On November 14 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in &�Բ�����;(“Jiaxing”) that foreign parties to a trademark infringement complaint can be served by trademark owners within the U.S. because of . Statutory interpretation of s.1051(e) in this case provides a new way to serve foreign defendants via the Director of the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”).  Specifically, Jiaxing provides that a foreign defendant may be served if they have filed an application for a conflicting trademark at the USPTO. This mitigates the traditional temporal, financial, and logistical challenges associated with preventing trademark infringement by foreign companies.

The Los Angeles-based &�Բ�����;(“San Antonio”) is known for their Stella Rosa brand that they have produced under the trademarks  since 1998. They , a Chinese company, for registering the mark “RIBOLI” for tands, containers, cocktail shakers, dishware, and other kitchen products. Jiaxing registered “RIBOLI” in 2018 for clothing and shoes and in 2020 for kitchen products. Accordingly, San Antonio filed a complaint for trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false designation of origin. They are seeking an injunction against Jiaxing from using the “RIBOLI” mark, and an order to prohibit Jiaxing’s registrations.

The current route to service of foreign defendants is the Hague Convention, but San Antonio sought a faster and inexpensive way to serve Jiaxing. They did so under  which allows U.S. residents to serve the foreign defendant’s O agent or the USPTO director in “proceedings” that affect the mark. The provision states that if the trademark applicant is not in the U.S., they can designate a person in the U.S. who may be served on their behalf regarding the marks; and if that person is not found then the USPTO director may be served. 

Jurisprudence conflicts as to whether s.1051(e) is limited to USPTO proceedings or includes civil lawsuits. As such, the  that held the provision only applies to administrative proceedings. The Ninth Circuit reversed this by interpreting that the words “proceedings affecting a trademark” are broad enough to include civil litigation. Since , the provision must encompass serving process for disputes in district court. The Court held that the wording only requires that it’s plain and ordinary meaning be taken. Moreover, since the Lanham Act grants courts the power to affect trademarks in other ways, s.1051(e)’s use of the word “process” must apply to court proceedings. Further, the word , and thus it would have been  if it were not meant to also include civil proceedings.

Serving foreign defendants through s.1051(e)  as it governs service amongst foreign countries whereas s.1051(e) governs service within the U.S without international transmittal of documents; which means it .

Foreign infringers are increasingly popular and  on marketplaces that verify IP ownership, such as Amazon. The decision is significant, in that it may act as a deterrent — it warns foreign companies that an application at the USPTO is all that is needed to be served a U.S. lawsuit. The Court’s adoption of the plain and ordinary meaning is akin to the starting point of statutory interpretation in this context in Canada —  as adopted in Rizzo and Bell ExpressVu. This points to an expectation of similar results in Canadian courts, wherein a purposive analysis would be adopted to assess the ability of domestic trademark owners to serve foreign infringers.

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Anita Gogia is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On November 2, 2022, in the case of (“Bhagwani”), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upheld trademark principles which state that an enforceable right does not exist on the mere filing of a trademark application absent use of the mark.

In Bhagwani, the divisional court an injunction prohibiting Bhagwani from using “Bombay Frankie” in any restaurant they operate. The motion judge had to 2788610 Ontario Inc. because it was the first to file a trademark application for “Bombay Frankies” despite not having yet used the mark. The divisional court reversed this decision and held that an applicant cannot sue for trademark infringement until the . If they are to sue for passing off when registration is pending, they cannot do so successfully unless the mark has developed goodwill.

2788610 Ontario Inc. applied to register the mark in October 2020 but that application had yet to be examined, approved, or advertised. It was in the process of developing a franchise system of restaurants but had not opened or advertised any restaurant or obtained any reputation associated with the mark. In contrast, Bhagwani had on various menu items and to register “Bombay Frankie” in 2021. They also opened two restaurants with the “Bombay Frankie” name.

In granting the injunction, the motion judge applied the :

• First, a serious issue to be tried is present. The issue is whether 2788610 Ontario Inc.’s entitlement to the trademark manifests on the application date or registration date. The judge accepted that this is a novel claim and to establish a “serious issue to be tried”.
• Second, the judge held that 2788610 Ontario Inc. would suffer irreparable harm that is not compensable without the injunction. The judge concluded that Bhagwani would have a significant advantage if they continued operation with the marks in issue on their restaurants.
• Third, the balance of convenience favoured the granting of an injunction.

The divisional court reviewed the motion judge's decision on a standard of correctness because it is an error in principle attributable to the application of an . The divisional court applied the test in accordance with established trademark principles:

• First, in finding a serious issue to be tried, the motion judge incorrectly concluded that 2788610 Ontario Inc. had a right to the marks by virtue of the trademark application or that its trademark would be registered (both errors of law). Per , a trademark must be registered to give rise to a cause of action. There is no certainty that 2788610 Ontario Inc.’s application will be granted. In considering a possibility of a passing off claim, the court upheld that to establish passing-off per , 2788610 Ontario Inc. must have shown existing goodwill. While 2788610 Ontario Inc. was engaged in start-up activities, those per the jurisprudence. In this analysis, the court notably recognized that goodwill could exist from the perspective of potential franchisees (but was not established on the facts of this case).
• Second, the court held that the motion judge made a by ruling that 2788610 Ontario Inc. would suffer irreparable harm without an injunction because the loss of goodwill , only established by clear evidence. The cause of action protects existing, not potential goodwill. The court cited , noting that confusion does not per se result in “irreparable harm not compensable in damages.” Irreparable harm is a high bar.
• Third, although the divisional court did not consider the balance of convenience, the court did note that such consideration may favour Bhagwani, who had to remove signs, website content, and social media accounts bearing the “Bombay Frankie” name.

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Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On on the intriguing case. engages novel issues of trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and cybersquatting (MetaBirkin.com domain name in this case) by artists in the metaverse.

Rothschild that depicted the Hermès Birkin bag in digital fur instead of leather, seemingly present in luxury handbags. The NFTs were on every further sale. After Hermès took down the NFTs from OpenSea, Rothschild moved to a different marketplace and “MetaBirkin” on Discord. Rothschild argued that “” and that the NFTs were a “” under First Amendment protection. Essentially, he argued that “MetaBirkins” were .

The jury found that Rothschild’s “MetaBirkin” NFTs . The key issue was whether the “MetaBirkin” was artistic expression under First Amendment protection, or a commercial product that causes consumer confusion. The jury concluded that while artistic expression was present, Rothschild intended to confuse consumers.

During the trial, Hermès provided evidence of actual consumer confusion which included about if “MetaBirkins” were connected to Hermès. Rothschild rejected these claims by providing that he to his website clarifying that the “MetaBirkins” were not connected with Hermès in any way and that his .

The jury was also influenced by Judge Rakoff’s reasons to deny the motion for summary judgment, and his exclusion of expert testimony. Judge Rakoff held that the test for artistic works applies where the key inquiry is This test was applied as opposed to the test, . Thus, Judge Rakoff held that the artistic relevance was present. Blake Gopnik provided expert testimony that Rothschild brought forth in this case. Had this been admitted, the jury ; thus aligning them in the artistic expression context.

Following the decision, Rothschild’s legal team that the dispute is “.” The team also pointed out Hermès’ hypocrisy as a luxury fashion brand who claim they care about artists but “.” This case has been followed by many to observe how the court resolves the issue of NFTs using intellectual property for the purpose of artistic expression. It is unknown whether this decision stands as precedent since intellectual property right disputes are significantly context-based. After this decision, artists can only conclude for certain the importance of obtaining legal advice before using IP in their NFTs, even if it is in the name of artistic expression.

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Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

The conflict of laws has often resulted in interesting dilemmas for courts where precedent cannot be readily applied, necessitating a case-by-case approach. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit a that held a French court’s ruling was unenforceable due to a conflict in copyright laws between the countries.

Background

The case between De Fontbrune and Alan Wofsy regarding photographs of Picasso’s paintings dates to 1991. taken by Christian Zervos, with added creative elements through deliberate choices of lighting, lens filters and framing, were published in Zervos Catalogue in 1932. In 1979, the rights to the publication were acquired by De Fontbrune. In 1991, Wofsy, with , published De Fontrbrune’s images in “The Picasso Project”. De Fontbrune held the position that the to approve such use. , in 1998, the police confiscated copies of Wofsy’s book, and De Fontbrune sued for copyright infringement.

In 1998, the French courts ruled that the photographs were used for , and thus were not entitled to copyright protection. This, however, was in 2001 with a ruling against Wofsy, who became responsible for . The appellate court agreed that Zervos’ photographs were protected by copyright, as it involved sufficient creativity. ��Wofsy appealed to the French Civil Supreme Court, but his case the damages owed to De Fontbrune.

In 2011, to enforce the decision in the States, De Fontbrune brought the case to California who . The District Court held that the French decision infringed Wofsy’s freedom of speech and that Wofsy’s books are “ and that astreinte (monetary damages for copyright infringement) do not apply because of the US’s fair use doctrine. The plaintiffs argued that the book has a commercial purpose, which weighs against fair use. The District Court held that such nature of use does not create a presumption against fair use for public policy reasons. The US’s disregard of another country’s ruling ��indicated that the court found it “repugnant” to domestic law.

Appeal

De Fontbrune the District Court’s holding — one that rejected the French judgement. The appellate court, the Ninth Circuit, noted that there is a high bar for repugnancy, and that a mere conflict of laws is insufficient to meet it. Further, the judgment must be to recognize standards of morality and the general interests of the citizens. The Ninth Circuit also notedd that the French judgment is identified under the California Recognition Act.

The Ninth Circuit that the book ��was non-infringing for the purposes of — that is, the Court does not consider it to be “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research purposes.” ��Rather, the Court held that the use was infringing because it is simply a and the one that could rebalance fair use in Wofsy’s favour.

The Ninth Circuit used the following four fair use factors to reach their conclusion:

• the purpose and character of use;
• the nature of the copyrighted work;
• the amount and substantiality of the portion used; and
• the effect on potential market or value of the copyrighted work

The Court had doubts whether Wofsy could use the fair use defence in the States and thus the inability to use the defence under French law was not in “.”

The discrepancy between the decisions of the District Court and Appellate Court may have stemmed from the subjective methodology of the judges of balancing the copyright laws and fair use defence scope with First Amendment freedom of speech rights. Nevertheless, the fair use defence remains a gamble for artists and creatives.

On December 2, 2022, counsel for Wofsy for a Writ of Certiorari —judicial review— to the Supreme Court of the United States.

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Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

In , the Federal Court of Canada invalided patents for interactive program guide (“IPG”) technology and clarified a reasonable royalty as the appropriate remedy had the patents been found valid and infringed.

Rovi supplies , and Videotron is a telecommunications corporation providing cable services and . IPGs are interactive menus that you may have used to select/search programming listings rather than viewing them on a paper guide.

Rovi’s revenue model is to license a portfolio for a rate without consideration for the number of patents. Videotron did not renew its license which expired in 2016. Videotron claimed they licensed to avoid litigation, and later realized that Rovi’s portfolio is obsolete. Notably, Rovi wanted to double the royalty rate and when Videotron asked Rovi to “.” Rovi did not provide an adequate answer.

Rovi that Videotron infringed four patents, which Videotron were invalid. Rovi’s patents were held due to obviousness and anticipated knowledge in consideration of prior art and knowledge of the skilled person. Rovi’s patents were secured in the 1990s, one of which claims a “”. ��The Court held that it was obvious to the industry that IPGs would be prominent in the future and that 1990s were “.” Therefore, or obvious extensions.

The Court’s for denying the remedy of accounting of profits is significant, as not much caselaw has clarified this equitable remedy. Videotron’s products are classified as “complex products” since the patented technology is a small part of the overall value of the product —- not analogous to a pharmaceutical product. With standard patent cases, patentees can be granted ‘accounting for profits’ as a remedy. The availability of such a remedy is questionable with non-standard cases. The for awarding an ‘accounting for profits’ ��are as follows:

First, the Court did not find undue delay by Rovi in pursuing litigation against Videotron.

However, upon examining Rovi’s conduct, the Court found that Rovi operated in bad faith — that Rovi was using “” and not disclosing the list of infringed patents to Videotron to prevent them from designing around them. The recognition of “hard-ball” as a characteristic of bad faith conduct is a novel interpretation of a traditional equitable ground.

Second, the judge recognized Rovi’s “” into royalty deals and took note of Rovi’s delay in prosecuting patents which results in the problem of “holdup”. Granting an accounting remedy in this case would set an undesirable precedent contrary to the purposes of IPR as it gives patentees leverage in negotiations where the royalty would reflect the .

Third, Rovi that Videotron wilfully infringed their patents, however, the judge concluded that Videotron refusing to renew their agreement was actually based on a “reasonable assessment of the necessity of the patents”.

As the court considered the fourth factor neutral, it moved on to an interesting analysis of the complexity of calculating an accounting of profits — that inventors are entitled to that portion of which is causally attributable to the invention. However, patentees seeking an accounting remedy must provide a sound and reliable way to calculate profits. Here, the Courts found that Rovi’s proposal for calculating Videotron’s profits complex and unreliable, said to be based on “” evidence. The court noted caselaw describing that “.”

Instead, the Court accepted Videotron’s proposal of the appropriate remedy as a “.” It was a safer approach to argue a reasonable royalty cap of $150,000 per feature based on design-around rather than arguing that the royalty was zero, since the non-infringing alternative is to remove the IPGs all together.

The post Discretionary Remedies Clarified, and Videotron Ltd Successfully Defends Against Much Litigation-Experienced Rovi Guides Inc. appeared first on IPOsgoode.

Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

iRobot Corp was recently issued a against its competitor SharkNinja Operating LLC for . The product in question was the innovative Roomba robotic vacuum and floor cleaning device. While the final decision is yet to be given in , the recent holding recommends an of any infringing SharkNinja devices. Once approved by ITC commissioners in February, this remedy will be enforced regardless of any appeals.

Such a decision is important as it provides credence to the work and intellectual property of iRobot engineers in revolutionizing home cleaning products. The iRobot portfolio consists of other technology innovations and ideas in .

It was found that SharkNinja was infringing two out of the four patents claimed by iRobot. The court found SharkNinja to infringe on two out of four of iRobot’s relevant patents, specifically for . While SharkNinja also infringed a patent for autonomous floor cleaning, there was no determination of a violation as the Patent Trial and Appeal Board had . The fourth patent for map-based training was . SharkNinja based their defence on the invalidity of iRobot’s patents. They that the patents were revisions of known technology and that such protection supresses innovation. For example, regarding the mapping patents, SharkNinja says, “”.

In the past, iRobot has applied their patent protections to . The iRobot advanced technologies have justified the high price for their products but have seen a largely due to competition from SharkNinja. In selling their vacuums for below half the price of the Roomba, SharkNinja has grown to be the in North America. According to representatives from iRobot, “”. Shark’s “plan” may work despite this decision, as the ban may not take place until February 2023, well beyond the holiday season when many household gifts such as robotic vacuum cleaners are purchased.

iRobot has revolutionized the home cleaning devices industry. However, a monopoly is typically considered contrary to public interest. One may argue that it is not reasonable for consumers to have no choice but to purchase an expensive robotic vacuum or not have one when a lower-quality and affordable one exists that offers the technology to navigate cleaning areas, autonomous charging, and map floor layouts. Perhaps if a consumer is willing to sacrifice quality to save money in their household, they should be able to.

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Anita Gogia�� is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

During the Refugee Law Lab’s online seminar in September, students learned about how primary law can be used as data to increase its machine readability. Sarah Sutherland, the president and CEO of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII), discussed the role of technological solutions in legal work.

Sutherland ��first addressed how the structure of primary law affects its usage as data. Primary law is recorded and published in a way that can be referred to in ensuring proper process and governance. Legal data is “linguistic, narrational, situational, contextual, ambiguous, and process-dependant.” It is complex, just as human relationships are. When case-related documents are converted to legal data, it is semi-structured. While section headings are visible, it’s possible that the content within them is not marked or tagged in way that makes it efficient for document creation. This means the machine-readability is weak, as the content in the underlying document cannot be analyzed, requiring manual tagging.

Sutherland used Amazon to exemplify the impact when analyzing large amounts of data. Amazon, records millions of interactions and, through that data, they can extrapolate and predict what the user may be interested in purchasing. In some instances, Amazon can even prepare shipments before customers make purchases because of their forecasting accuracy. On the other hand, legal data lacks “yes/no” binary data and is incompatible with statistical analysis, despite employing large data sets. Specifically, in reference to legal data, “statistical methods may not have enough data points to give reliable results,” while “machine learning works well, and natural language processing techniques are more helpful.”

Statistical analysis requires a representative random sample — a criterion impossible for legal data to meet, as case law itself is non-random. Sutherland noted such arbitrariness existed at any level. For instance, “litigants are biased towards people who have money and high conflict complex problems, cases are selected by judges for which they will write and publish decisions, and matters heard by appellate courts are selected,” Overall, people who have legal problems are not random.

Language, specifically unintentional and intentional imprecision, is yet another reason it can be inefficient to use legal data. There is unintentional imprecision in language because of ambiguities in human syntax, as well as a lack of definition and/or precision about concepts. There is also intentional imprecision because not all situations can be anticipated and because of subjective human interpretations. For example, the legislature is mindful of the fact that if the drafted statute does not anticipate or is unclear about a specific set of facts, it will go to the courts who will apply their tools of statutory interpretation. Sutherland suggested that we should approach data the same way we approach creating statute — by accounting for imprecision.

Sutherland also discussed that machine-readable law can solve such problems through tagging and coding that makes the law explicit – this is referred to as “law as code.” Publishing law in such a way makes it widely usable across different applications that increase efficiency within the legal system. How can this be done? It was suggested that the law could be expressed in a literal way —law as code— and then in a human way. Rather than converting law expressed in human language to code, computer code would be converted to human language. ��

While it is unclear whether this would allow for more functionality with ambiguity in the law as law makers would require sophisticated levels of technical and computing skills to make it possible, there is potential to make the legal system more productive.

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Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On May 25, 2021 the Japan Patent Office (JPO) Nobuaki Kurokawa a trademark for his apparel brand named “CUGGL” for class 25 (clothing and footwear). This year, when the t-shirt design ��for CUGGL was released, the Italian fashion brand Gucci tried to get the trademark cancelled.

Fast forward a few months, on July 26, 2021, Gucci filed an opposition against the “CUGGL” mark with the JPO. Gucci argued that CUGGL t-shirts would confuse customers because of the font and style of the design. Gucci cited of the Japan trademark law in support of their claim.

Gucci that Kurokawa obtained the trademark with malicious intent to take advantage of the luxury Italian brand’s goodwill and reputation as customers would recognize his design to say “GUCCI” even when they can only see the top half of the word. Even though half of the word “CUGGL” is covered with hand drawn paint, anyone familiar with Gucci’s brand might assume at first glance that the shirt says “GUCCI” underneath the paint.

Unfortunately for Gucci, its claim was not successful. As of July 12, 2022, the JPO found that the two brands were distinct and . Even though the decision makers Gucci’s popularity and reputation, they of a resemblance between Gucci and CUGGL based on visual, phonetic, and conceptual considerations. Overall, the low degree of similarly, according to the JPO, is not enough to accept that consumers would be confused between Gucci and CUGGL.

Kurokawa has other successful trademarks and pending applications for brands that potentially confuse consumers (for , “AZIDES” and “PAPAGORIRA”).

Some that the JPO’s decision against Gucci is a win because large companies have manipulated the law to prevent harmless parodies of their brands and the public would not be confused by such parodies. This decision illustrates that the result of a trademark infringement allegation is not so predictable in Japan as it may be in other jurisdictions.

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Anita Gogia is a IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear combined their talent with their love for the Netflix Original, Bridgerton, to create the 15-song “Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” album. Barlow and Bear went on to become viral sensations on social media and (2022 Best Musical Theatre Album) for their production.

On July 29^th 2022, Netflix the TikTok stars Barlow and Bear in the U.S. District Court in D.C. alleging in violation of 17 and . Netflix Barlow and Bear have benefited from their album’s false association with the Bridgerton brand. Netflix also the position that Barlow and Bear “” the elements of expression, dialogue, characters, and key plot points from Bridgerton.

Allegedly, in March 2021, when Barlow and Bear’s team asked Netflix for permission to record their album, Netflix the activity but said they wouldn’t “”. Per their , Netflix told Barlow and Bear that they would not authorize any live performances of the songs. Despite Netflix’s statements, in July 2022, Barlow and Bear held a sold-out show in New 91��ɫ with ticket prices ranging from $29-$149+. When hearing of the future live shows Barlow and Bear had planned, Netflix that would permit their shows, continued distribution of the album, and any further performances of the Bridgerton-inspired songs; but Barlow and Bear refused the licensing option.

Perhaps more important for Netflix is the promotion and success of their event “Queen’s Ball,” a Bridgerton held across multiple cities. Barlow and Bear’s live show would likely compete with the profits of the “Queen’s Ball.”

Barlow and Bear hold the position that their work is not liable for IP infringement because it is inherently “fan fiction.” Netflix has that “Barlow & Bear’s conduct began on social media, but stretches ‘fan fiction’ well past its breaking point.” Jane Quinn, author of the books of which Bridgerton is based has a difference between flattery through composing songs on TikTok and performing an album for commercial gain.

Barlow and Bear may use the “fan fiction” defence to claim their work is not an infringement based on fair use by proving the elements of fair use: the art is to the original show. Additionally, fan fiction must be for the creator. considered for establishing fair use are the purpose of the work created, nature of the work copied, measure of the material copied, and the impact on the market.

Ironically enough, if this case was filed in Bridgerton home territory, the UK, Barlow and Bear may attempt to use the defence of parody and pastiche. Netflix would likely win their case had it went to court based on ��a very similar case earlier this . ��In the of v. Only Fools The Dining Experience, the court ruled in favour of the creators of the original show because the nature of the “dining experience” was not so removed from the original show “” with it. Similar to Netflix, Shazam had their own musical for which sales could have been diverted by their audience choosing the dining experience instead. The court also found that that the defences of parody and/or pastiche did not apply.

TikTok has proven since the pandemic its unique power to make music, books, and tv/film over-night sensations. The Netflix v. Barlow and Bear case illustrates that companies may have to navigate between having its work become a positive viral sensation ��while still protecting their business interests and the content that its ��team has worked so hard to create.

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Anita Gogia is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Concrete jungles around the world illustrate the man-made burden on the planet. Concrete is a carbon-intensive ingredient in construction and makes up at least . When it comes to industrial processes, .

To resolve the issue and alleviate the output of greenhouse gasses, a cement-free concrete named EarthCrete is being developed by CarbonMeta. EarthCrete was recently assessed by researchers at Oxford and CarbonMeta Research who confirmed that EarthCrete is actually on July 26, 2022. Particularly, using emissions.

The pace to carbon-free construction is also accelerated by engineers and researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Pennsylvania State University who are using their federal grants to approach carbon-neutral cement manufacturing. The researchers hope to turn building material into a “.” In the system, carbon would be captured from the air by with rapid mineral carbonation. This technique would recycle industrial waste into a cement alternative. The researchers hope to create a long-lasting building material that extracts more CO₂ from the air than it emits.

Another grant has been provided to UIC, UW-Madison, and Fort Lewis College for the . Calcium hydroxide is a crucial ingredient in cement, and the low-temperature calcium hydroxide procedure (LoTECH) would create calcium hydroxide from industrial waste. Such (and the thermal decomposition of limestone), and act to further ��reduce the carbon footprint of cement production.

At the University of Colorado Boulder, , therefore creating another potential carbon-neutral concrete. The microalgae creates calcium carbonate through photosynthesis. Using sunlight, seawater or freshwater, and CO₂, microalgae produces calcium carbonate shells. The process is carbon neutral because the CO₂ emitted when used to make cement is equal to the CO₂ the microalgae absorbed. The biogenic limestone behaves the same as regular limestone which makes it feasible to incorporate into cement production. The researchers that this biogenic limestone would save two gigatons of CO₂ emissions yearly. The researchers also that the 1-2 million acres of open ponds in the US make it possible to produce enough biogenic limestone to satisfy cement demands.

In review of progresses to environmentally friendly cement, federal grants have played a crucial role. At a global scale, carbon-neutral or carbon-negative innovations will be the key to offsetting the damage done and accessing sustainable resources.

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