Intellectual Property

  • October 11, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Judge Wary Of 2nd Revival Bid In Facebook IP Case

    A Federal Circuit judge on Friday hinted that the evidence a software company presented in an infringement lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. over data storage technology may have been too general to overcome the Facebook parent's summary judgment motion, as the court considered the firm's bid to revive its complaint a second time.

  • October 11, 2024

    NCAA Says SD Suit Over NIL Deal Belongs In Federal Court

    The NCAA has removed to federal court a lawsuit filed by South Dakota's attorney general that argues the organization's proposed $2.78 billion name, image and likeness settlement unlawfully tosses its guiding principle of amateurism.

  • October 11, 2024

    College Basketball Players Drop Turner Sports From NIL Suit

    Former men's college basketball players in a proposed class action accusing the National Collegiate Athletic Association of exploiting the highlights of their March Madness performances dropped co-defendant Turner Sports Interactive from their lawsuit in New York federal court on Friday.

  • October 11, 2024

    TV Show Used Rock Star Pics Without Permission, Suit Says

    A photographer is suing two production companies behind the TV show "Music Mayhem" for copyright infringement, claiming the program used his photos of Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose and other rock stars without permission.

  • October 11, 2024

    Huawei Judge Asks If Netgear Suit Stretches Antitrust Law

    A California federal judge expressed some skepticism Friday about allowing router maker Netgear Inc. to proceed with monopolization claims over Huawei Technologies Co.'s patents, wondering aloud whether this would amount to "saying any breach of contract claim can be turned into an antitrust case."

  • October 11, 2024

    Swiss Officials Clear Novartis IP Suits As 'Common Practice'

    Swiss authorities have dropped their antitrust probe into patent suits Novartis lodged against rival Eli Lilly and others over psoriasis treatment Cosentyx, saying Novartis' actions were aboveboard.

  • October 11, 2024

    Boston Dynamics 'Took Advantage' Of Partner's Robotics IP

    Robot maker Boston Dynamics engaged in a "flagrant and secretive" breach of its nondisclosure agreement with a manufacturer by enabling a competitor to "reverse engineer" components it had built for the Massachusetts company, according to a state court lawsuit.

  • October 11, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA's NIL Deal Advances, QB Settles Again

    In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA and the athletes suing it over name, image and likeness money satisfy a judge with their proposed settlement revisions, an NFL quarterback settles yet another sexual assault accusation, and a legal battle between the NFL and one of its former reporters ends amicably.

  • October 11, 2024

    RTX Warned By Judge Over 'Troubling' Settlement Delay

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday chided RTX for slow-walking the finalization of a settlement the defense contractor struck with a Connecticut company just before trial in a trade secrets dispute.

  • October 11, 2024

    Patent Armory Suit Over Telecom Patent Is Tossed

    U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright has thrown out a lawsuit accusing a Singapore-based company of infringing a sound system patent, noting that the patent owner never actually served the company with the suit.

  • October 11, 2024

    'Bloodsport' Poaching Case To Mediate After Disputed Verdict

    An exasperated Boston federal judge on Friday talked two rival medical aesthetic device companies into a round of mediation with a magistrate judge to see if they could wrap up the fiercely litigated poaching case that's already resulted in a contested eight-figure verdict.

  • October 11, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen billionaire Lakshmi Mittal sue steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta in a long-running clash to claw back €140 million ($153 million) of debt, a high-profile AI researcher take action against the Intellectual Property Office to register his software as a listed patent inventor and troubled housing trust Home Reit face a claim by a real estate developer. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • October 10, 2024

    Western Digital Lifted Spex's Data Security IP, Expert Says

    Western Digital's My Book and Ultrastar storage devices infringe features in Spex Technologies' data security patent, including hardware encryption and a means of allowing a host computer to request and receive information from the device once it's plugged in, an expert witness testified during the infringement trial Thursday in California federal court.

  • October 10, 2024

    OpenAI Calls Musk's Fraud, RICO Suit A Harassing Biz Move

    OpenAI asked a California federal judge to toss Elon Musk's claims that the artificial intelligence venture and its top brass engaged in fraud by deciding to make OpenAI a for-profit company, claiming Musk "has been trying to leverage the judicial system for an edge" since launching a competing AI company.

  • October 10, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Digs Into Patent Applications' Place In Prior Art

    A Federal Circuit panel struggled Thursday to work out whether published patent applications meet the requirements to serve as prior art, in order to evaluate whether the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rightfully invalidated claims of a Lynk Labs LED patent.

  • October 10, 2024

    IP Forecast: 5G Patent Case Spells Deja Vu For EDTX

    A patent suit against a Chinese phone company will go before a new federal jury in the Eastern District of Texas after the judge scrapped the original $10.6 million verdict against it as excessive. Here's a spotlight on that case — plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.

  • October 10, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Revives Software IP Case Against Salesforce

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out a Nevada federal court's finding that Salesforce didn't infringe claims in a pair of patents for database software reprogramming and that the claims weren't valid to begin with, saying key language in the patents has to be looked at differently.

  • October 10, 2024

    Most Appian Claims Survive In Pegasystems Defamation Fight

    A Massachusetts federal judge has allowed most counterclaims from business software company Appian Corp. to proceed against rival Pegasystems Inc., which accused its competitor in a lawsuit of making deliberately malicious statements and representations regarding a trade secret case the parties are litigating in Virginia.

  • October 10, 2024

    Owner Of Houston Music Co. Says He Was Pushed Out Of Biz

    A Houston hip-hop artist has accused his longtime business partner of engaging in a scheme to steal his music production company's funds before ousting him from the business, according to a complaint filed in Texas federal court on Thursday.

  • October 10, 2024

    5th Circ. Says ISP Liable For Piracy But Orders Damages Redo

    The Fifth Circuit has concluded that a Texas federal court correctly upheld a jury verdict finding internet service provider Grande Communications Networks LLC is liable for the willful contributory copyright infringement of 1,403 songs from several record labels but ordered that the nearly $47 million in damages be recalculated.

  • October 10, 2024

    NJ Atty Sues Netflix For Infringement Over Boy Scouts Movies

    A trial lawyer who spent years litigating sexual abuse cases against the Boy Scouts is suing Netflix Inc. for copyright infringement after the streaming giant came out with a documentary on the abuse just nine months after his film premiered.

  • October 10, 2024

    Nike Rips Report In TM Suit, Rival Wants $6.75M In Fees

    Nike has pushed back on a report finding that its behavior toward a Pennsylvania apparel company during a trademark dispute was severe enough to support ordering Nike to pay attorney fees, with the smaller company saying it is owed about $6.75 million in fees.

  • October 10, 2024

    Lawmakers Want Calif. Colleges To Flex NIL Muscle

    As states across the country pass new laws for college athletes to earn money for their name, image and likeness, California lawmakers are encouraging universities there to make use of the considerable NIL provisions already on the books.

  • October 09, 2024

    Kingston Paid Royalties For SPEX's Data Security IP, Jury Told

    The founder of Spyrus Inc., which assigned its data security patents to SPEX Technologies, Wednesday told California federal jurors in the infringement trial against Western Digital that Kingston Technology paid a royalty rate of $20 per flash drive sold to license the patent and never challenged its validity.

  • October 09, 2024

    Shkreli Hasn't Obeyed Wu-Tang Album Order, Crypto Co. Says

    The crypto project suing Martin Shkreli for allegedly harming the value of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album on Wednesday once again told a New York federal judge that the notorious pharmaceutical executive hasn't complied with an order directing him to account for all copies of the album he may have made.

Expert Analysis

  • Protecting Trade Secrets In US, EU Gov't Agency Submissions

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    Attorneys at Mintz compare U.S. and European Union trade secret laws, and how proprietary information in confidential submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency is protected in the face of third-party information requests under government transparency laws.

  • Tailoring Compliance Before AI Walks The Runway

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    Fashion industry players that adopt artificial intelligence to propel their businesses forward should consider ways to minimize its perceived downsides, including potential job displacements and algorithmic biases that may harm diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, say Jeffrey Greene and Ivory Djahouri at Foley & Lardner.

  • Recruitment Trends In Emerging Law Firm Frontiers

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    BigLaw firms are facing local recruitment challenges as they increasingly establish offices in cities outside of the major legal hubs, requiring them to weigh various strategies for attracting talent that present different risks and benefits, says Tom Hanlon at Buchanan Law.

  • Revisiting Morals Clauses In The Age Of Deepfakes

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    Deepfakes and other forms of misrepresentation powered by artificial intelligence have complicated the traditional process of reputation management for companies entering into talent agreements with celebrities, bringing new considerations for the morals clauses that usually shield against these risks, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • Series

    Glassblowing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    I never expected that glassblowing would strongly influence my work as an attorney, but it has taught me the importance of building a solid foundation for your work, learning from others and committing to a lifetime of practice, says Margaret House at Kalijarvi Chuzi.

  • 3 Surprising Deposition Dangers Attorneys Must Heed

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    Attorneys often do not think of discovery as a particularly risky phase of litigation, but counsel must closely heed some surprisingly strict and frequently overlooked requirements before, during and after depositions that can lead to draconian consequences, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.

  • Careful Data Governance Is A Must Amid Enforcement Focus

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    Federal and state regulators' heightened focus on privacy enforcement, including the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance on consumer protection in the car industry, highlight the importance of proactive risk management, compliance and data governance, say Jason Priebe and Danny Riley at Seyfarth.

  • The Unified Patent Court: What We Learned In Year 1

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    ​​​​​​​The Unified Patent Court celebrated its first anniversary this month, and while questions remain as we wait for the first decisions on the merits, a multitude of decisions and orders regarding provisional measures and procedural aspects have provided valuable insights already, says Antje Brambrink at Finnegan.

  • Opinion

    Paid Noncompetes Offer A Better Solution Than FTC's Ban

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    A better alternative to the Federal Trade Commission's recent and widely contested noncompete ban would be a nationwide bright-line rule requiring employers to pay employees during the noncompete period, says Steven Kayman at Rottenberg Lipman.

  • Opinion

    Flawed Fintiv Rule Should Be Deemed Overreach In Tech Suit

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    A pending federal lawsuit over the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's unilateral changes to key elements of the America Invents Act, Apple v. Vidal, could shift the balance of power between Congress and federal agencies, as it could justify future instances of unelected officials unilaterally changing laws, say Patrick Leahy and Bob Goodlatte.

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Determining Who Owns Content Created By Generative AI

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    Adobe's recent terms-of-service update and ensuing clarification regarding its AI-training practices highlights the unanswered legal questions regarding ownership of content created using artificial intelligence, says John Poulos at Norton Rose.

  • Skip Versus File: The Patent Dilemma That Costs Millions

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    In the nearly 30 years since the inception of the provisional application, many have weighed the question of whether or not to file the provisional, and data shows that doing so may allow inventors more time to refine their ideas and potentially gain an extra year of protection, says Stanko Vuleta at Highlands Advisory.

  • Orange Book Warnings Highlight FTC's Drug Price Focus

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    In light of heightened regulatory scrutiny surrounding drug pricing and the Federal Trade Commission's activity in the recent Teva v. Amneal case, branded drug manufacturers should expect the FTC's campaign against allegedly improper Orange Book listings to continue, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

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