Over the years I’ve written quite a bit about client service and what lawyers can do to strengthen relationships with their clients. Recently I’ve been thinking about how much the expectations placed on lawyers have changed — and how the role of the lawyer continues to evolve.
For many years, lawyers have talked about the
Companies outside traditional tech sectors may be sitting on IP goldmines without realizing it. Manufacturing, e-commerce, and consumer products businesses routinely use AI technologies from predictive maintenance to automated pricing. These technologies represent valuable intellectual property assets. While these companies may not self-identify as “tech companies” in the Silicon Valley sense, their AI
Commodore, What Can You Learn From Drifters?
By James P. Flynn, Epstein Becker Green
Trademark lawyers eventually learn a hard truth: brands often do not die; instead, they drift.
Sometimes they drift quietly into nostalgia. Sometimes they drift into the hands of the entrepreneurial and well-advised. Other times, they drift along unattended. Of course, sometimes, they drift straight into court.
Few issues in intellectual property law reveal the fault lines
Introduction
The new United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John A. Squires was sworn in on September 22, 2025 and wasted no time that week in expanding patent eligibility for AI related inventions. In particular, the new Director presided over the September 26 Appeals Review Panel (ARP) decision in Ex parte Desjardins, Appeal 2024-000567.
Creative Expression, Feuds, & Cross Words Across Borders
By James P. Flynn, Epstein Becker Green
The legal intersection of music, poetry, and defamation presents a fascinating landscape where creativity collides with reputational interests. The recent decision in Graham v. UMG Recordings, Inc.—filed by Canadian rapper Aubrey “Drake” Graham over the diss track Not Like
For many lawyers practicing outside the United States, intellectual property protection and risk are most often associated with patents, trademarks and copyrights. Trade secrets are frequently treated as the forgotten stepchild—associated with employment law and contracts rather than as an independent body of law. But since the passage of the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act
After more than a hundred years of settled U.S. trademark policy, an interesting problem has developed for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). How to square the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions striking down parts of the federal Lanham Act with the USPTO’s historical rejection of immoral, scandalous, or disparaging trademarks? Whether by
Missed Anthropic Perspectives & Mixed AI Meta-Phors Cloud Copyright Law
By James Flynn & Ariana Tagavi,* Epstein Becker Green
The evolution of generative artificial intelligence has prompted courts in two highly-publicized recent federal district court decisions to apply copyright law’s doctrine of fair use to the “training” and output of generative AI systems. We will
Authors: James Johnston, Samantha G. Rothaus, Jordan M. Thompson and Howard R. Weingrad.
SAG-AFTRA and the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) have reached agreement on a new Commercials Contract, which is now officially in effect. Notably, the deal was reached without a strike — a rare outcome in recent entertainment-related collective bargaining where disputes, particularly over
Jessica Bell – Lawyer, Kalus Kenny Intelex, Melbourne Australia
David Cinque – Special Counsel, Kalus Kenny Intelex
The Australian Trade Marks Office has permitted the registration of the trade mark UBER TUTORS after finding that transport and delivery giant, Uber Technologies Inc (Uber Tech) failed to oppose the mark’s registration under the Trade Marks Act