Intellectual Property

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pours Doubt On Trademark Board's 'Cognac' Ruling

    Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday repeatedly expressed skepticism over a split administrative board ruling that allowed a small hip-hop record label to land a trademark using the word "cognac" over objections from the cognac distilling industry.

  • June 04, 2024

    PQA Tells Fed. Circ. To Deny VLSI's Speculative Stay Bid

    One of the companies sanctioned for misconduct while successfully challenging a VLSI Technology LLC patent has told the Federal Circuit that there's no reason to stay VLSI's appeal while unrelated litigation plays out.

  • June 04, 2024

    PTAB Upholds G+ Patent After Samsung Challenge

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has refused to invalidate any claims of a G+ Communications 5G network patent following a review requested by Samsung, which argued they were either obvious or anticipated.

  • June 04, 2024

    Netflix Tells 10th Circ. Warhol Helps Defense In 'Tiger King' Suit

    Netflix Inc. has told the Tenth Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year finding that an Andy Warhol silkscreen of pop icon Prince infringed the photo it was based on strengthens its position in a lawsuit that accuses the streaming service of infringing a copyrighted funeral video by using a clip of it in the popular 2020 docuseries "Tiger King."

  • June 04, 2024

    Smartflash Says Patent Office Can't Hide Apple Docs

    An inventor is arguing against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's bid to toss a D.C. federal court case challenging the office's redactions in documents regarding Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews of patents at the center of his battle with Apple Inc.

  • June 04, 2024

    Houston IP Firm Settles Trade Secrets Case With Ex-Law Clerk

    Houston-based intellectual property law firm Lloyd & Mousilli PLLC and a former law clerk accused of stealing confidential information while working virtually from California reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the firm in a Texas federal court.

  • June 04, 2024

    Ex-Restoration Co. Execs 'Teeter' On Contempt, Judge Says

    The former presidents of a property restoration company have staved off civil contempt after narrowly convincing a North Carolina Business Court judge that they merely misunderstood an injunction curbing their business activities as opposed to flagrantly disregarding it.

  • June 04, 2024

    NJ Deer Repellent Co. Can't Get TRO In Trade Secret Fight

    A New Jersey deer repellant maker cannot restrain a competitor in Ohio who used to license its trademarks, its formerly patented repellant formula and its secret spraying techniques, a federal judge ruled, because its trade secrets complaint has not alleged any harm that cannot be cured later with damages.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fish & Richardson Grows Austin IP Team With Solo Patent Pro

    Fish & Richardson PC has strengthened its intellectual property practice with the addition of Gabriel J. González, previously a solo practitioner, as of counsel in Austin.

  • June 03, 2024

    Self-Driving Tech Co. Beats Investor Suit Over Chip Pic Gaffe

    Autonomous vehicle technology company Luminar Technologies Inc. no longer faces a proposed investor class action alleging it passed off an image of a competitor's technology as its own after a Florida federal judge found that the allegedly stolen image wouldn't actually be relevant to reasonable investors.

  • June 03, 2024

    Michaels Stole Paint-By-Number IP, Company Says

    A paint-by-number company told a jury Monday during opening arguments in Texas federal court that arts and crafts corporation Michaels Stores Inc. used the company's trademarks to create a competing product, saying it only learned of the phony product after a customer called in praising it.

  • June 03, 2024

    Ex-Biopharma Co. Prez Accused Of Defecting With Secrets

    Biopharmaceutical firm United Therapeutics Corp. has accused a former executive of violating an employment agreement by taking ideas to a rival company to develop a competing lung treatment.

  • June 03, 2024

    Patent Owner Says Facts Have Changed Since It Lost At ITC

    A patent licensing company accusing HP of infringing old Panasonic patents is seeking to resume its suit in Texas federal court, arguing that an invalidity ruling it lost last month at the U.S. International Trade Commission doesn't hold up in district court.

  • June 03, 2024

    Software Group Says IP Quality, Not Quantity, Is The Goal

    Making sure patent standards are up to snuff, using artificial intelligence when looking into whether patents are viable and having the Patent Trial and Appeal Board maintain high standards when reviewing patents are goals federal patent officials should focus on, according to a trade collective of software businesses.

  • June 03, 2024

    Google Gets Amicus Boost In Fed. Circ. Battle With Sonos

    Google's efforts to prevent the reinstatement of a $32.5 million patent infringement verdict won against it by wireless speaker company Sonos have found support in the Federal Circuit from business trade groups, public interest nonprofits and a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office official.

  • June 03, 2024

    Food Co. Gets Win In 'Digital Checklist' Patent Fight

    A Connecticut federal judge has found that claims in a patent owned by the Georgia-based CM Systems LLC are invalid, handing a win to TransAct Technologies Inc. in a suit over restaurant food safety technology.

  • June 03, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Backs EcoFactor's $20M Trial Win Over Google

    The Federal Circuit on Monday affirmed that Google should pay EcoFactor $20 million for infringing its smart thermostat patent, but one judge took issue with allowing the damages to stand, saying her colleagues' ruling "at best muddles our precedent and at worst contradicts it."

  • June 03, 2024

    Jane Street Blasts Trading Firm's Defense In Trade Secret Row

    Trading firm Jane Street Group LLC has urged a Manhattan federal judge to toss the counterclaims and affirmative defenses of two ex-employees and Millennium Management LLC in a trade secret suit, saying each is either "redundant" or has "little to no alleged facts to support" it.

  • June 03, 2024

    Pool Co. Says It Won't Survive $16M Judgment In Bid For Stay

    The American arm of a Chinese swimming pool equipment maker told a North Carolina federal judge it faces insolvency if forced to fork over a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment, asking instead for a stay without bond while it appeals the verdict.

  • June 03, 2024

    Design Patents May Be Harder To Get Under New Test

    The Federal Circuit's decision discarding long-standing tests for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious means the world has changed for patent examiners and applicants, attorneys said, and the new standard could lead to more design patent applications being turned down.

  • June 01, 2024

    Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

    As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

  • May 31, 2024

    Samsung Strikes First With Smart Ring IP Suit Against Oura

    Samsung has yet to announce a release date for its new Galaxy Ring brand of wearable, health-tracking devices, but it has filed an intellectual property suit in California federal court Thursday targeting a Finnish startup that makes its own line of smart rings. 

  • May 31, 2024

    PTAB Upholds Medtronic Bladder Control Patents On Remand

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed Medtronic patents covering a sacral stimulation system after Federal Circuit judges ordered the board last year to give the maker of a rival bladder and bowel control device another shot at knocking those patents out.

  • May 31, 2024

    Vape Co. Can't Toss Breeze Smoke's Claims In IP Row

    An Illinois federal judge has rejected vape pen maker Midwest Goods' bid to throw out counterclaims that it infringed competitor Breeze Smoke's trade dress and a design patent, while also denying a bid from Breeze Smoke for a preliminary injunction.

  • May 31, 2024

    DC Judge Takes Dim View Of Proposed 'Surfside' TM Deal

    A D.C. federal judge has refused to enforce a scrapped settlement in a trademark dispute between a Mexican restaurant operator and a distilling company over the name "Surfside," saying there wasn't ever an enforceable deal.

Expert Analysis

  • Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Opinion

    Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation

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    The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.

  • Google Patent Case Is A Claim Construction Litigation Lesson

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    The Federal Circuit's recent precedential decision in Google v. EcoFactor, which held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in the claim construction it had unknowingly adopted, shows that litigators should be alert to claim construction issues that masquerade as something else, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Reassessing Trade Secrets Amid Proposed Noncompete Ban

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    The Federal Trade Commission's proposed ban on noncompete agreements as well as state bans make it prudent for businesses to reevaluate and reinvigorate approaches to trade secret protection, including knowing what information employees are providing to vendors, and making sure confidentiality agreements are put in place before information is shared, says Rob Jensen at Wolf Greenfield.

  • Considering The Logical Extremes Of Your Legal Argument

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    Recent oral arguments in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump highlighted the age-old technique of extending an argument to its logical limit — a principle that is still important for attorneys to consider in preparing their cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Will Guide Social Media Account Ownership

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision in JLM Couture v. Gutman — which held that ownership of social media accounts must be resolved using traditional property law analysis — will guide employers and employees alike in future cases, and underscores the importance of express agreements in establishing ownership of social media accounts, says Joshua Glasgow at Phillips Lytle.

  • Storytelling Strategies To Defuse Courtroom Conspiracies

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    Misinformation continues to proliferate in all sectors of society, including in the courtroom, as jurors try to fill in the gaps of incomplete trial narratives — underscoring the need for attorneys to tell a complete, consistent and credible story before and during trial, says David Metz at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues

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    The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.

  • Opinion

    9th Circ. Should Overturn The Miles Davis Tattoo Ruling

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    A California district court made several missteps that led to a finding that celebrity artist Kat Von D's Miles Davis tattoo did not infringe copyright, and the Ninth Circuit should overturn the decision because recent U.S. Supreme Court guidance was ignored and the jury did not receive adequate instruction, says Brian Moriarty at Hamilton Brook.

  • Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues

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    As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Is Compulsory Copyright Licensing Needed For AI Tech?

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's inquiry into whether Congress should establish a compulsory licensing regime for artificial intelligence technologies that are trained on copyrighted works has received relatively little attention — but commenters recently opposed the regime under three key themes, say Michael Kientzle and Ryan White at Arnold & Porter.

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