The Board of Visitors (BoV) for the NC Central University School of Law has elected Member William G. Pagán as their new Chair. As noted in the BoV bylaws, the Board Chair is considered to be “the Chief Volunteer of the NCCU School of Law [and] is a partner with the Dean in achieving the…
On 13 March 2023, the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Intel Corp. v. PACT XPP Schweiz AG, No. 22-1037 (Fed. Cir. 2023). The decision relates to the requirements for showing that a patent claim is unpatentably obvious. The Patent Office will often find that an invention as claimed is not patentable because the…
The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) has appointed William G. Pagán to the role of Deputy Regional President for Region VI covering North Carolina and South Carolina. Founded in 1972, the HNBA is a non-profit, nonpartisan, national organization representing Hispanics in the legal profession throughout the United States and its territories. Its core missions include…
Coats & Bennett is proud to announce that, for the fifth year in a row, Patent Attorney and firm Member William G. Pagán has been named to SuperLawyers’ Intellectual Property Rising Stars List. Will is one of only nine attorneys named to this list throughout North Carolina. An established leader in the firm’s computing technology…
Coats & Bennett is proud to welcome its newest Associate Attorney, Deirdre Beasley. Deirdre brings nearly a decade of experience as a former Primary Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office to the firm. A graduate of Bowie State University’s Computer Science program, Magna Cum Laude, she further deepens Coats & Bennett’s…
Jurors have reached a much-anticipated verdict in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial. In case you haven’t already heard, Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation, asking a jury for $50 million in damages. Ms. Heard countersued for defamation, asking the same jury for $100 million in damages. After deliberating for about 13 hours over…
Having served on the Board of Visitors for the NC Central University School of Law since 2020, Member William G. Pagán has been named their new Vice Chair. One of the primary roles of the NCCU Law Board of Visitors is to assist the Dean of the law school in maintaining continuous engagement with alumni.…
In a previous post, we emphasized that copyright protections do not extend to elements of a work that are unoriginal. A recent precedential decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinforces these principles, emphasizing the need to consider to what extent a work is genuinely an original work of authorship. If you haven’t been following along,…
Dua Lipa has been sued for copyright infringement by Artikal Sound System (who goes by “ASS” for short). As part of their complaint, ASS alleges that it is highly unlikely that Dua Lipa’s hit song “Levitating” (released in 2020) was created independently from the ASS song “Live Your Life” (released in 2017). A copyright arises…
In January 2022, Attorney William G. Pagán was a guest lecturer for three sections of an “Inventions and Innovations” class at Elko Middle School in Henrico County, Virginia. The class, taught by Technology Education Teacher Kennesha Walker, was intended (among other things) to expose middle school children to various intellectual property concerns associated with devising inventive solutions and bringing them to the…