Intellectual Property

  • June 13, 2024

    Theater Co. Cites Prior Ruling Against Cruise Biz In IP Suit

    A Louisiana theatrical production company is urging a Florida state court to rule in its favor on damages in a lawsuit alleging Celebrity Cruises Inc. continued to use intellectual property beyond licensing agreements, saying the issue was already ruled on in a previous lawsuit between the same parties.

  • June 13, 2024

    1st Circ. Urged To Back TM Loss For Family Of Late MLB Star

    A Puerto Rico agency planning a sports district in honor of late Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente has pressed the First Circuit to uphold the agency's dismissal from a trademark lawsuit filed by the baseball legend's family alleging unauthorized use of his name and likeness.

  • June 13, 2024

    Express Picks Stalking Horse Bidder As Ch. 11 Buyer

    A stalking horse bidder offering $136 million in cash for the assets of clothing retailer Express Inc. will be the buyer in the debtor's competitive sale process, after its offer was deemed to be the only qualified bid to acquire the assets as a going-concern.

  • June 13, 2024

    Teva Wins Pause Of Order Ousting Patents From Orange Book

    A New Jersey federal judge ordered on Thursday a 30-day stay of his Monday ruling that a handful of patents covering Teva-brand asthma inhalers were improperly listed in the federal Orange Book, saying he wanted the matter to reach the Federal Circuit in the most orderly way possible.

  • June 13, 2024

    4th Circ. Revives Bacardi Fight Over Expired TM Renewal

    The Fourth Circuit on Thursday revived Bacardi's lawsuit challenging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to renew an expired trademark registration for Havana Club rum, finding such registration renewals can be reviewed by the courts.

  • June 13, 2024

    GOP Lawmakers Want China Patent Data Amid Tech Pact Talks

    Republican lawmakers are urging the U.S. Commerce Department to provide a full accounting of whether the U.S. government has funded research that resulted in Chinese patents, arguing they need the data to assess potential national security risks as the Biden administration negotiates a new science and technology agreement with China.

  • June 13, 2024

    Chegg Directors, Auditor Beat Academic Cheating Lawsuit

    Delaware's Court of Chancery has issued a failing grade to a stockholder of online book and study aid giant Chegg Inc. who accused the company of operating as a cheating service for students, dismissing the case for lack of supporting facts.

  • June 13, 2024

    House Re-Ups Bill Targeting Counterfeit Online Goods

    Federal lawmakers should approve a proposal to tackle the explosion of counterfeit goods sold online that are harmful to the safety of consumers, according to the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives' subcommittee that centers on intellectual property issues.

  • June 13, 2024

    Meta Facing Complaint Over Plans To Train AI With User Data

    A Norwegian consumer protection group has hit Meta with a legal challenge over its plans to deploy its users' data — including images and posts — to train artificial intelligence models.

  • June 13, 2024

    Dechert Backs Special Master In Airline Mogul's Hacking Suit

    Dechert LLP has said a special master got it right when she largely denied an airline tycoon's numerous bids to access allegedly privileged information in his suit seeking to prove an international hacking conspiracy, asking a North Carolina federal judge to affirm the decision.

  • June 13, 2024

    Justices Say 'Trump Too Small' TM Denial No Speech Violation

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday concluded "Trump Too Small" cannot be a registered trademark because it would violate a federal prohibition on using a living person's name without their consent, ruling against a California attorney who said using the phrase should be considered protected political speech.

  • June 12, 2024

    Tillis Told Drug Patents Are Too Complex For Easy Answers

    When and how generic drugs enter the marketplace varies widely among different drugs and isn't necessarily related to how many patents are covering those drugs, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Wednesday in a report requested by a top member of the U.S. Senate's Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

  • June 12, 2024

    Texas Judge 'Exasperated' By Parties In Skiplagged Suit

    An "exasperated" Texas federal judge on Wednesday ordered American Airlines and airfare search engine Skiplagged Inc. into mediation after the parties ran into their sixth discovery dispute in litigation around Skiplagged's alleged unauthorized ticket sales, saying the court didn't want to referee "countless discovery disputes used as litigation tactics."

  • June 12, 2024

    Hytera Tried 'End Run' Around Court's Power, Motorola Says

    Hytera Communications should not be able to get around an antisuit injunction that forced it to end Chinese litigation addressing mobile radio trade secrets, Motorola Solutions told the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday, arguing that Hytera must be stopped from doing an "end run" around the American case against it.

  • June 12, 2024

    Microsoft Faces EDTX Patent Suit Over AI Supercomputer

    Microsoft has been hit with a patent infringement lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas over its artificial intelligence supercomputer by a business led by a German lawyer who once ran the patent licensing outfit IPCom.

  • June 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Affirms PTAB Ax Of Slide-To-Unlock Patent

    The Federal Circuit has quickly disposed of an appeal over an administrative board ruling that wiped out language in a patent asserted in a small Swedish smartphone company's litigation against Apple and Samsung over claims its founder was the first to develop a "slide to unlock" feature.

  • June 12, 2024

    School Says Declaration Bares Quinn Emanuel Lies In IP Feud

    Columbia University has told the Federal Circuit that a declaration from a former Norton Lifelock Inc. computer scientist shows that the company's former lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP are lying about his refusal to testify in the school's decade-long $600 million patent case in Virginia federal court.

  • June 12, 2024

    House IP Panel Eyes Transparency For Litigation Funders

    A congressional committee on Wednesday began discussing whether to require more transparency of third-party litigation funding agreements to stem what lawmakers say are abusive patent lawsuits and national security concerns if hostile foreign governments meddle with cases anonymously.

  • June 12, 2024

    Samsung Competitor Can't Get Quick Win On Laches Claim

    Mojo Mobility couldn't convince a Texas federal magistrate judge to recommend it get partial summary judgment in its suit accusing Samsung of infringing wireless charging patents, rejecting Mojo's attempt to stake the decision on part of the patent prosecution process.

  • June 12, 2024

    Apple Gets PTAB To Cut Some Voice Recognition IP Claims

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated the vast majority of claims in a series of Zentian Ltd. patents related to voice recognition technology but upheld some claims in challenges from Apple and Amazon.

  • June 12, 2024

    '83 Wolfpack Suit May Throw NIL Peace For A Loop

    As the NCAA cheered a settlement aimed at marshaling payments to athletes for their names, images and likenesses last week, experts say a new suit from one of college basketball's most historic teams illustrates the shortcomings of a hasty effort to right past wrongs.

  • June 12, 2024

    USPTO Updates PTAB Review, Assignment Procedures

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has finalized its rule governing how draft Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions will be distributed within the agency, and has updated its policy for assigning cases within the PTAB, according to a Wednesday notice in the Federal Register and agency statement, respectively.

  • June 12, 2024

    Microsoft, OpenAI Call Papers' Suit A 'Copycat' Of NYT's Case

    OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. have asked a New York federal court to toss the bulk of a copyright complaint from eight newspapers that accuses the companies of stealing their content to develop versions of ChatGPT, contending the lawsuit is modeled after one from The New York Times and saying the allegations mischaracterize the technology.

  • June 12, 2024

    Lipitor Buyers Get Final OK For $93M Deal In Antitrust Fight

    A New Jersey federal judge gave final approval Wednesday to a $93 million settlement between a class of buyers of Lipitor and Pfizer, resolving their claims in sprawling antitrust litigation that Pfizer conspired with a drug manufacturer to delay the release of a cheaper generic version of Lipitor and monopolize the market.

  • June 12, 2024

    Colo. Tech Co. Says Startup Founder Can't Shield Sale Docs

    A Colorado technology company is arguing that the founder of a startup it acquired shouldn't be allowed to withhold nearly half of the documents it is seeking by asserting privilege in his $15 million fraud suit, as he claimed to rely on his law firm's advice when he approved the deal.

Expert Analysis

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs

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    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Trending At The PTAB: How Q1 Policymaking Affects Practice

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    Attorneys at Finnegan consider the first quarter's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office policymaking initiatives and how they may affect practice before the PTAB, including a rule that would codify the current pilot program that allows patent owners two opportunities to amend the challenged claims.

  • Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent

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    Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.

  • Direct Claims Ruling May Alter Gov't Ties To Software Firms

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    A recent Federal Circuit decision allowing a software developer to pursue legal action under the Contract Disputes Act could change the government's relationship with commercial software providers by permitting direct claims, even in third-party purchase situations, say Dan Ramish and Zach Prince at Haynes Boone.

  • The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28

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    Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.

  • Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials

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    The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.

  • A Defense Strategy For Addressing Copyright Fee-Shifting

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    Permissive fee-shifting under Section 505 of the Copyright Act poses unique challenges for copyright defendants, carrying an outsize impact on the economic incentive structure in copyright litigation, but relying on a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure may offer a potential solution by allowing defendants to recover attorney fees, say Hugh Marbury and Molly Shaffer at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Design Rights Can Build IP Protection, EU Lego Ruling Shows

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    The EU General Court's recent ruling in Delta Sport v. EU Intellectual Property Office — that Lego's registered community design for a building block was valid — helps clarify when technically dictated designs can enjoy IP protection, and demonstrates how companies can strategically use design rights to protect and enhance their market position, says Christoph Moeller at Mewburn Ellis.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Facts Differ But Same Rules Apply

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    Zachary Jacobson and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine two decisions illustrating that reliance on a technicality may not save an otherwise untimely appeal, and that enforcement of commercial terms and conditions under a federal supply schedule contract may be possible.

  • Untangling The Legal Complexities Of Trade Secrets And AI

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    With broad adoption of generative artificial intelligence, some have suggested trade secret law is the best means for protecting innovations, but while this protection may apply to all forms of information, the breadth of coverage may make identifying the information and later misappropriation difficult, say Joshua Lerner and Nora Passamaneck at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.

  • Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse

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    The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial

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    Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • A Rainbow Of Lessons From Fruity Pebbles' TTAB Loss

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s January decision to deny Post Foods' bid to register a trademark on its Fruity Pebbles cereal brand underscores the importance of the interplay among mark description, mark drawing and goods identification when seeking protection for trade dress, say Troy Viger and Jenevieve Maerker at Finnegan.

  • Why Oncology Deal Making Continues To Fuel Biotech M&A

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    The biotech sector's potential for advancements in cancer care continues to attract deal-maker interest, and the keys to successful mergers and acquisitions include the ability to integrate innovative therapies, leverage technological advancements and respond to the dynamic needs of patients, say Bryan Luchs and Mike Weir at White & Case.

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