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Sotomayor on IP

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

One IPBiz reader complained that IPBiz had not commented on the IP decisions of Judge Sotomayor and sent along the following:

Sotomayor SCOTUS case history: Intellectual property
Posted: 06:53 PM ET

From CNN Research Director Robert Yoon

WASHINGTON (CNN) ? During Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's 17 years as a federal judge, the U.S. Supreme Court has reviewed her decisions on at least eight occasions. CNN has reviewed those cases and has summarized each in a series of posts. The names and citations reflect the cases as they were known when they first came before Sotomayor.
Tasini vs. New York Times, et al (1997), 972 F. Supp. 804: As a district court judge in 1997, Sotomayor heard a case brought by a group of freelance journalists who asserted that various news organizations, including the New York Times, violated copyright laws by reproducing the freelancers' work on electronic databases and archives such as "Lexis/Nexis" without first obtaining their permission. Sotomayor ruled against the freelancers and said that publishers were within their rights as outlined by the 1976 Copyright Act. The appellate court reversed Sotomayor's decision, siding with the freelancers, and the Supreme Court upheld the appellate decision (therefore rejecting Sotomayor's original ruling). Justices Stevens and Breyer dissented, taking Sotomayor's position.

IPBiz considered the nomination of Sotomayor a no-brainer for Obama. Tough for Republicans to fight AND who else do we know with Princeton undergrad and Ivy law degree?

USPTO director is less foreseeable, NASA counts for more in Obama's eyes.

Full post as published by IPBiz on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).