooks December 2023 Illinois is now the first U.S. state to successfully pass a law intended to protect the rights of children who are the subject of family vlogs.

COP27: Mitigating Climate Change and Navigating the Legal Risk of Greenwashing By Jan Henning Buschfeld, Rachel Duffy, Simon Duncombe, Jennifer King, Felix Roscam Abbing, Elvira Sihvola, Rachel Stephens, Lukas Pfister, & Stefanie Fay September 2023 Businesses are under increasing pressure to disclose the actions they are taking to be more sustainable, however, there are associated regulatory and legal risks where a business might give a false impression or be accused of providing misleading information.

A Debate With ChatGPT About Its Intellectual Property Rights By Aaron W. Brooks February 2023 Who owns the copyright to OpenAI ChatGPT AI-written material? See ChatGPT response; spot the legal analysis gaps.

Effect of Judgment Lien on Death of Joint Tenant By Emily R. Vivian September 2023 The appellate court recently held that because a joint tenant’s interest in property terminates upon his death, a judgment lienholder cannot foreclose the judgment lien against such property after the joint tenant’s death.

Federal Trade Commission Rule to Make Non-Compete Agreements Unfair Trade Practices Comments to Proposed Rule Due March 20, 2023 By David C. Brezina February 2023 Non-compete agreements have arisen in courts since 1711. On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) for a rule to ban non-compete clauses. Among other provisions, a company has to identify whether it has a non-compete, and if so, tell the contracting worker that it is no longer in effect. The NPR cites economic literature that banning non-competes enhances competition and lowers prices. Comments to the proposed rule are due March 6, 2023.

The FTC Takes on Fake Consumer Reviews and Auto-Renewal of Subscriptions By Steven L. Baron, Jonathan LA Phillips, & Leah Hall September 2023 The Federal Trade Commission is engaging in rulemaking on issues that impact consumer transactions online, namely reviews and endorsements of goods and services and automatic renewals of subscriptions. The proposed rules crack down on deceptive practices relating to reviews and endorsements and make it easier for consumers to know about and terminate automatic renewal of subscriptions.

The Impacts of Economic Realities on the Legal Profession By Roza Gossage & Abdulah Abrahim September 2023 Economic downturns, advancements in technology, consumer sentiments, and modern day advertising initiatives require that firms become more elastic in a broader, more convoluted marketplace.

Intellectual Improbabilities™ By Daniel Kegan December 2023 An eclectic gathering of recent intellectual property developments.

Intellectual Improbabilities™ By Daniel Kegan September 2023 An eclectic gathering of recent intellectual property developments.

Intellectual Improbabilities™ By Daniel Kegan June 2023 An eclectic gathering of recent intellectual property developments.

Jack Daniels v. Bad Spaniels: Trademarks Are Not Abstract and Free Speech Doesn’t Mean You Can Say Anything You Want By David C. Brezina September 2023 The U.S. Supreme Court was presented with a parody dog toy emulating the Jack Daniels whiskey trademarks and packaging. When presented with the question of whether the First Amendment defense always applied to parody use, the Court decided the case should be narrow: Where the accused use is use in commerce as a trademark—indicating the source of the goods—traditional trademark law applies and it is unnecessary to address application of a rule for artistic use.

Legacy Intellectual Property By Daniel Kegan December 2023 Creatives, entrepreneurs, and startups create intangible assets. Many people and too many national media confusedly intermix trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Each is quite different, with different requirements, ease of creating, registration requirements, costs, durations, and rules for transfer.

New Illinois Law Bans Third Parties From Using Merchant Marks Without Permission By Jonathan LA Phillips February 2023 With enactment of Illinois’ Fair Food and Retail Delivery Act, the General Assembly barred third parties from using restaurants’ and bars’ trademarks and other intellectual property without their permission. How the defense of nominative fair use will apply under this law, meant to curb food delivery app misbehavior, is unclear.

Old MacDonald Discovers ChatGPT By Steve Baron & Shira Baron December 2023 A cartoon of Old MacDonald discovering artifical intelligence.

Royalty Payments Treated as Dischargeable Debt in Bankruptcy By Beverly A. Berneman June 2023 In a bankruptcy reorganization case, an obligation to pay royalties for the use of intellectual property is usually covered by a license. However, royalties paid after the sale of intellectual property require a different analysis. In Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC v. Mallinckrodt PLC, the U.S. District Court determined that royalties were a pre-petition debt that was dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Solicitor General to Advise Supreme Court on Issues of Estoppel in Inter Partes Review Proceedings By Anthony Wenn & Daniel Hess June 2023 Over the past decade since the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) went into effect in 2012, the most widely discussed—and often criticized—aspect of the AIA was the creation of modern inter partes review proceedings. Inter partes review (IPR) is an administrative proceeding to challenge the validity of an issued U.S. patent before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any entity may file an IPR petition at the PTAB to challenge the validity of any issued patents.[1] The PTAB, in its discretion, may then grant or deny the petition to institute a trial to reassess the validity of the issued patent. Statistically, petitioners have a high likelihood of invalidating a patent owner’s patent by instituting an IPR. The current petition to the Supreme Court for certiorari in Apple, Inc. v. California Institute of Technology may affect the scope of the estoppel afforded to patent owners by 35 U.S.C. § 315(e)(2).

Ukraine Adopts New Copyright Law By Oleh Karpenko June 2023 A new law on copyright and related rights entered into force in Ukraine on January 1, 2023. This is the first major copyright legislation change in Ukraine since 1993, introducing numerous important changes. Most of the novelties are intended to harmonize local legislation with that of the EU. The new law meets modern requirements and international standards and is, in some provisions, even ahead of the current practice in Ukraine. Important details summarized.

Update on the ISBA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Initiatives Regarding Disability and Disabled People By Patti Chang June 2023 The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) strives to increase diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in many ways and is making DEIA a top priority going forward. This article provides an update on the ISBA’s DEIA initiatives with respect to disability and disabled people. The ISBA also believe that ePorts around DEIA are helpful to all.

Ways to Avoid Having to Pay USPTO’s $400 Non-DOCX Penalty By Carl Oppedahl February 2023 There are two ways a patent applicant or practitioner might be able to avoid the profound malpractice risk of filing in Microsoft Word format when filing a patent application.

What Is a Trust? Part 1: Is a Trust an Entity? By Sherwin D. Abrams September 2023 Is a trust a relationship, or is it an entity that can hold title to property and that can sue and be sued? The authorities differ.

What Is a Trust? Part 2: Does It Matter? By Sherwin D. Abrams December 2023 Is a trust a relationship or is it an entity that can hold title to property and that can sue and be sued? The authorities differ.