Intellectual Property

  • September 20, 2024

    ITC Has Been Launching Fewer Section 337 Investigations

    Intellectual property activity at the U.S. International Trade Commission has "decreased somewhat," the agency said in a report Friday.

  • September 20, 2024

    Baby Biz Can't Get Fees After Beating Shampoo Pitcher IP Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge said a 7-year-old fight over baby products "was a hard-fought patent case," rejecting efforts from a Louisiana company to obtain nearly $2 million in legal fees from a Kansas inventor of a pitcher for rinsing out shampoo.

  • September 20, 2024

    T.I.'s Fight With MGA Over Pop Group IP Goes To Jury Again

    An attorney for hip hop moguls T.I. and Tiny Harris told a California federal jury during closing arguments Friday that "common sense" should lead them to find that MGA Entertainment's line of O.M.G. dolls infringed the trade dress and misappropriated the name, likeness and identity of the OMG Girlz pop group.

  • September 20, 2024

    Alnylam Seeks To End Inventorship Suit Tied To COVID Vax

    Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, which alleges that COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna infringe its patents, has moved in Delaware federal court to dismiss a suit by former collaborator Acuitas Therapeutics Inc. seeking to have its scientists added as inventors on the patents.

  • September 20, 2024

    Justices Asked To Clarify IP Eligibility In Animation App Case

    App developer Plotagraph has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision that found its patents that allow users to create the illusion of movement within digital photos or videos were invalid because they were abstract under the high court's Alice decision.

  • September 20, 2024

    Getting Around ITC Was 'Sneaky,' Judge Tells Caterpillar

    A Delaware court has held that Caterpillar owes about $19.5 million in a patent case, citing in part the company's "sneaky" decision to domesticate manufacturing after a setback in a related infringement case at the U.S. International Trade Commission, while also finding that Caterpillar is subject to a rare injunction blocking the sale of some of its road construction machines.

  • September 20, 2024

    Northwestern Scores $6.6M Verdict On 'Cobot' Patents

    A Delaware federal jury has awarded $6.6 million to Northwestern University after finding that Universal Robots infringed claims in three patents on collaborative robot, or "cobot," systems.

  • September 20, 2024

    Conservative Pundit Seeks To Block Calif. AI Election Laws

    A content creator who created a viral AI-generated video shared by billionaire Elon Musk that lampoons Vice President Kamala Harris' mannerisms has sued the state and asked a California federal judge to block recently enacted state laws cracking down on election-related deepfakes, arguing the new laws infringe influencers' constitutional rights.

  • September 20, 2024

    Lawmakers Ask USPTO To Fix Patent Calculation Problem

    Federal patent officials need to change standards that could let drug companies hold on to patent rights beyond the time frame they are entitled to, according to federal lawmakers.

  • September 20, 2024

    Jewelry Co. Says Target Stole Design Of Blood Drip Necklace

    A New York jewelry company accused Target of copying the design of one of its Halloween-themed necklaces for the second time, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in New Jersey federal court.

  • September 20, 2024

    Off The Bench: Favre Flops, Dolan Escapes, Betting Cos. Sued

    In this week's Off The Bench, retired quarterback Brett Favre can't revive a defamation suit against fellow NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, New York Knicks owner James Dolan is spared from federal sex-trafficking claims, and two sports-betting giants face new suits over their use of MLB player images.

  • September 20, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    The past week in London has seen crypto exchange Binance face a new claim from the co-founder of SO Legal, a U.S. immersive art company take on a Bristol venue for copyright violations and Blake Morgan LLP hit with a pension schemes claim by The Trust for Welsh Archeology. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • September 19, 2024

    Mistrial Avoided In MGA's 3rd Round With T.I. In IP Saga

    A California federal judge declined to order a mistrial Thursday in the intellectual property dispute between MGA Entertainment and hip-hop moguls Clifford "T.I." Harris and Tameka "Tiny" Harris, but he issued a curative instruction to jurors after MGA objected to statements made by an attorney for the Harrises.

  • September 19, 2024

    Michigan Judge Clears BMW Of Infringing Navigation Patent

    A Michigan federal judge has put an end to infringement allegations in Detroit in the final case of a decadelong legal saga over a patent on a way of navigating cars, finding that BMW cars don't do what's covered in the patent.

  • September 19, 2024

    Bills On Patent Eligibility, PTAB Limits Near Senate Markup

    Legislation aiming to reduce decisions finding inventions ineligible for patenting and restrict invalidity challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board will likely be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, a sponsor of the measures said Thursday.

  • September 19, 2024

    AndroGel Antitrust Case On Hold Amid Settlement Talk

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has agreed to pause a class action against Abbott and other drugmakers over allegedly sham patent cases, saying a settlement between the two sides may be in the works.

  • September 19, 2024

    New Patent Legal Group Launches To Assist Inventors

    Patent experts, including a former Federal Circuit chief judge, former federal officials and current legal scholars, say a new advocacy organization they have formed will back smaller inventors against larger companies in patent fights.

  • September 19, 2024

    Nintendo, Pokémon Say 'Palworld' Maker Infringed Patents

    Nintendo and The Pokémon Co. announced Thursday that they filed a patent infringement suit in Japan against the video game company behind "Palworld," an open world adventure game featuring fluffy creatures wielding rocket launchers and assault rifles.

  • September 19, 2024

    Publishers Back Music Companies' Bid To Restore $1B Win

    Organizations that represent music publishers and songwriters urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to review a Fourth Circuit ruling that scrapped a $1 billion jury verdict against Cox Communications Inc. for ignoring online piracy, saying the three-judge appeal panel's conclusion "effectively immunizes internet service providers" from vicarious liability.

  • September 19, 2024

    Norwich Asks Justices To Allow Sale Of Generic Diarrhea Drug

    A New York drugmaker has told the U.S. Supreme Court that the courts have gone too far in preventing the release of a generic version of a blockbuster diarrhea drug, after a lower court found there was a way of using the drug that would infringe certain patents.

  • September 19, 2024

    Judge Gives Dow Jones Win In Article Thievery Case

    A Texas federal judge has handed a win to publisher Dow Jones & Co. in a copyright infringement suit accusing an investment manager of wrongfully copying and distributing thousands of news articles from The Wall Street Journal.

  • September 19, 2024

    Consultant Ducks Contempt In Fight Over Packaging Patent

    An inventor facing allegations of abusive patent behavior by the packaging company for which he previously consulted has dodged a civil contempt finding after a North Carolina federal judge found he was not in violation of an injunction barring him from making false infringement claims.

  • September 19, 2024

    DC Circ. Skeptical Of Copyrights For AI-Created Artworks

    A trio of D.C. Circuit judges appeared skeptical Thursday of arguments from an artificial intelligence inventor trying to copyright a painting by his AI system, questioning whether he is backing off his stance that his program created the art completely autonomously — the very reason the U.S. Copyright Office rejected his application.

  • September 19, 2024

    Bejin Bieneman Boutique Trio Joins Taft's Detroit IP Team

    Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has hired three attorneys from intellectual property boutique Bejin Bieneman PLC, including one of that firm's name partners, who have joined Taft's Detroit office, the firm announced this week.

  • September 19, 2024

    Nantucket Festival Owner Says Rival Exploiting Discovery

    The longtime operator of a wine and food festival on Nantucket says a competitor who started a similarly named event is now trying to take advantage of a court order by making "improperly broad and harassing discovery requests" to further undermine her business.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Tips For Keeping Trade Secrets In The Vault

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    Key practices aimed at maintaining confidentiality can help companies establish trade secret status as the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompetes makes it prudent to explore other security measures, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Reducing Patent Litigation Costs Starts With Early Strategy

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    With the average cost ranging from $1 million to $4 million, defending a patent case can create a serious strain on resources, particularly for midsize or smaller companies, so certain cost-cutting steps should be considered at the outset — even if some seem counterintuitive, say Jeffrey Ahdoot and Wendy Verlander at Verlander.

  • Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate

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    With increasingly sophisticated and accessible voice-cloning technology raising social, ethical and legal questions, particularly in the entertainment industry and politics, further legislative intervention and court proceedings seem very likely, say Shruti Chopra and Paul Joseph at Linklaters.

  • Opinion

    'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection

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    The entire legal edifice rests on a determination that an artificial system is not a so-called natural person, and although this may appear to be straightforward on its face, rapid advances in technology may soon force us to revisit our understanding of a natural person, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

  • Del. IP Ruling May Mark Limitation-By-Limitation Analysis Shift

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    A Delaware federal court's recent ruling in Lindis Biotech v. Amgen, which involved complex technology where the complaint contained neither facts nor a specific allegation directed to a claim limitation, might spark a shift away from requiring a limitation-by-limitation analysis, say Ted Mathias and Ian Swan at Axinn.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.

  • ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports

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    While a recent U.S. International Trade Commission decision is a win for trade secret owners who can show injury to a U.S. domestic industry, the decision also means that companies operating in foreign jurisdictions will be subject to the requirements of U.S. trade secret law, say Paul Ainsworth and Cristen Corry at Sterne Kessler.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

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