Please see attached Technical Comments and Analysis of these two pending pieces of legislation prepared by Bob Kain.
Please provide any feedback directly to Bob at [email protected] as soon as you can, both bills are moving quickly.
Technical Comments HB 1523 asnd SB 1378
Thanks
Jim Matulis
Matulis IP Law & Mediation
Just a reminder that the next “Annual-ish” IP Symposium is currently scheduled for April 22-23, 2021 in Fort Lauderdale. We hope to be there in person, but if not possible, we will meet virtually. Please save the date!
Thanks
Jim Matulis, Chair IP Committee
Plug-in for USB being used to capture passwords. Your computer systems are less secure than you think. Please read
Thanks to Bob Kain for sharing this piece.
M.C. Dean, Inc. v City of Miami et al -dismissing DTSA complaint for failure to state a claim
Following up on our successful meeting at the annual meeting, Robert Kain was kind enough to share the legislative summary he authored for distribution to the committee. The summary includes descriptions of the following statutes adopted in the 2015 Session, which are likeley to be of note to Florida IP practitioners:
A. SLAPP: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP lawsuits). CS/HB 1041, Fla.Stat. § 768.295, effective July 1, 2015.
B. The Patent Troll Prevention Act, CS/CS/CS/HB 439, Fla.Stat. § 501.991, effective July 1, 2015.
C. True Origins of Digital Goods Act, CS/CS/HB 271 – Florida Statute 501.155, effective July 1, 2015.
D. The Computer Abuse and Data Recovery Act, CS/CS/CS/SB 222, Fla.Stat. § 668.801 (“CADRA”), effective October 1, 2015.
E. Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act, CS/CS/SB 766, Fla.Stat. § 934.50, effective July 1, 2015.
Download the entire summary here. Thank you, Robert!
Florida Statute § 501.972 serves as a statute of frauds of sorts for disputes arising out of using someone else’s idea. While many may not have heard of this statute before, the first Court opinion dealing with it was released from the Middle District of Florida last week. The statute itself provides :
501. 972 Actions based upon use of a creation that is not protected under federal copyright law.
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), the use of an idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, discovery, thought, or other creation that is not a work of authorship protected under federal copyright law does not give rise to a claim or cause of action, in law or in equity, unless the parties to the claim or cause of action have executed a writing sufficient to indicate that a contract has been made between them governing such use.
(2) Subsection (1) does not affect or limit:
(a) Any cause of action based in copyright, trademark, patent, or trade secret; or
(b) Any defense raised in connection with a cause of action described in paragraph (2).
An engineer sued BP, claiming BP had used a couple of the engineer’s ideas in trying to stop the oil leak after the Deepwater explosion. BP sought summary judgment under this Florida Statute, arguing there was no writing signed by BP, and thus the Plaintiff had no claim. The Court agreed, granting summary judgment to BP.
I’ve written more about it here. The case is Kaminski v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc., Case No. 8:12-cv-826 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 24, 2013) (J. Bucklew).
