U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction against a Dutch software company’s use of an American company’s brand and trade secrets, holding that Abitron Austria’s conduct-focused test for the territorial reach of U.S. IP law is satisfied where the defendant directly targeted U.S. customers online.
The Fourth Circuit vacated a practice-bar suspension imposed on a Womble Bond attorney in a cross-border trademark and trade-secret case, holding that civil contempt requires clear and convincing evidence of harm from the specific contemnor’s noncompliance.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed that Sophos’s post-acquisition antivirus products were not “derivations” of the named containerization products in a 2016 patent license agreement, even though they shared some common source code, because the shared code was inactive in the original products and the newer products did not originate from them.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed that a retroactive OFAC license validated Cubaexport’s 2005 trademark renewal fee payment for the HAVANA CLUB mark, upholding the USPTO Director’s decision to accept the long-delayed renewal and dealing Bacardi another setback in the decadeslong rum trademark battle.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for BrowserStack after Deque Systems repeatedly failed to disclose its damages calculations in a copyright infringement case over web accessibility software, holding that the district court properly excluded Deque’s damages evidence under Rule 37(c)(1) and that Deque failed to raise a genuine dispute on injunctive relief.
The Fourth Circuit held that PTAB draft opinions and inter-judge communications are protected from FOIA disclosure under the deliberative process privilege, and that circulation of drafts to non-panel judges is lawful deliberation, not ex parte misconduct.