Intellectual Property

  • October 28, 2024

    NASA Says Sensor Co.'s Contract Breach Case Should Fail

    NASA has said the U.S. Court of Federal Claims should throw out a sensor business's breach of contract suit over commercialization and licensing deals related to patented NASA technology, saying certain milestones couldn't be reached under the pact.

  • October 28, 2024

    Ex-Oracle Manager, Software Co. Face Trade Secrets Suit

    A new lawsuit by Oracle claims that a manager left the company for a competing venture-backed construction software tech outfit and "absconded with thousands of Oracle's trade secret[s]."

  • October 28, 2024

    Judge Leaves Patent Case After Fed. Circ. Undoes Ruling

    A Minnesota federal judge has recused himself from a patent dispute between Teleflex and Medtronic he has handled since 2019, saying he was "at a loss" on how to proceed after the Federal Circuit faulted his interpretation of terms in Teleflex's catheter patents.

  • October 28, 2024

    Calif. Court OKs $1.2M Award In Polo Club TM Fight

    A California federal judge has said a Santa Barbara County-based polo club is entitled to $1.2 million in fees, costs and interest as part of a trademark dispute over a "Beverly Hills Polo Club" logo following arbitration.

  • October 28, 2024

    Realtor.com Owner, CoStar Debate CFAA's Limits In Theft Suit

    An attorney for Costar urged a California federal judge Monday to reconsider a tentative ruling that would allow Realtor.com's parent company to amend a Computer Fraud and Abuse Act claim alleging its rival unlawfully accessed its computers, saying the company should be limited to arguing it suffered "technological harms."

  • October 28, 2024

    OpenAI Pushes To Consolidate Discovery In Copyright Cases

    Microsoft and OpenAI say that concerns from news outfits over consolidating discovery in their ChatGPT copyright lawsuits are "misplaced" and call a request to schedule more depositions "wholly unnecessary."

  • October 28, 2024

    Pfizer Urges Court Not To Ax Delay Defense In Vax IP Fight

    Pfizer and BioNTech have urged a Delaware federal judge to reject GlaxoSmithKline's attempt to toss claims that the COVID-19 vaccine technology patents GSK is accusing them of infringing are unenforceable because of an unreasonable delay in obtaining them.

  • October 28, 2024

    King & Spalding Adds White & Case Antitrust Litigator In NY

    King & Spalding LLP is expanding its business litigation team, announcing Monday it is bringing in a White & Case LLP litigator as a partner in its New York office to boost its antitrust capabilities.

  • October 28, 2024

    Medical Laser Co. Seeks Multiplier For Rival's 'Deceitful' Raid

    A medical laser company has asked a Boston federal judge to double or triple its $25 million verdict against a rival firm — and tack on attorney fees and $6.8 million in interest — for a "calculated and deceitful corporate raid" on its sales workforce.

  • October 28, 2024

    MVP: Quinn Emanuel's Victoria Maroulis

    Victoria Maroulis — co-chair of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's national intellectual property litigation practice — beat back a major patent infringement case against Samsung Electronics in Texas and helped guide junior attorneys through an important cross-examination in patent proceedings on behalf of Juul Labs Inc., earning her a spot among the 2024 Law360 Intellectual Property MVPs.

  • October 25, 2024

    OpenAI, Authors Battle Over Execs' Texts And Proof Of Harm

    California labor law doesn't shield OpenAI from producing CEO Sam Altman's and President Greg Brockman's texts and social media messages relevant to a copyright infringement lawsuit, authors alleging OpenAI and Microsoft illegally used their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence program ChatGPT have told a New York federal judge.

  • October 25, 2024

    Inari Wins Bid To Kill Plant Gene Patent At PTAB

    A Massachusetts-based plant breeding startup was able to show that a patent owned by a unit of a DowDuPont spin-off covering a plant gene resistant to weed killers wasn't patentable, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found.

  • October 25, 2024

    Vidal Warned Of 'Heightened' Burden, 'Loophole' In Seed Fight

    Two new petitions in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director say the patent administrative board created "a heightened new standard" in one instance and a trade secrets "loophole" in another in order to protect patents covering purportedly novel corn seeds developed by a unit of DowDuPont spin-off Corteva.

  • October 25, 2024

    9th Circ. Backs 7-Year Sentence Over Chip Exports To China

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday upheld the seven-year prison sentence imposed on a former University of California, Los Angeles, electrical engineering professor convicted of illegally exporting high-powered semiconductor chips to China, saying the district court did not err in holding that the conduct amounted to an evasion of national security controls.

  • October 25, 2024

    Jury Mostly Sides With Woodland Tools On False Ad Claims

    A Wisconsin federal jury has largely found in favor of gardening toolmaker Woodland Tools on allegations that competitor Fiskars Brands made false claims about the design origin and cutting power of Fiskars products including pruners and shears.

  • October 25, 2024

    'Open AI' TM Owner Asks 9th Circ. To Nix Injunction

    A man accused by OpenAI of preventing the ChatGPT-maker from registering its name as a trademark urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to vacate an injunction blocking him from using the "Open AI" mark while his case is pending, arguing he's the mark's senior holder and calling the injunction "extraordinary and unprecedented."

  • October 25, 2024

    VLSI Urges Fed. Circ. To Punish OpenSky After Vidal Didn't

    U.S. Patent Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal vowed to sanction OpenSky Industries "to the fullest extent of [her] power" for filing a bad faith patent challenge, but then imposed sanctions that, if anything, rewarded the misconduct, VLSI Technology has told the Federal Circuit.

  • October 25, 2024

    Trina Solar Seeks Import Ban On Solar Cells That Infringe IP

    Trina Solar Co. Ltd. has advanced its campaign to ban competitors' solar products from the U.S., calling on the U.S. International Trade Commission to prohibit the import of Canadian Solar Inc. products that purportedly infringe its intellectual property.

  • October 25, 2024

    Copyright Head Touts Claims Board, AI Studies At Conference

    As Shira Perlmutter completes four years as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office, she told attorneys Friday the agency dealt "with just a dizzying array of issues" — with artificial intelligence technology being ever present — but the Copyright Claims Board was one of her top accomplishments.

  • October 25, 2024

    Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday

    In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.

  • October 25, 2024

    Pink Is Too Close To Purple, National Gypsum Judge Says

    Drywall manufacturer National Gypsum has convinced a Chicago federal judge that new shades of pink used by a company that makes shower wall niches broke the terms of an injunction that was issued after a jury sided with National Gypsum in a legal dispute over the use of the color purple in construction materials.

  • October 25, 2024

    AI Researchers Lose Bid For DMCA Anti-Hacking Carveout

    Researchers who want to look into whether generative artificial intelligence was producing content that was discriminatory or explicit won't be exempt from a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that bars circumventing digital locks on copyrighted material, according to a new rule.

  • October 25, 2024

    Masimo Infringed 2 Apple Watch Patents, Jury Finds

    Healthcare tech company Masimo Corp. was found to have infringed two of Apple Inc.'s patents Friday at the close of a five-day U.S. District Court jury trial in Delaware that put more future tech prospects than current cash on the line.

  • October 25, 2024

    Judge Wants More Clarity About Alex Jones Ch. 7 Asset Sales

    A Texas bankruptcy judge deferred ruling on a motion from the Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy of right-wing media fabulist Alex Jones to conduct sales of certain of the estate's assets, saying he wants to know whether the parties to the case anticipate future litigation on the trustee's ability to sell the assets.

  • October 25, 2024

    MVP: McKool Smith's Jennifer Truelove

    McKool Smith patent trial attorney Jennifer Truelove helped Netlist secure $445 million in patent infringement damages awards, and also assisted in getting a $192 million verdict against Samsung for Mojo Mobility and a $142 million award for another company, earning her a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 IP MVPs.

Expert Analysis

  • The Fed. Circ. In June: More Liability For Generic-Drug Makers

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    The Federal Circuit’s June ruling in Amarin v. Hikma will likely result in more allegations of induced infringement by generic drugs postapproval, with more of those cases proceeding to at least the summary judgment stage instead of being cut off at the outset, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

  • Proposed NIL Deal Leaves NCAA Antitrust Liability Door Open

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    The proposed House v. NCAA settlement filed in California federal court creates the possibility of significant direct payments to student-athletes for the first time, but the resulting framework is unlikely to withstand future antitrust scrutiny because it still represents an agreement among competitors to limit labor cost, says Yaman Desai at Lynn Pinker.

  • Opinion

    Expert Witness Standards Must Consider Peer Review Crisis

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    For nearly two decades, the so-called replication crisis has upended how the scientific community views the reliability of peer-reviewed studies, and it’s time for courts to reevaluate whether peer review is a trustworthy proxy for expert witness reliability, say Jeffrey Gross and Robert LaCroix at Reid Collins.

  • USPTO Must Anticipate 'Black-Box Problem' For AI Inventions

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent guidance allows patents for inventions created with artificial intelligence, but inventors need to address the so-called black-box problem to ensure others can recreate the invention, thus meeting the enablement requirement, say Mark Basanta and Georg Reitboeck at Haug Partners.

  • Irish Businesses Should Act Now To Prepare For EU AI Act

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    Artificial intelligence is increasingly transforming the Irish job market, and proactive engagement with the forthcoming European Union AI Act, a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for Irish businesses, will be essential for Irish businesses to responsibly harness AI’s advantages and to maintain legal compliance, say lawyers at Pinsent Masons.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Considerations For Federal Right Of Publicity As AI Advances

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    Amid rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, Congress should consider how a federal right of publicity would interact with the existing patchwork of state name, image and likeness laws, as well as other issues like scope, harm recognized and available relief, says Ross Bagley at Pryor Cashman.

  • What Patent Litigators Should Know About CHIPS Act Grants

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    With the U.S. Department of Commerce now actively awarding grants under the CHIPS and Science Act, recipients should ensure they understand the implications of promises to construct new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, especially in jurisdictions with active patent litigation dockets, say Gabriel Culver and Peter Hillegas at Norton Rose.

  • Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June

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    A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Trending At The PTAB: 1 Year Of Denials Of Institution

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    An analysis of Patent Trial and Appeal Board denials of institutions between May 2023 and May of this year highlights the board’s common reasons for denial, which can provide insight to both petitioners and patent owners in future proceedings, say Kevin Rodkey and Victor Palace at Finnegan.

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