Category Archives: PLI

Treatise Update: Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law

Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law focuses on the pivotal subject of substantial similarity and helps plaintiff and defense attorneys evaluate and advocate copyright infringement claims. The book illustrates how substantial similarity tests apply to specific kinds of copyrightable material—from fiction to computer programs, and from sound recordings to architectural works­. Practitioners will learn how courts address substantial similarity at each stage of litigation from motion practice to trial, and when they can leverage expert witnesses to strengthen their claims or discredit their adversary.

Highlights from the new release include updates to the following chapters:

  • Chapter 2 discusses unprotectable material and “thin copyright”.
  • Chapter 3 provides updated discussion of the Ninth Circuit’s substantial similarity test and  when dismissal on grounds of substantial similarity is appropriate.
  • Chapter 9 examines Gray v. Hudson, where the Ninth Circuit affirmed that an eight-note ostinato was not copyrightable.
  • Chapter 13 covers Structured Asset Sales, LLC v. Sheeran, the first case that expressly rejects an infringement claim based on a combination of individually unprotectable elements on grounds of numerosity.

The release provides new illustrations of the matters in issue in these cases:

  • Cub Club Inv. v. Apple Inc. (racially diverse emojis) (see new Appendix A.1.T)
  • Morford v. Cattelan (banana duct-taped to a wall) (see new Appendix A.2.L)
  • teamLab Inc. v. Museum of Dream Space, LLC (interactive, digital, audiovisual museum displays designed to immerse visitors in the vastness of the universe) (see new Appendix A.2.M)
  • ACT, Inc. v. Worldwide Interactive Network, Inc. (description of skills to be learned) (see new Appendix A.3.H)
  • Hanagami v. Epic Games Inc. (choreography) (see new Appendix A.3.I)
  • Unicolors, Inc. v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. (sweater) (see new Appendix A.9.W)
  • Advanta-STAR Auto. Research Corp. of Am. v. DealerCMO, Inc. (automobile comparison database) (see new Appendix A.9.X)
  • Klauber Bros., Inc. v. M.J.C.L.K., LLC (fabric designs) (see new Appendix A.9.Y)
  • Hayden v. Koons (serpent platform sculpture) (see new Appendix A.11.U)

In addition, the Table of Cases, the Defendant-Plaintiff Table, and the Index have been updated.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Friedman on Leases (6th Edition)

Friedman on Leases clarifies and analyzes the full range of lease provisions and conceivable landlord-tenant situations to give you unsurpassed practical instruction on how to negotiate and draft airtight agreements that protect your clients’ rights and minimize their liability exposure.

Packed with numerous case decisions with commentary and valuable sample lease clauses and agreements, practitioners will be able to draft, negotiate, and amend every essential document involved in commercial leasing, modify lease provisions for the full variety of landlord-tenant arrangements, anticipate and resolve problematic transaction developments, avoid drafting errors,  deal with difficult issues specific to assignments, subletting, renewals, take-over leases, percentage leases, and other challenging aspects of commercial leasing.

The new release includes the following updates:

  • Chapter 2 discusses Florida’s recently enacted legislation that restricts non-citizens who are domiciled either in China or other specified “countries of interest” from purchasing or acquiring any interest in real property in the state.
  • Chapter 3 dives into express parking rights, including the latest case development.
  • Chapter 4 provides an updated discussion on the possible right of bankruptcy trustee to terminate tenant’s lease rights, including the latest case developments.
  • Chapter 5 covers tenant’s obligation to pay associated interest, penalties, and costs imposed due to tenant’s non-payment of real estate taxes, and includes a clause making clear tenant’s liability for such obligations.
  • Chapter 6 provides commentary on implied duties of continuous operation.

The Table of Cases and Index have also been updated.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Hillman on Commercial Loan Documentation (6th Edition)

Hillman on Commercial Loan Documentation offers practical guidance on how to document transactions in ways that secure lenders’ interests, minimize their risks, and protect them from liability. Packed with time-saving sample forms and sample drafting language, this book allows you to craft more quickly and confidently the full range of relevant documents, including loan agreements, security agreements, financing statements, pledges, guaranties, and opinion letters. This book also illustrates how to create loan closing checklists that ensure every key step is taken to get solid deals done and how to draft agreements that protect lenders from environmental risks, resolve conflicts with creditors, and allow lenders to capitalize on lucrative financing opportunities.

The new release includes the following updates:

  • Revised § 20:2.1, Evidence of Property Insurance, explains that an ordinary “loss payee” clause may not protect the lender against the borrower’s arson, insurance fraud, or negligence.
  • Revised § 24:2.1, The Debtor Changes Its Name, explains that under the federal REAL ID regulations, an individual’s driver’s license must include the debtor’s full middle name, not just a middle initial, possibly making a filing “seriously misleading.”
  • New § 24:9, Changes in the Means of Perfection, examines the 2022 Code amendments adding control to the perfection techniques for controllable electronic records, controllable accounts, controllable payment intangibles, and electronic money.

The following forms have also been updated:

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Kane on Trademark: A Practitioner’s Guide (Seventh Edition)

Kane on Trademark is a comprehensive resource on trademark law and tactics.  It includes lists of cases on both sides of all major trademark issues, full-color illustrations of previously litigated marks, sample forms, and step-by-step checklists. This book provides court-tested practical suggestions, including how to spot potential conflicts and save searching time and expense with effective shortcuts, overcome common descriptiveness rejections, update or amend registrations based on changes in the mark and prepare witnesses for depositions.

The new release includes updates to the following chapters:

  • Chapter 2 reviews a case from the First Circuit in which the green, white, and pink color scheme of candy was deemed functional by helping to identify the watermelon flavor of the candy.
  • Chapter 10 includes a case from the Eleventh Circuit on Article III standing in the context of false advertising. This chapter also explains the pitfalls in failing to review the relevant circuit precedent regarding presumptions in the context of false advertising claims.
  • Chapter 11 discusses federal (INFORM act) and state law related to content moderation on social media designed to deter the sale of, among other things, counterfeit merchandise. The state laws are facing First Amendment challenges.
  • Chapter 12 covers post-Jack Daniel’s decisions, including the key Ninth Circuit decision in Punchbowl, Inc. v. AJ Press, LLC, which scales back application of Rogers when an expressive mark is used as a mark. It also reviews recent developments and arguments about the right to repair.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Bankruptcy Deskbook (Fifth Edition)

Bankruptcy Deskbook provides lawyers with practical assistance on how to achieve fair remedies while avoiding legal problems for clients in bankruptcy proceedings. This treatise covers the demands on Chapter 7 debtors, rules for Chapter 11 small business debtor, requirements for Chapter 13 individual debtors, compliance burdens placed on attorneys, while also keeping readers up-to-date on legal developments through the analysis of recent Supreme Court, court of appeals, and bankruptcy court decisions. It also provides step-by-step guidance through the bankruptcy laws, clarifying the purpose, features, mechanics, advantages, and drawbacks of Chapters 7, 11, 12, and 13 in the era of BAPCPA.

The new release includes updates to the following chapters:

  • Chapter 6 discusses how the Eighth Circuit has followed the Second Circuit’s Post-Merit holding that an entity may immunize a transaction from attack by a trustee by employing a financial institution as its agent in connection with a leveraged buyout, an approach which has been criticized.
  • Chapter 7 mentions the split of authority over whether Social Security benefits withheld by the IRS and credited against the debtor’s tax liability retain their exempt status when refunded.
  • Chapter 9 breaks down the Supreme Court’s recent interpretation of section 523(a)(2)(A) to mean that nondischargeability “turns on how the money was obtained, not who committed fraud to obtain it.” As a result, where a debtor is held liable for a fraud committed by another— such as a partner or agent—the debt will be nondischargeable despite the debtor’s lack of deceit.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Reinsurance Law

Reinsurance Law examines the intricacies of U.S. reinsurance law in the twenty-first century, giving you a practical grasp of the purpose, benefits, markets, and costs of reinsurance; the features, operation, and risk-and-return characteristics of the full range of reinsurance products; state, federal, and international regulation of reinsurance; and a full understanding of resolving disputes in the industry. This practical guide is equipped with time-saving checklists, sample clauses and agreements for efficiency. It comprehensively covers federal and state law, industry standards, and practices, such as the Utmost Good Faith and Follow-the-Fortunes doctrines, and does so in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner.

Highlights of the release include:

  • Revised Chapter 6 explains that arbitration is a matter of contract, and courts must enforce arbitration agreements according to their terms. Parties may agree to have an arbitrator decide whether the parties have agreed to arbitration.

The Index and Table of Authorities has also been updated for this release.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Save the Date: PLI’s Lunch & Learn @ AALL Chicago

Are you attending the 2024 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Chicago this summer? Join us for a luncheon to celebrate librarians and learn about what’s new at PLI and recent enhancements to PLI PLUS.

The luncheon will take place on Sunday, July 21 from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m.

Email us at libraryrelations@pli.edu to RSVP if you will attend, and we will include location details in your confirmation email. 

Treatise Update: Patent Claim Construction and Markman Hearings

Patent Claim Construction and Markman Hearings provides an in-depth guidance to patent claims, walking the reader through the entire process of preparing for, conducting, and appealing a Markman hearing. This book includes an entire chapter on the local court claim construction rules of the various district courts that have adopted them.

This treatise helps readers understand how courts decide “what a person of ordinary skill in the field of the patent invention would understand the language of the claim to mean”, the impact of prior constructions on a new hearing, how to decide what claims or claim elements should be construed by the court, what constitutes intrinsic and extrinsic evidence in interpreting the claim, at what point in the overall patent proceeding a construction hearing should be held, and what are the rules that will be used when a contested construction is an issue in an appeal to the Federal Circuit.

The latest release includes:

  • Federal Circuit cases summarizing how claim construction should be determined based on several post-Markman cases (see Chapter 1)
  • Coverage of Salazar v. AT&T Mobility LLC, a Federal Circuit case questioning whether “a” meant “at least one” in a patent claim that recited “a microprocessor” that performed one function and then referred to “said microprocessor” that performed several functions (See Chapter 2).
  • Discussions of Sequoia Technology, LLC v. Dell, Inc., in which the Federal Circuit explained that disclosures in other patents do not necessarily reflect what a person of ordinary skill would know or understand because such disclosures might be the patentee’s exercise in lexicography (See Chapter 6)
  • Appendix C now includes the 2024 AIPLA Model Patent Jury Instructions.

The Table of Authorities has also been updated.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.

Treatise Update: Sack on Defamation: Libel, Slander, and Related Problems (5th Edition)

Sack on Defamation: Libel, Slander, and Related Problems offers strategic guidance for plaintiffs and defense attorneys and fully covers the basic elements of a defamation claim, including the types and amounts of damages that can be awarded, the treatment of libel per se and slander per se, the invasion of privacy torts, the causes of action for injurious falsehood, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent misstatement, and the issues of jurisdiction and motion practice. Written by a U.S. Court of Appeals judge and updated by a constitutional law scholar from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, this treatise pinpoints practical legal issues vital to your clients, helping you understand when “truth” is not a defense.

The latest release includes updates on:

  • Chapter 2 on how to determine whether certain communications are defamatory covers a case involving political talk radio in which a politician was described as having “started a new political party” and a case from Texas involving an abortion opponent’s depiction of abortion advocacy groups as “criminal organizations.”
  • Chapter 4 discusses a case in which the New Hampshire Supreme Court interpreted New Hampshire law to protect a defendant who had couched his defamatory statement as speculation, thus providing more protection for opinion than Milkovich.
  • Chapter 5 covers a case in which the South Carolina Supreme Court held that a high school football coach, who was a public employee, was neither a public figure nor a public official and a New York case finding that a DJ was a limited-purpose public figure because he had purposefully and continuously publicized and promoted his business relationships with famous artists to attract publicity and business for himself and his record label.
  • Chapter 7  examines how hyperlinking, reposting, and retweeting is expanded with the discussion of cases from state and federal courts in New York, New Hampshire, Florida, California, and Ohio.
  • Chapter 10 discusses judicial review of damages awards takes note that plaintiffs may opt to prove “actual malice” to recover presumed damages without the need to prove actual damages.

The Table of Cases and the Defendant-Plaintiff Table have also been updated.

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PLI PLUS subscribers can access this title through their subscription.