Intellectual Property

  • July 31, 2024

    Jury Instruction Error Kills $21M Verdict Over Noncompete

    Three former employees of a consulting group who jumped to a competitor in 2016 were let off the hook for a $21 million jury verdict Wednesday by an intermediate Massachusetts appellate court over a prejudicial error in jury instructions.

  • July 31, 2024

    Copyright Office Warns Of 'Urgent Need' For Deepfakes Law

    The U.S. Copyright Office said Wednesday that "there is an urgent need" for new federal legislation to tackle the proliferation of deepfakes created through artificial intelligence, saying in a long-awaited report with recommendations to Congress that "an era of sophisticated digital replicas has arrived."

  • July 31, 2024

    Experienced IP Atty Joins Lewis Brisbois From Fowler White

    Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has announced the hire of a former Fowler White Burnett PA intellectual property attorney with over 20 years of experience as a partner in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

  • July 31, 2024

    1st Circ. Mostly Backs $5M Award In Biotech Recruiting Spat

    The First Circuit left intact the vast majority of a $5 million post-trial award against a life sciences recruiting firm found to have misappropriated trade secrets from a rival involving placements at Takeda and Vedanta Biosciences.

  • July 31, 2024

    5 Trials To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024

    Upcoming high-profile trials over star lawyer Tom Girardi's alleged fraud, Hunter Biden's taxes and Washington state's "patent troll" law are among the cases to watch in the latter half of the year.

  • July 31, 2024

    Agribusiness Co. Says Ex-Employee Blatantly Stole Clients

    An agricultural firm has taken one of its former workers to Ohio federal court for allegedly telling over a dozen clients that he was "putting off" selling products and services to them while he awaited his move to the company's direct competitor, then urging those clients to leave with him.

  • July 31, 2024

    Greenberg Traurig Adds Michelman & Robinson's Dallas Head

    Greenberg Traurig LLP has fortified its litigation and intellectual property and technology practices with a shareholder who previously served as managing partner of Michelman & Robinson LLP's Dallas shop.

  • July 31, 2024

    White & Case Hires Ex-Latham IP Partner In DC

    White & Case LLP has hired a Latham & Watkins LLP partner, who spent the majority of his career with his prior firm, representing clients in a range of intellectual property-related matters, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • July 30, 2024

    Ameriprise Says LPL Uses Recruits To Harvest Rivals' Secrets

    LPL Financial should be barred from using any trade secrets and confidential client information it has harvested from Ameriprise Financial through the recruitment of its competitors' financial advisers, Ameriprise told a California federal judge Tuesday in alleging LPL has violated legal, regulatory and industry rules.

  • July 30, 2024

    Guess, Macy's Settle IP Suit Over Artists' Graffiti Work

    Guess Inc. and Macy's have settled a copyright action lodged by three prominent graffiti artists who accused the companies of exploiting their names and donning their work across T-shirts without permission, the parties told a California federal judge Tuesday.

  • July 30, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Patent Award 10 Times Higher Than Request Found Excessive

    A New York federal judge Tuesday kept in place a jury's verdict holding that lighting fixture company Lutron Electronics Co. willfully infringed rival GeigTech East Bay's window shade patent, but said $34.6 million for damages is excessive and, instead, offered GeigTech $3.8 million or a new damages trial.

  • July 30, 2024

    Amazon Hits Nokia With Cloud-Computing Infringement Suit

    Amazon sued Nokia in Delaware federal court Tuesday alleging the Finnish tech company infringed a dozen of its patents in an effort to make a late entry into the cloud-computing technology field by "leveraging Amazon's innovative solutions" that were developed over decades.

  • July 30, 2024

    Fla. Court Won't Nix Award In Israeli Sunglasses Fight

    A Florida federal judge declined Monday to vacate an arbitral award issued to sunglasses maker Verso Israel LLC in a $3 million dispute with an Israeli pop star accused of undercutting a deal to promote the brand, ruling that the pop star's motion was filed far too late.

  • July 30, 2024

    Vidal Uses Her Arthrex Powers To Address A Typo

    The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has ordered patent board judges to revisit a ruling on "an obvious typographical error" in a patent used by a Chinese company to try to eject a different patent involved in litigation surrounding programming used in real-time "camera-like" mapping.

  • July 30, 2024

    AI Co. Says Actors Can't Prove Voices Are Theirs In IP Suit

    A startup that makes software to create voice-over narrations slammed a complaint in New York federal court from two voice actors who allege the company has used their voices without permission, saying they have not plausibly claimed that the voices they have heard on YouTube and other places are actually theirs and not a computer-generated synthetic voice.

  • July 30, 2024

    Netflix Wants $170M 'Baby Reindeer' Defamation Suit Axed

    Netflix urged a California federal judge Monday to toss a Scottish lawyer's $170 million lawsuit alleging the streaming giant's popular stalker miniseries "Baby Reindeer" defamed her, with the show's creator stating in a declaration it is an "emotionally true" fictionalized work he wrote after being stalked by the lawyer for years.

  • July 30, 2024

    Hytera Radio Redesign 'Infected' With Stolen IP, Motorola Says

    Hytera Communications should be held in contempt for shirking royalty obligations on its latest line of digital mobile radio products because evidence shows the company's entire redesign process was "infected" with stolen trade secrets, Motorola Solutions argued Monday.

  • July 30, 2024

    PTAB Scraps 4 Patents At Heart Of $12M Google Trial Loss

    A Texas app developer fighting Google over its calling patents has suffered a series of blows at the patent board after judges there ruled that language in most of those patents were not very new, putting a $12 million jury verdict for the app-maker in jeopardy.

  • July 30, 2024

    Dyson Can't Dispose Of SharkNinja Vacuum Patent Suit

    Dyson can't sweep away a patent infringement suit by Massachusetts-based competitor SharkNinja, a federal judge said Tuesday in denying the high-end vacuum maker's motion to dismiss the case.

  • July 30, 2024

    Cozen O'Connor Adds IP Pro From Texas Litigation Boutique

    Cozen O'Connor announced Tuesday that it has strengthened its intellectual property department with a Dallas-based litigator who came aboard from Carter Arnett Bennett & Perez PLLC.

  • July 30, 2024

    Tech IP Co. Drops Patent Row With Ford Over 3D Glasses

    The holder of patents for 3D movie glasses has dropped a Michigan federal court lawsuit claiming Ford Motor Co. incorporated its patented image-viewing technology into backup cameras. 

  • July 30, 2024

    Virginia Appeals Court Tosses Record $2B Trade Secrets Verdict

    The Court of Appeals of Virginia on Tuesday reversed Appian Corp.'s $2 billion trade secrets judgment against competitor Pegasystems Inc., saying that the trial court made a series of errors on its way to the biggest jury award in state history and that a new trial was warranted.

  • July 29, 2024

    Genzyme Says Sarepta's Dystrophy Gene Therapy Infringes IP

    Sanofi's biotechnology company Genzyme Corp. hauled Sarepta Therapeutics into Delaware federal court on Friday, alleging Sarepta's gene therapy treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy infringed two of its patents for manufacturing certain therapeutics.

  • July 29, 2024

    Medical Co. Can't Get Alleged Fraudulent Arbitral Award Nixed

    A New York federal judge has declined to vacate an arbitral award issued by a Swiss tribunal to a Singapore company in a dispute over a medical imaging joint venture, rejecting arguments that an agreement struck by the parties meant that a New York court could decide the issue.

  • July 29, 2024

    Rapper 6ix9ine Should Pay $73K For 'Stoopid' IP, Judge Says

    Tekashi 6ix9ine should pay a Miami rapper more than $73,000 in copyright infringement damages plus attorney fees, a New York federal judge has recommended, finding that default judgment is appropriate because 6ix9ine has willfully failed to litigate the suit.

Expert Analysis

  • AI-Generated Soundalikes Pose Right Of Publicity Issues

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    Artificial intelligence voice generators have recently proliferated, allowing users to create new voices or manipulate existing vocals with no audio engineering expertise, and although soundalikes may be permissible in certain cases, they likely violate the right of publicity of the person who is being mimicked, says Matthew Savare at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond

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    Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Beware Of Trademark Scammers Leveraging USPTO Data

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    Amid a recent uptick in fraudulent communications directed at trademark applicants, registrants must understand how to protect themselves and their brand from fraudulent schemes and solicitation, say Michael Kelber and Alexandra Maloney at Neal Gerber.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • 10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep

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    Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • PTAB Rulings Shed Light On Quantum Computing Patents

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    Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on enablement rejections against quantum computing patent claims provide patent practitioners with valuable guidance on best practices for avoiding and overcoming enablement, say Fred Qiu and Alex Nie at Sheppard Mullin.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • Fed. Circ. Rulings Crystallize Polymorph Patent 'Obviousness'

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    A comparison of two recent Federal Circuit obviousness challenge decisions regarding polymorph patents provides helpful insight into the assessment of screening arguments, particularly the issue of reasonable expectation of success, say Michael Green and John Molenda at Steptoe.

  • 3 Infringement Defenses To Consider 10 Years Post-Nautilus

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    In the 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s influential Nautilus ruling, the spirit of the “amenable to construction” test that the opinion rejected persists with many patent litigators and judges, so patent infringement defense counsel should always consider several key arguments, says John Vandenberg at Klarquist Sparkman.

  • Attys Beware 2 Commonly Overlooked NIL Contract Issues

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    As name, image and likeness deals dominate high school and collegiate sports, preserving a client's NCAA eligibility should be a top priority, so lawyers should understand the potentially damaging contract provisions they may encounter when reviewing an agreement, says Paula Nagarajan at Arnall Golden.

  • FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent Luminex v. Signify decision, finding a complaint seeking indemnification may be treated as a public demand sufficient to establish a real party-in-interest, shows that the board continues to apply a broad and expansive definition to that term, say Yicong (Eve) Du and Yieyie Yang at Finnegan.

  • Investors Can Aid In The Acceptance Of Psychedelic Medicine

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    Psychedelic medicine is ready to have its breakthrough moment, and although it still faces political, legal and communications challenges, private equity investors can play a significant role in changing the public perception on psychedelics from taboo to acceptance, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, Charlie Panfil at the Daschle Group and Ethan Lutz at FTI Consulting.

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