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On May 18, 2015, the Federal Circuit decided the appeal in the much-publicized Apple v. Samsung case. This Blog wrote about that case in the September 2012 post. The Court reversed the jury verdict that Apple’s trade dresses—the look of iPhone—are protectable and vacated the damages award against Samsung for trade dress dilution. However, the Court upheld the jury’s verdict on the design patent infringements, the validity of two utility patent claims, ...

... the Trademark (Lanham) Act. Fair Wind, a sailing school, sued its former employee, Scott Dempster, individually and the competing company Virgin Island Sailing School (VISS), he co-founded. Fair Wind alleged that Defendants violated Fair Wind’s trade dress under § 43(a) of the Lanham Act. (Fair Wind also alleged unjust enrichment by VISS by copying aspects of Fair Wind’s business model.) The District Court dismissed Fair Wind’s trade dress and unjust enrichment claims, and subsequently ...