Insights

Chicago – July 30, 2026: Managing Intellectual Property has recognized nine Crowell & Moring attorneys and five practice areas in its 2026 IP Stars rankings for the United States, underscoring the depth, breadth, and technical strength of the firm’s global Intellectual Property practice, which includes more than 100 attorneys, patent agents and technical advisors. The guide “covers a variety of IP practice areas and more than 80 jurisdictions, making it the most comprehensive and widely respected IP practitioner guide in the legal profession.”  

Washington – June 4, 2026: Crowell & Moring earned 92 individual rankings for 81 attorneys, as well as 48 national and statewide practice area rankings, in the Chambers USA 2026 guide. The Chambers guide ranks the country’s top law firms and lawyers through in-depth research, client interviews, and feedback from attorneys at peer firms. 

Chicago – February 3, 2026: World Trademark Review has once again recognized Crowell & Moring as a top trademark firm in its 2026 guide. Crowell received the highest ranking—gold—in Illinois for enforcement and litigation, and prosecution and strategy. The firm also achieved “Recommended” status in the International category and silver in the U.S. National and Belgium categories, and earned recognition as a top firm in California. Crowell is one of only three firms in Illinois to earn a gold ranking both for litigation and prosecution. 

On September 23, Judge Vernon D. Oliver partially granted and partially denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment in Post University Inc. v. Learneo, Inc., 3:21-cv-1242 (VDO) (D. Del. Sept. 23, 2025). For background, the defendant in this case, Learneo, Inc. (commonly known as Course Hero), is an online platform for college, trade, and high school students that provides access to user-submitted documents via a paid subscription. Course Hero allows users to search the documents that have been uploaded by school, textbook, book title, and subject, but only users with a subscription can view the documents. Users without a subscription may access a preview version of the document, consisting of a blurred and truncated version created by Course Hero. Course Hero users have uploaded documents to the platform for many thousands of colleges, grad schools, high schools, and trade schools.

In a decision to be applauded by brand owners throughout the country, the Supreme Court clarified the balance between trademark rights and First Amendment interests in its decision in the Jack Daniel’s case, Jack Daniel’s Props., Inc. v. VIP Prods. LLC, No. 22-148 (June 8, 2023).  Vacating the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Court held that an accused infringer does not receive special First Amendment protection when it has used a trademark to designate the source of its own goods.  Such use is subject to the traditional test for likelihood of confusion, the Court held, not a threshold test derived from the First Amendment such as that contained in Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994 (2d Cir. 1989).[1]

Following its recent grant of a registration for Zarya of the Dawn, a comic book incorporating certain images generated by artificial intelligence, the U.S. Copyright Office (“Copyright Office) has issued new Guidance regarding its examination of works containing material that has been generated by artificial intelligence (“AI”), effective as of March 16, 2023.[1] In sum, works that incorporate material generated by AI may be eligible for copyright protection and registration under certain circumstances, provided that the work contains sufficient human authorship. Applicants seeking to register their works with the Copyright Office now have a duty to disclose any AI-generated material in copyright applications, as well as in existing registrations. Any AI-generated content that is more than de minimis must be excluded from the filing.

Trademark law continues to challenge as impactful recent case law, administrative updates and the need for an increasingly global outlook when practicing trademark law evolves the practice.