Supreme Court is able to govern copyright and trademark law

The Supreme Court was also unusually active in the area of copyrights this past Term. In the widely publicized American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo case, the Court held that Aereo's unusual antenna-based television subscription service violated the Copyright Act's Transmit Clause. And in Petrella v. MGM, a case alleging that the 1980 movie Raging Bull copied the plaintiff's 1969 screenplay, the Court concluded that the equitable doctrine of laches cannot be used to bar a claim for copyright infringement damages that is brought within the three-year limitations period of Section 507(b) of the Copyright Act.

Finally, the Court also decided two important Lanham Act cases in its recent Term. In Lexmark International v. Static Control Components, the Court held that Static Control had adequately pleaded the requirements of a Lanham Act false-advertising claim by alleging an injury to a commercial interest in sales or business reputation proximately caused by the defendant's misrepresentation. And in POM Wonderful v. Coca-Cola, the Court ruled that a competitor was entitled to sue under the Lanham Act for unfair competition by alleging false or misleading descriptions on product labeling, even where the labeling is regulated by the FDA.[2]