Intellectual Property

  • February 04, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs Infringement Immunity For NASA Contractor

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday endorsed a California federal judge's decision that a NASA contractor doesn't have to face a patent infringement suit from a pair of California men, given that its allegedly infringing use was authorized by the federal government.

  • February 04, 2026

    Music Labels Win On Most Counts In Classic Rock Videos Suit

    Music labels suing a British filmmaker and his former company over a set of videos that made unauthorized use of songs by several classic rock artists were granted a win on a substantial portion of the case Wednesday by a Manhattan federal judge who found the videos did not contain enough legitimate commentary to be considered documentaries.

  • February 04, 2026

    Davis Polk Picks Up IP Ace From Debevoise & Plimpton

    Preeminent intellectual property attorney John "Jay" Neukom, who has a storied track record prevailing on behalf of major companies in high-profile legal battles across the country, has joined Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Northern California, after spending nearly four years with Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, according to an announcement made Monday.

  • February 04, 2026

    Teva Fights Class Cert. Bid In Effexor Antitrust Case

    Teva Pharmaceuticals urged a New Jersey federal judge Wednesday to reject a class certification bid by a group of direct buyers of the antidepressant drug Effexor XR and its generic versions, arguing that the proposed class failed to carry its burden showing that joinder is impracticable.

  • February 04, 2026

    IBM Seeks Texas Enforcement Of $24M UK Contract Ruling

    A British subsidiary of IBM asked a Texas federal court to enforce a $24.6 million English judgment against Houston-based software entrepreneur John Jay Moores, seeking to collect court-ordered litigation costs awarded after Moores was found to have breached IBM software licenses.

  • February 04, 2026

    USPTO's Squires Sees TMs As Key Tool Against AI Deepfakes

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires pitched trademarks as one of the most practical tools for combating artificial intelligence deepfakes, saying during a Wednesday webinar that name, image and likeness rights are "where the puck is going," peppering his remarks with pop culture references and sports metaphors.

  • February 04, 2026

    Patent Settlement Blocks Fitness Tech ITC Case

    An Atlanta federal court said a U.S. fitness technology company can't go to the U.S. International Trade Commission to complain about an Australian rival's alleged patent-infringing bicycle training products because of a previous settlement agreement, ordering Wahoo to withdraw its ITC complaint.

  • February 04, 2026

    Whoop Nabs Block On Chinese Co.'s Health-Tracker Products

    A Massachusetts federal judge has blocked a Chinese company from selling in the U.S. its health-tracking products that were alleged by health band maker Whoop Inc. to be infringing its trade dress.

  • February 04, 2026

    Carnegie Mellon Avoids Alice Ax Of Patents In Calif. Suit

    A California federal judge has shot down a bid by an indirect Broadcom Inc. subsidiary to invalidate claims in a pair of Carnegie Mellon University patents the company has been accused of infringing, saying they passed muster under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice test.

  • February 03, 2026

    XAI Fights Uphill To Keep Alive OpenAI IP Theft Suit

    Elon Musk's xAI urged a California federal judge Tuesday to change her tentative decision to toss its suit accusing OpenAI of poaching its workers to steal trade secrets, arguing that when considered together, the "whole gestalt" of xAI's allegations against individual employees is enough to state viable claims against OpenAI.

  • February 03, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Questions Bid To Undo Google, Microsoft PTAB Win

    A Federal Circuit panel appeared unpersuaded Tuesday by an inventor's arguments that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should have ended reviews of computer-locating patents challenged by Google and Microsoft due to actions by LG in a related case, and that the board wrongly invalidated the patents.

  • February 03, 2026

    Martin Shkreli Countersues, Adds RZA To Wu-Tang Fight

    Martin Shkreli has filed counterclaims and added Wu-Tang Clan rappers and producers RZA and Cilvaringz as counterdefendants in litigation over the group's one-of-a-kind album he once owned, a move that comes just weeks after a New York federal judge rejected Shkreli's request to bring the Wu-Tang members into the dispute.

  • February 03, 2026

    Boston IP Firm Sees Malpractice Claims Revived By 1st Circ.

    The First Circuit has revived legal malpractice claims from a Colorado tech company that alleged it was betrayed when its lawyers at a Boston intellectual property law firm filed patents for another client, finding that a lower court's ruling that the claims were time-barred assumed the three-person company comprised exclusively of engineers had an understanding of tricky legal concepts.

  • February 03, 2026

    Squires And Stewart's Patent Office, By The Numbers

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen sweeping changes under Director John Squires and Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart, ranging from pro-patent owner policies at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to employment shake-ups that have prompted departures from the agency.

  • February 03, 2026

    TikTok, Cellspin Duel On Effects Of Sale In Patent Challenge

    TikTok has told the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the sale of its majority stake in its U.S. operations to a new joint venture should eliminate a patent owner's argument that the app's alleged relationship with the Chinese Communist Party should tank its patent challenges.

  • February 03, 2026

    Feds, Samsung Urge Justices To Reject PTAB Prior Art Case

    The federal government and Samsung have both urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a patent owner's challenge to the Federal Circuit's finding that the filing date of a patent dictates if it can be considered prior art.

  • February 03, 2026

    Tobacco Co. Says 'Time Bubble' Robbed It Of Fair TM Trial

    BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP is asking an Arizona federal court for a new trial on its trademark infringement claims against Central Coast Agriculture Inc., saying the court wrongly created a "time bubble" that excluded all evidence from May 2021 on.

  • February 03, 2026

    USPTO, With Squires' Signature, Seeks 'Board Of Peace' TMs

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has filed a pair of applications for trademarks covering President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, with Director John Squires listed as the attorney pursuing the marks. 

  • February 03, 2026

    ATV Co. Accuses Rival Of Infringing Patents On Side-By-Sides

    Recreational vehicle manufacturer Polaris Inc. accused a rival of infringing its patents related to multi-occupant ATVs known as side-by-sides in two venues, filing a patent infringement suit in Minnesota federal court while also petitioning the U.S. International Trade Commission for an import ban on the products.

  • February 03, 2026

    Pharma Co. Stole Secrets For LSD Medical Trials, Suit Says

    A clinical trial services company is suing Definium Therapeutics Inc. in Delaware federal court, alleging that it stole trade secrets during Phase 2 trials of LSD treatments for psychiatric disorders, then passed those secrets on to a rival services company for Phase 3 trials.

  • February 03, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs Nearmap Win On 2 Out Of 3 PTAB Challenges

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday stood by Nearmap's successful challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to a pair of patents covering a system for identifying attributes in a roof by using aerial imagery, but also refused to undo its unsuccessful challenge to another patent.

  • February 03, 2026

    4 Attys Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Legal Brief

    A Kansas federal judge has issued sanctions against a group of lawyers representing a technology company in a patent dispute and has referred one attorney for disciplinary action over case citations hallucinated by ChatGPT appearing in a legal brief.

  • February 03, 2026

    Amway Looks To Sidestep Gut Drink Trademark Fight In NC

    Multi-level marketing giant Amway is seeking an early exit from a trademark infringement suit brought by a supplement maker in North Carolina, saying it has no ties to the Tar Heel state sufficient to be dragged into court there.

  • February 03, 2026

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink $162K Fee Award In Ramey Case

    The Federal Circuit will not reconsider its earlier ruling upholding a $162,000 fee award against a patent owner represented by attorney William Ramey III and his firm, Ramey LLP, after a district court found Ramey had brought a "weak" patent suit against television maker Vizio.

  • February 03, 2026

    1st Circ. Pushes For Settlement In Mass. 'Right-To-Repair' Suit

    The First Circuit suggested Tuesday that major automakers and the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office should work together to resolve a suit over compliance with a state law requiring open access to vehicle telematics systems.

Expert Analysis

  • How AI Tech Suppliers Can Address IP Lawyers' Concerns

    Author Photo

    While artificial intelligence tools can help intellectual property lawyers be more productive and effective, AI tech providers must address issues of privilege, data privacy and confidentiality to make their technology viable and useful for IP law, say Tom Colson at Colson Law and Kevin Bronson at Simpson & Simpson.

  • How Trial Attys Can Sidestep Opponents' Negative Frames

    Author Photo

    In litigation, attorneys often must deny whatever language or association the other side levies against them, but doing so can make the associations more salient in the minds of fact-finders, so it’s essential to reframe messages in a few practical ways at trial, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • How Store Brand Evolution May Influence IP Cases

    Author Photo

    A consumer shift toward private-label grocery products has spurred a recent crop of lawsuits, like Smuckers v. Trader Joe's, and parties must be prepared to carefully analyze consumer confusion in the grocery retailing context, as well as expectations and behavior, say Justin LaTorraca, Elizabeth Milsark and Laura O’Laughlin at Analysis Group.

  • 8th Circ. Decision Shipwrecks IRS On Shoals Of Loper Bright

    Author Photo

    The Eighth Circuit’s recent decision invalidating transfer pricing regulations in 3M Co. v. Commissioner may be the most significant tax case implementing Loper Bright's rejection of agency deference as a judicial tool in statutory construction, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.

  • Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

    Author Photo

    Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

  • IP Ownership Risk Grows In Booming Cancer Drug Market

    Author Photo

    The ownership of intellectual property has become strategically decisive in deals involving valuable cancer therapeutics known as ADCs, as highlighted by the recent Takeda-Innovent deal, with the commercial value of a license resting on the integrity and defensibility of the underlying technology, say attorneys at Loeb & Loeb.

  • Series

    My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

  • The Future Of Gen AI Training Amid Reddit Data Scraping Suit

    Author Photo

    Reddit's lawsuit against Perplexity AI is not framed as a classic copyright infringement fight, demonstrating that even when companies avoid fair use claims, the path by which training data is obtained is legally consequential, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

    Author Photo

    A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Dynamic Databases

    Author Photo

    Several recent federal court decisions illustrate how parties continue to grapple with the discovery of data in dynamic databases, so counsel involved in these disputes must consider how structured data should be produced consistent with the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Questions To Ask Inventors Before Drafting AI Patents

    Author Photo

    Practitioners should use interview questions tailored to help inventors articulate the patentable aspects of their artificial intelligence and machine learning innovations, as this can elicit information needed for a patent application to forestall indefiniteness, abstract-idea and enablement challenges, say attorneys at Marshall Gerstein.

  • ITC Ruling Highlights Conflicts Hurdles For Law Firms

    Author Photo

    As supply chains become more interconnected, a recent U.S. International Trade Commission order — disqualifying a complainant's law firm for concurrently representing a third-party supplier relevant to the case — underscores the reality that conflicts may increasingly lurk within the building blocks of devices, says Matt Rizzolo at Ropes & Gray.

  • Revisiting Jury Trial Right May Upend State Regulatory Power

    Author Photo

    Justice Neil Gorsuch’s recent use of a denial of certiorari to call for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit whether the Seventh Amendment jury trial right extends to states, building off last year's Jarkesy ruling, could foretell a profound change in state regulators' ability to enforce penalties against regulated companies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Building With Lego Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Building with Lego has taught me to follow directions and adapt to unexpected challenges, and in pairing discipline with imagination, allows me to stay grounded while finding new ways to make complex deals come together, says Paul Levin at Venable.

  • The Rise Of Trade Secret Specificity As A Jury Question

    Author Photo

    Recent federal appellate court decisions have clarified that determining sufficient particularity under the Defend Trade Secrets Act is a question of fact and will likely become a standard jury question, highlighting the need for appropriate jury instructions that explicitly address the issue, says Amy Candido at Simpson Thacher.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Intellectual Property archive.