Intellectual Property

  • July 16, 2024

    Cold Brew Co. Inks Deal To End IP Suit Against Mug Maker

    A Colorado federal judge has signed off on a cold brew equipment maker and insulated mug company's request to dismiss a trademark infringement suit after the companies agreed to end the fight and pay for their own costs.

  • July 16, 2024

    Judge Spikes Fee Bid Pending Edible Arrangements Appeal

    A Georgia federal judge is denying for now 1-800-Flowers.com's push to recover up to $4.3 million in attorney fees, as its rival Edible Arrangements LLC appeals a ruling that ended its trademark infringement suit against the company.

  • July 16, 2024

    The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know

    Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.

  • July 16, 2024

    Rising Star: Morrison Foerster's Allyson Bennett

    Allyson Bennett of Morrison Foerster LLP has been on the front lines of legal efforts to expand fair use laws in cases involving large tech companies, including shielding Instagram from copyright lawsuits and defending OpenAI, earning her a spot among the intellectual property practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 16, 2024

    These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships

    Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.

  • July 16, 2024

    Tesla Loses Bid To Sue Over 5G License Rate In UK

    A London court ruled Monday that Tesla can't sue InterDigital for a worldwide license covering 5G technology, throwing a wrench in the automaker's plans to launch 5G-equipped vehicles in the U.K.

  • July 15, 2024

    Acuitas Seeks Credit For IP Tied To COVID Vax

    Acuitas Therapeutics wants to set the record straight about its involvement in a handful of patents that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals asserts were swiped to create the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Acuitas, saying in a lawsuit in Delaware federal court Monday that Acuitas scientists should be listed as co-inventors.

  • July 15, 2024

    EDTX Judge OKs $445M Chip Verdict Against Micron

    U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap has said there is no reason for the Texas court to wait for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to rule on the validity of a patent tied to part of a $445 million jury verdict against Micron Technology that came down in May.

  • July 15, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Filmmaker's Son Took Too Long To Probe Fraud

    The Ninth Circuit has affirmed a lower court order confirming an $8.7 million arbitral award in a long-running family dispute over a prominent Mexican film producer's film collection, saying the producer's son waited years too long to probe whether his siblings fraudulently tainted the award.

  • July 15, 2024

    Google Wants Antitrust Suit Over AI Features Tossed

    Google has urged a D.C. federal court to toss a suit from newspaper owners accusing the tech giant of violating antitrust law through its roll-out of generative artificial intelligence features, among other practices, saying the news outlets haven't alleged the existence of an online news market.

  • July 15, 2024

    Netgear Defends RICO, Antitrust Case Against Huawei

    Router maker Netgear is coming out in defense of its suit accusing the Chinese government-affiliated Huawei of racketeering and antitrust violations, saying that the tech company has attacked its claims by "overstating the pleading requirements and ignoring the law."

  • July 15, 2024

    GM Eyes Deal In Design Patent Fight At PTAB

    LKQ Corp. and General Motors Co. are looking to come to a deal to settle a legal dispute over GM's design patent covering fenders at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • July 15, 2024

    9th Circ. Centers On Atty's Duties In Winery TM Feud

    Ninth Circuit judges appeared skeptical Monday that a Houston lawyer could represent a prominent Napa Valley vintner while also claiming partial ownership rights to the name of its popular cabernet sauvignon, with one judge saying that conflict of interest rules for attorneys operating in California are "very strict."

  • July 15, 2024

    PTAB Will Review Money Clip IP Tied To Looming Import Ban

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has agreed to review if a Ridge Wallet LLC money clip patent should be invalidated, giving hope to a challenger facing an import ban for infringement of the same patent.

  • July 15, 2024

    Record Labels Sue Verizon Over Internet Users' File Sharing

    A group of the biggest music labels in the world is suing Verizon for allegedly profiting from what they call "pervasive" and "staggering" copyright infringement of the labels' music, saying in a complaint that the internet service provider "deliberately turned a blind eye" to music pirating on its network.

  • July 15, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Some HVAC Patent Claims In Google Fight

    The Federal Circuit has affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that handed a partial win to EcoFactor Inc. in a patent challenge brought by Google LLC.

  • July 15, 2024

    Nike Suit Seeks More Than $60M From Counterfeit 'Empire'

    Nike filed a federal lawsuit on Monday for more than $60 million against a popular Los Angeles company producing pricey customized sneakers that the sportswear giant claims unlawfully uses Nike's designs and intellectual property, saying the company and its founder are even offering "Nike Counterfeiting 101" classes.

  • July 15, 2024

    Judge Keeps Most Of TM Suit Against Musk's X Corp. Intact

    Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand X Corp. suffered a setback Monday when a Florida federal judge kept intact most of a trademark infringement complaint by X Social Media LLC, an advertising agency for attorneys, with only one claim dismissed from the suit.

  • July 15, 2024

    Crocs Dodges Clog Competitor's Counterclaims In IP Battle

    A Colorado federal judge has tossed a pair of counterclaims alleging anticompetitive conduct by Crocs in the shoe company's intellectual property lawsuit against a smaller rival, with the judge concluding that the rival never claimed Crocs said anything untrue or in bad faith.

  • July 15, 2024

    Carl Sagan Co. Drops TM Fight Over Astronomer's Name

    A company managing the works of famed astronomer Carl Sagan has agreed to drop claims that a Michigan software company is using Sagan's name without permission to benefit from his reputation, according to a stipulation of dismissal that said the parties reached a settlement.

  • July 15, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Chancery Court news was full of fees and settlements last week, with three multimillion-dollar deals getting a court OK, and a daylong discussion over a potentially multibillion-dollar fee award for attorneys who got Tesla CEO Elon Musk's astronomical pay package thrown out. The court also banged the gavel in cases involving e-payment venture SwervePay and managed care company Centene Corp., and heard arguments from software company SAP SE and biotech Renmatix Inc.

  • July 15, 2024

    Litigation Funder Wants Apple's Bid For Docs Moved To Calif.

    A litigation funding company is urging a Delaware federal judge to transfer Apple Inc.'s bid for documents related to a patent dispute with Finnish company MPH Technologies Oy. to California federal court, saying the motion to compel should be adjudicated in the Golden State.

  • July 15, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Barred From Repping X In Scraping Case

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP can no longer represent social media giant X Corp. in the company's lawsuit against Bright Data Ltd., with a California federal judge finding the law firm violated its duty of loyalty to Bright Data after previously representing it in a "substantially related" case.

  • July 15, 2024

    Rising Star: Irell's Stephen Payne

    Stephen Payne of Irell & Manella LLP has advised clients on disputes worth hundreds of millions, including as part of the team that secured what his firm calls the third-largest patent verdict in the U.S. on behalf of chipmaker Netlist Inc., earning him a spot among the fund formation law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 15, 2024

    Dow Chemical Seeks Recusal After Settlement Offer Gaffe

    The Dow Chemical Co. asked an Ohio federal judge to recuse himself from a trade secrets suit brought by a Cleveland technology firm accusing it of misappropriating confidential information to recreate the firm's copyrighted software after the tech company showed the court a settlement offer without Dow Chemical's approval.

Expert Analysis

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story

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    Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.

  • Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws

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    Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.

  • Why High Court May Have Rejected IP Obviousness Appeal

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    Attorneys at Womble Bond analyze possible reasons the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Vanda Pharmaceuticals' request to review the Federal Circuit’s reasonable expectation of success standard for determining obviousness, including that the court was unpersuaded by the company's argument that Amgen v. Sanofi places a bind on drug developers.

  • Opinion

    Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation

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    As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.

  • A Guide To Using The DTSA For Misappropriation Recourse

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Nicholas Armington at Mintz explains the ins and outs of drafting a misappropriation complaint under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and how and why companies should think strategically about federal and state law when filing a claim.

  • How Cos. Can Protect IP In Light Of FTC Noncompete Rule

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    While several groups are challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s recently approved rule banning noncompetition agreements, employers should begin planning other ways to protect their valuable trade secrets, confidential information and other intellectual property, says Thomas Duston at Marshall Gerstein.

  • The Fed. Circ. In April: Hurdles Remain For Generics

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent Salix v. Norwich ruling — where Salix's brand-name drug's patents were invalidated — is a reminder to patent practitioners that invalidating a competitor's patents may not guarantee abbreviated new drug application approval, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Series

    Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

  • The Secret Sauce For Trademarking Viral Food Products

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    Three recent high-profile trademark disputes in the food industry illustrate the importance of protecting brands early — especially for any company aiming for viral fame — and underscore the value of intent-to-use applications, say Elliot Gee and Matthew Dowd at Dowd Scheffel.

  • Chanel TM Ruling Shows Resellers Must Tread Carefully

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    The Southern District of New York's recent jury verdict in Chanel v. What Goes Around Comes Around, in which Chanel brought trademark infringement and false association claims, serves as a reminder that businesses must routinely ensure their practices are protected by the first sale and fair use doctrines, say Stephen Barrett and Gabriela Rios at Wilson Elser.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic

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    Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Shows Difficulty Of Proving Deceptive Intent

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent Freshub v. Amazon decision demonstrates how proving the deceptive intent requirement for inequitable conduct can be challenging, even when there is a five-year delay after abandonment before revival, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals

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    Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.

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