Crowell & Moring Releases Litigation Forecast 2022: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year

Where Technology, Litigation, and IP Intersect

Washington — January 12, 2022: Crowell & Moring has published Litigation Forecast 2022: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year. The tenth-annual Litigation Forecast focuses on the intersection of technology, litigation, and intellectual property, including significant changes to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board process, the impact of Google v. Oracle on copyright, new developments in the biopharma space, shifting FTC enforcement strategies, and more. The Litigation Forecast provides forward-looking insights from leading Crowell & Moring lawyers to help legal departments anticipate and respond to challenges that might arise in the year ahead.

The cover story, “When the Disruptors Get Disrupted,” explores the critical importance of IP litigation in the competitive landscape and how technology industry participants are going beyond patents and turning to a broader range of trade secrets, copyright, trademarks, and other IP rights to protect their inventions. Crowell & Moring partner Warrington Parker explores how emerging technologies—from NFTs to artificial intelligence—are opening new avenues of innovation and leading to novel types of litigation. And he examines how competitor-versus-competitor litigation is taking place against the background of Washington’s growing scrutiny of Big Tech companies.

“Over the past several years, technology litigation has exploded, and companies have helped propel this growth with an expansion in the ways in which they protect their technology-based IP,” said Philip T. Inglima, chair of Crowell & Moring. “In our Forecast this year, we examine the latest developments in technology, litigation, and IP in order to help our clients be more competitive, more nimble, and even more transformative as they navigate this changing landscape.”

In “The Changing Rules of the Road,” partner Vincent J. Galluzzo discusses the impact of two decisions that have reshaped basic processes at the USPTO’s PTAB, including the impact of the Supreme Court’s Arthrex Inc. v. Smith & Nephew Inc. decision, which has paved the way for a new inter partes review process, and an increase in discretionary denials of IPR proceedings stemming from the PTAB’s Apple v. Fintiv decision. In the Forecast’s article on copyright and software law, “Fair Use: When Clarification Isn’t Necessarily Clear,” partner Gabriel M. Ramsey explores the fair use doctrine in the wake of the Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc. decision, including how copyright holders will move to more strictly enforce copyrights through other avenues and ways that fair use can apply beyond software.

Articles in the Forecast include:

• • Cover Story – The Intersection of Technology, Litigation, and IP – “When the Disruptors Get Disrupted”
  • BioPharma – “The Calm Between the CRISPR Storms”
  • Branding – “The FTC Flexes Its Muscles”
  • Copyright/Software – “Fair Use: When Clarification Isn’t Necessarily Clear”
  • International Trade Commission – “A Sledgehammer for Fighting Knockoffs”
  • Jurisdictional Analysis – “Efficient Docket Management, Fewer Filings”
  • PTAB Litigation – “The Changing Rules of the Road”
  • Patent Cases – “An Open Door for MOT Patent Litigation”
  • Trade Secrets – “Expect Claims to Keep Rising”
  • Trademark – “Conflicting Decisions Raise Uncertainty”

All of the articles from the Forecast are available at https://www.crowell.com/en/services/topics/litigation-forecast. Follow the conversation on social media with #LitigationForecast.