Jodi Benassi
Subscribe to Jodi Benassi's PostsJodi Benassi focuses her practice on litigation and investigations. Jodi has experience in federal court district actions in California, Texas, Florida and Michigan and actions before the US Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She has also conducted internal investigations on behalf of audit committees from high profile Fortune 500 organizations to Silicon Valley start-ups. Jodi Benassi's full bio.
When Is a Trade Secret Accessible? As Soon as It Can Be Reverse Engineered
By Jodi Benassi on Apr 10, 2025
Posted In Trade Secrets
Although the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a damages award for trade secret misappropriation and breach of a confidentiality agreement, it found that the district court erred in its determination of when the trade secret became publicly accessible for the purpose of applying a reverse engineering defense. The Federal Circuit also...
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Human Authorship Required: AI Isn’t an Author Under Copyright Act
By Jodi Benassi on Mar 27, 2025
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a district court ruling that affirmed the US Copyright Office’s (CO) denial of a copyright application for artwork created by artificial intelligence (AI), reaffirming that human authorship is necessary for copyright registration. Thaler v. Perlmutter, Case No. 23-5233 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2025) (Millett,...
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Collateral Estoppel Doesn’t Apply to Unchallenged IPR Claims
By Jodi Benassi on Feb 20, 2025
Posted In Patents
The US Court Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that despite a Patent Trial & Appeal Board determination that certain challenged patent claims were unpatentable based on a preponderance of the evidence standard, the patent owner is not collaterally estopped from asserting other, unreviewed claims of that patent in district court litigation. Kroy IP Holdings,...
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Interoperability Doesn’t Imply Derivative Work
By Jodi Benassi on Jan 9, 2025
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explained that to be a derivative work, a program interoperative with another must actually incorporate aspects of the underlying work. The Court further ruled that licensees of a copy of a computer program are not “owners” of the copy and therefore are not entitled to make...
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Uncompleted Building Sold in Bankruptcy Doesn’t Infringe Architect’s Copyright
By Jodi Benassi on Aug 24, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that there was no actionable infringement where an uncompleted building sold under the authority of a bankruptcy court was later completed. Cornice & Rose International, LLC v. Four Keys, LLC et al., Case No. 22-1976 (8th Cir. Aug. 11, 2023) (Loken,...
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Copyright Office Issues New Rule
By Jodi Benassi on Aug 17, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
Adopting its interim rule from December 2022, the US Copyright Office issued a final rule that governs district court referrals, proof of service forms, default proceedings and the appearance of law student representatives before the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). District Court Referrals CCB proceedings qualify as alternative dispute resolution processes under 28 U.S.C. § 651...
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Serving a Perfect 10: No Protection for Embedding
By Jodi Benassi and Hannah Hurley on Jul 27, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a photo- and video-sharing social networking service could not be liable for secondary copyright infringement because embedding a photo does not “display a copy” of the underlying image. Hunley v. Instagram, LLC, Case No. 22-15293 (9th Cir. July 17, 2023) (Bybee, Bumatay, Bennett, JJ.)...
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Transfer Motions Take Priority Regardless of Target District
By Jodi Benassi on Mar 16, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a writ of mandamus and ordered the district court to decide a motion for intra-district transfer before proceeding to further substantive matters, explaining that both intra-district and inter-district transfer motions must be prioritized. In re: Apple Inc., Case No. 23-120 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 6, 2023)...
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Message to Judge Albright: Venue Motions Are First Order of Business
By Jodi Benassi on Nov 17, 2022
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated a scheduling order from the US District Court for the Western District of Texas and directed the court to postpone fact discovery and other substantive proceedings until it considered a motion for transfer. In re: Apple Inc., Case No. 22-162 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 8, 2022)...
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Seeing Starz: No Damages Bar in Copyright Discovery Rule Case
By Jodi Benassi on Aug 4, 2022
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss copyright infringement claims as barred by the statute of limitations, affirming the copyright owner’s right to sue even though more than three years had passed since the alleged infringement occurred. Starz Entertainment, LLC v. MGM Domestic...
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