Intellectual Property

  • March 12, 2025

    Photo Agency Sues Country Club Over Prime Rib Picture

    A photograph licensing company filed a lawsuit against a Maryland golf and country club in federal court on Tuesday, alleging the club used a picture of a prime rib roast in its promotional materials without permission.

  • March 12, 2025

    Venable Adds 2 Patent Partners From Axinn In San Francisco

    Venable LLP has hired two technology-focused partners from Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP to expand its intellectual property team in San Francisco.

  • March 11, 2025

    Medical Device Co. Seeks Fed. Circ. Redo Over Patent Trial

    A medical device manufacturer is asking a Federal Circuit panel to reconsider a decision reviving a patent infringement case against it, arguing a lower court judge was fine to allow tardy testimony from a witness who took its side.

  • March 11, 2025

    George Clinton Brings New IP Theft Suit Against Longtime Foe

    George Clinton sued music executive Armen Boladian for copyright theft and civil fraud in Florida federal court Tuesday, the latest in a long-running legal battle over royalties between the Parliament-Funkadelic front man and his onetime business partner.

  • March 11, 2025

    USPTO Acting Director To Review Bitcoin, Railway Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's current acting director made some of her first moves wading into patent board rulings, deciding last week to take a closer look at two board decisions involving blockchain mines and railway signs.

  • March 11, 2025

    Ex-USPTO Head Can't Be Expert In Walmart IP Fight, Co. Says

    A startup suing Walmart over trade secrets connected to shelf-freshness technology wants an Arkansas federal court to block the retailer from retaining former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal as an expert when the $115 million case moves forward to a retrial.

  • March 11, 2025

    More ITC Patent Cases Expected After Fed. Circ. 'Sea Change'

    A recent Federal Circuit decision discarding the U.S. International Trade Commission's limits on what types of domestic expenses qualify a company to bring a patent suit at the agency marks a pronounced shift that will likely spur considerably more ITC cases, attorneys say.

  • March 11, 2025

    Wendy's, Target Accused Of Infringing Online Ordering Patent

    Target and a group of chain restaurants including Wendy's, Applebee's and the Cheesecake Factory were hit with patent infringement lawsuits in Texas federal courts on Monday by Smart Order LLC, which accused them of infringing a patent covering a customer internet ordering system.

  • March 11, 2025

    HPE's IP Case Moves Ahead, With Chance To Fix Some Claims

    A California federal judge has given Hewlett Packard Enterprise a month to amend its patent infringement complaint against a group of companies and greenlit the IT giant to seek discovery on business one of them may have done in the state.

  • March 11, 2025

    Eli Lilly Suit Over Compounded Drugs Survives Dismissal

    A Washington federal judge has trimmed Eli Lilly's lawsuit against two Seattle-area clinics and the doctors who run them for allegedly duping consumers into buying copycat versions of its diabetes and weight loss medications Mounjaro and Zepbound, nixing the pharmaceutical giant's consumer protection claim while preserving its trademark infringement and false advertising allegations.

  • March 11, 2025

    Authors Seek Win On Meta AI Direct Infringement Claims

    A group of award-winning authors urged a California federal judge to grant them a win on claims Meta directly infringed their copyrights by using databases of pirated works to train its "Llama" artificial-intelligence tool, arguing Meta infringed "massive" amounts of protected material, including books written by Supreme Court justices.

  • March 11, 2025

    Software Co. Tells Fed. Circ. It's Owed Over $12.7M In IP Dispute

    A software developer pushed back at the federal government's defense of a $12.7 million copyright infringement award on Monday, telling the Federal Circuit that the judgment should be based on the company's actual negotiations with the Defense Health Agency.

  • March 11, 2025

    Netflix Gets 'Surviving R. Kelly' Libel Suit Tossed, For Now

    Netflix Inc. and Lifetime Entertainment Services won dismissal Tuesday of a defamation lawsuit alleging the latest iteration of their hit documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" defamed a former assistant to the now-imprisoned R&B singer, although a Delaware federal judge gave the plaintiff another shot at pleading actual malice.

  • March 11, 2025

    ISP Asks Justices To Reverse Liability In Piracy Suit

    It's time for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and decide whether internet service providers can be liable for copyright infringement if they haven't done enough to stop their customers from pirating music, says an ISP that has been locked in one such legal battle for the better part of a decade.

  • March 11, 2025

    No Joke, Paramount's $11M Comic Royalty Deal Gets Prelim OK

    A New York federal judge gave a preliminary approval Tuesday to a settlement agreement in a putative class action that would see Paramount Global and the entity behind Comedy Central pay $11 million to 120 comedians to resolve allegations the media companies wrongly withheld royalty payments. 

  • March 11, 2025

    Google Trade Secrets Case Against Ex-Engineer Resolved

    A Texas federal judge closed Google LLC's trade secrets lawsuit against a former employee on Monday after the parties agreed last December to an injunction forbidding him from possessing or sharing any of the company's confidential information.

  • March 11, 2025

    Lego Competitor Asks 2nd Circ. To Allow Figurine Sales

    A Lego competitor on Tuesday urged a Second Circuit panel to reverse a Connecticut district judge's order blocking the sale of figurines designed to fit into the toy company's signature interlocking play system, arguing the threadbare directive improperly modified a prior injunction.

  • March 11, 2025

    Software Co. Says Ex-Employees Stole AI Trade Secrets

    A software company that uses artificial intelligence to automate appeals when insurers deny a healthcare provider's payment request has sued two former staffers, alleging they used confidential information gathered through their employment to launch a competing company.

  • March 11, 2025

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Rehear $95M Altria Patent Suit Win

    The Federal Circuit won't hold an en banc review of a $95 million judgment against R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. that ended a suit from Altria Client Services LLC alleging that R.J. Reynolds infringed three of its patents.

  • March 11, 2025

    White House Names Ex-Goldman Sachs Atty To Lead USPTO

    U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated John Squires, Goldman Sachs' former longtime chief intellectual property counsel, to serve as the next U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

  • March 10, 2025

    Amgen, Fresenius Settle Osteoporosis Drug Patent Dispute

    Amgen Inc. and Fresenius Kabi USA have reached an agreement resolving Amgen's allegations that Fresenius infringed a long list of patents covering drugs for treating osteoporosis and preventing bone problems, according to an order issued Friday in New Jersey federal court.

  • March 10, 2025

    Meta Can't Ditch Authors' Copyright Claim In AI Tool Fight

    A California federal judge has refused to throw out group of authors' claim that Meta Platforms Inc. violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim with its large language model product, ruling that they've adequately alleged that Meta intentionally removed copyright notice information to conceal infringement.

  • March 10, 2025

    Nike Receives $355K From Lululemon In Shoe Patent Trial

    A New York federal jury has found that athletic apparel maker Lululemon infringed one Nike footwear manufacturing patent but did not infringe a second, and awarded Nike $355,450 in damages, well below the $2.8 million the shoe giant was seeking.

  • March 10, 2025

    Realtek's Antitrust Claims Against MediaTek Pared Back

    A California federal judge on Friday dismissed Realtek Semiconductor's claims that MediaTek and two other companies conspired to restrain trade through a series of sham patent suits, while keeping claims tied to two 2021 federal cases in Texas that he said Realtek plausibly alleged to be baseless.

  • March 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Vacates PTAB Decision Partly Axing 4G Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Monday vacated a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision partly invalidating a Sisvel patent that the company says is essential to the 4G standard and has asserted against other businesses in infringement litigation.

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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