Intellectual Property

  • February 19, 2025

    Pot Consultant Says Ex-Partner Breached NDA, Swiped Client

    A Colorado-based cannabis consulting firm is suing one of its subcontractors, saying the other company breached a nondisclosure agreement and used confidential information to steal a contract with a California city.

  • February 18, 2025

    Hikma Appeals To Justices In 'Skinny Label' Patent Case

    Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision that revived a patent suit over its generic version of Amarin Pharma Inc.'s cardiovascular drug Vascepa, saying the holding "effectively nullifies" a law allowing "skinny labels."

  • February 18, 2025

    Jury Awards Nearly $4M In Lawnmower Patent Trial

    A jury in Delaware federal court has found that power equipment company Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. willfully infringed five lawnmower patents by China-based rival Chervon (HK) Ltd. and failed to prove that any of them were invalid, awarding just under $4 million as a reasonable royalty but declining to issue damages for lost profits or price erosion.

  • February 18, 2025

    Philly Inquirer Wins TRO On Co. Selling Framed Front Pages

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the alleged infringement of the Philadelphia Inquirer's trademark and copyrighted works by a company that sells framed copies of newspaper articles and front pages covering major sports victories, including its Feb. 10 article featuring the Philadelphia Eagles' Superbowl victory.

  • February 18, 2025

    ITC Reviewing Chinese Resin Imports For Patent Infringement

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has voted in favor of investigating whether polyvinylidene fluoride resins imported by five Chinese companies infringe certain U.S. patents in violation of the Tariff Act of 1930.

  • February 18, 2025

    Howard Lutnick Wins Senate Nod To Lead Commerce Dept.

    The Senate voted 51-45 Tuesday evening to confirm longtime Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

  • February 18, 2025

    Stanley Black & Decker Says Tumbler Maker Violated TM Deal

    Stanley Black & Decker sued the maker of the popular "Stanley" tumbler, claiming in its federal complaint filed Tuesday that Pacific Market International LLC ignored obligations under a trademark agreement to use the brand name in a restricted manner and may have earned billions of sales through infringing activities.

  • February 18, 2025

    Houston Energy Co. Settles Claims Over Utah Plant Turbines

    Houston clean energy company Fervo Energy Co. has settled its claims with a geothermal equipment supplier it accused of threatening to file a patent infringement lawsuit if it didn't win a bid to supply turbines for Fervo's Utah power plant.

  • February 18, 2025

    LeBron James' Tattoo Artist Drops NBA 2K IP Suit

    An Ohio federal judge dismissed a suit Tuesday brought by a tattoo artist accusing the companies behind the NBA 2K video game franchise of infringing his intellectual property by rendering a design he put on basketball star LeBron James on the player's in-game model.

  • February 18, 2025

    Apple Wins Ax Of Heart Monitor Patent In PTAB Remand

    After being ordered by the Federal Circuit to reconsider its decision upholding some claims of an Omni MedSci Inc. heart rate monitor patent challenged by Apple Inc., the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found all the claims of the patent invalid as obvious.

  • February 18, 2025

    Pro-Trump Group Wants Suit Over Isaac Hayes' Song Ejected

    The conservative political group Turning Point Action Inc. asked a Georgia federal judge Friday to be let out of a suit over President Donald Trump's playing of an Isaac Hayes-authored song at his campaign rallies, arguing the group had nothing to do with the song's alleged use.

  • February 18, 2025

    Baker Botts Partner Says Inventor's Atty Is Threatening Her

    A Baker Botts LLP lawyer being sued over her comments in a news article about a patent suit against Starbucks Corp. accused opposing counsel of threatening her in an email exchange over the details of a deposition.

  • February 18, 2025

    Ex-Goldman Atty Squires Expected To Be Named USPTO Head

    John A. Squires — Goldman Sachs' longtime chief intellectual property counsel, co-founder of Fortress' IP Investment fund and current Dilworth Paxson LLP partner — is expected to be chosen as the Trump administration's nominee for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, about a half-dozen sources with knowledge of the agency said Tuesday.

  • February 14, 2025

    ITC Bans Some Power Converter Devices In Vicor Patent Case

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has issued a limited order banning certain power converter modules and computing systems from being imported into the U.S., in a final decision that upheld most of an administrative law judge's findings in the dispute over patents held by electronics company Vicor Corp.

  • February 14, 2025

    Tech Cos. Say Gilstrap Bungled Eligibility Instructions

    Three tech companies are taking issue at the Federal Circuit with jury instructions in a Texas case that implicate the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice decision, telling the Federal Circuit that the instructions "lower the standard for patent eligibility."

  • February 14, 2025

    Justices Urged To Skip Fed. Circ. 1-Word Order Case

    LG Electronics Inc. and TCL Industries Holdings Co. urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to reject the latest case asking the justices to review the Federal Circuit's use of one-word orders to affirm decisions from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, saying the court has "repeatedly" skipped such challenges and shouldn't change tack now.

  • February 14, 2025

    ITC Bans Imports Of Bluenix Ice Machines Over IP Infringement

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has issued a final decision on Thursday that ice-making machines made by Korean kitchen appliance company Bluenix infringe patents owned by Japanese rival Hoshizaki, issuing a limited exclusion order against the importation of the machines and their components.

  • February 14, 2025

    Trump Aims To End Limits On President's Power To Fire

    President Donald Trump has his sights set on taking down a 90-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protects certain government officials from being fired, a U.S. Department of Justice letter confirms, and he plans to leverage his prior legal victories to deliver the precedent's death knell and expand presidential power.

  • February 14, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Risks Relying On 'Science Fiction,' Justices Told

    The Federal Circuit's presumption that prior art is always enabled can lead it to "sacrifice true innovations based on earlier science fiction," the owner of invalidated food wrapping patents told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

  • February 14, 2025

    Bill Opposing Artists' Radio Station Royalties Back In House

    The battle over whether local radio stations should pay royalties to performers whose songs they air is heating up.

  • February 14, 2025

    Supreme Court Asked To Rule On Fee Award After TM Mistrial

    A cosmetics distributor that was sued for trademark infringement and lost has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether attorney fees and costs awarded to the prevailing party should have been trimmed to account for a default judgment that was reversed and a mistrial attributed to the plaintiff's counsel.

  • February 14, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Rejects COVID Test Suit In Gilstrap-Authored Ruling

    A California federal judge properly found that Spectrum Solutions LLC didn't infringe a COVID-19 test maker's patent directed to preserving biological samples, the Federal Circuit said Friday in an opinion written by a top patent judge visiting the court.

  • February 14, 2025

    X Gets Pause On Content Filter IP Suit Pending PTAB Decision

    A Texas federal judge has granted X Corp.'s request to stay an infringement lawsuit from Sterling Computers Corp. over Sterling's content filtering patent while the Patent Trial and Appeal Board decides whether to initiate a review of the patent.

  • February 14, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Ruling Shows Even Small Cos. Can Win At ITC

    A small biotech company's recent patent win, where the Federal Circuit held that even its limited domestic investments qualified it to sue at the U.S. International Trade Commission, makes clear that the ITC's powerful import bans aren't just available to major businesses, attorneys say.

  • February 14, 2025

    'Trump Too Small' Rejection Dooms Other Trump-Related TMs

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has rejected four applications from a New York man who wanted to register trademarks that referred to U.S. President Donald Trump in a negative context, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year affirming the board's refusal to register "Trump Too Small" in another case foreclosed his First Amendment arguments.

Expert Analysis

  • Legislation Most Likely To Pass In Lame Duck Session

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    As Congress begins its five-week post-election lame duck session, attorneys at Greenberg Traurig break down the legislative priorities and which proposals can be expected to pass.

  • Copyright Questions Surround AI Music Platform Suits

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    If recent lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America against two artificial intelligence music platform developers — who maintain that use of copyrighted works to train AI models constitutes fair use — go to trial, this novel issue will make for potentially precedent-setting decisions, says intellectual property lawyer Eric Lane.

  • Patent Marking Steps After Fed. Circ. Opens Lanham Act Door

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    Following the Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Crocs v. Effervescent, which seemingly revives private actors’ ability to bring false patent marking claims under the Lanham Act, marketing and legal teams should be careful to avoid advertisement language that implies nonexistent patent rights, says Jeffrey Ratinoff at Spencer Fane.

  • Litigation Strategies In View Of New Double Patenting Rulings

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    Recent Federal Circuit decisions, including in Allergan v. MSN, raise several issues that patent owners should understand and consider addressing proactively regarding obviousness-type double patenting, at least in their prosecution strategies, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers

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    In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron. 

  • Tracking The Slow Movement Of AI Copyright Cases

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    The tech community may be expecting a prompt resolution on whether products generated by artificial intelligence are a fair use of copyrighted works, but legal history shows that a response to this question — at the heart of over 30 pending cases — will take years, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • The EU Design System Changes US Cos. Need To Know About

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    With a number of major reforms to the European Union's design protection system set to take effect in the first half of 2025, U.S. companies need to stay informed about specific details to maintain effective intellectual property management in the EU market, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • Curious Case Of FTC's Amicus Brief In Teva Fed. Circ. Appeal

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    Attorneys at BCLP explore the Federal Trade Commission's backing of Amneal's Orange Book-delisting efforts on Teva ahead of a key Federal Circuit hearing in a case between the two pharmaceutical companies, and wonder if the FTC amicus brief indicates a future trend, especially in the next administration.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • When 'Patented' Goes Beyond Inventorship In False Ad Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's recent false advertising holding in Crocs v. Effervescent is significant because it offers a nuanced yet realistic understanding of what false claims about a product's status as "patented" can mean, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Aetna And License-Term Review

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision that Aetna's credit card licensing agreement with AlexSam did not give the insurer immunity from patent infringement claims serves to warn licensees to read their contracts carefully, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    PREVAIL Bill Is Another Misguided Attempt To Restrict PTAB

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    The decade-long campaign against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board — currently focused on the PREVAIL Act that's slated for markup in the Senate — is not really about procedural issues, and it is not aimed at securing more accurate patentability decisions, says Clear IP's Joseph Matal, former acting director at the USPTO.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Fleetwood Facts: Art Imitating Life, Or Infringing Copyright?

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    A new lawsuit in New York federal court over Broadway's "Stereophonic" play tests copyright's limits, as copyright law poses significant hurdles when it comes to real-life stories, and the line between fact and fiction isn't always clear-cut, says Aaron Moss at Greenberg Glusker.

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