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Intellectual Property
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July 02, 2024
USPTO Faces TM Suit From Ariana Grande Over Benefit Show
Federal trademark officials wrongly turned down a bid by pop star Ariana Grande to register a trademark relating to a benefit concert she performed in England following the deadly bombing at one of her other shows in Manchester, according to a new lawsuit.
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July 02, 2024
Conn. Justices Send Trade Secrets Row Back To Trial Court
The Connecticut Supreme Court ordered a "limited" new trial Tuesday in a trade secrets case that pit Dur-A-Flex Inc. against numerous companies tied to research chemist Samet Dy, its former employee, finding error in the lower court's rulings on issues including damages and the enforceability of Dy's noncompete agreement.
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July 02, 2024
Marriott Loses Counterclaim In Delta's TM Suit
Delta Air Lines Inc. has won its fight against Marriott International Inc.'s claim that the airline breached an agreement over the use of "Delta Hotels," with a Georgia federal judge finding that the deal at issue applies only in Hong Kong and China.
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July 02, 2024
Justices Told Fed. Circ. Nullified Limits On PTAB Evidence
Manufacturer Provisur Technologies Inc. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision reviving rival Weber Inc.'s challenge to Provisur's food slicer patents, saying the appellate court flouted precedent that limits the evidence available in Patent Trial and Appeal Board cases.
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July 02, 2024
Hytera Hit With Discovery Sanctions In Motorola Radio IP Suit
An Illinois federal judge imposed sanctions against China's Hytera Communications on Monday for flouting three court orders to produce source code for review in Motorola's patent dispute claiming the radio manufacturer unlawfully copied its digital two-way radio technology and infringed seven patents.
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July 02, 2024
More Ex-Basketball Players Sue NCAA For NIL Compensation
A group of former men's college basketball players, led by a pair from the 2008 national champion University of Kansas team, have filed a proposed class action in federal court accusing the NCAA of earning billions off the ongoing replay of their highlights without compensating them.
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July 02, 2024
DLA Piper Tells Judge Fired Associate Got Proper Discovery
Counsel for DLA Piper LLP told a Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday the firm has provided responsive information to a former associate who claims she was unlawfully fired while pregnant, adding it is confident her termination was lawful.
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July 02, 2024
Pfizer, BioNTech Infringed Moderna's MRNA Vaccine Patent
Pfizer and BioNTech are on the hook for infringing Moderna's protections over its mRNA vaccines after a London court upheld on Tuesday the validity of one of two key U.K. patents over the technology.
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July 01, 2024
9th Circ. Cites Led Zeppelin In Affirming 'SmartBiz' TM Loss
The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a trial loss by the user of the "SmartBiz" trademark against Collins Cash, the user of the "Smart Business Funding" mark, citing the circuit's own ruling that sided with Led Zeppelin in a copyright dispute to find the lower court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to give the plaintiff's requested jury instruction.
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July 01, 2024
Arrgh, Nintendo Sues Mod Of 'SwitchPirates' Subreddit
Nintendo is now going after a Reddit poster who moderates a subreddit called "SwitchPirates" and who the video game company accuses of stocking "a massive catalog of Nintendo Switch games."
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July 01, 2024
Wolfgang Puck Judge Chops Sanctions Bids In Royalty Fight
A Florida magistrate judge on Sunday rejected competing sanctions bids in a contentious lawsuit filed by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and interior designer Barbara Lazaroff claiming the owner of an appliance company hid assets to get out of paying a $2.4 million arbitration award for unpaid royalties.
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July 01, 2024
Atty Warned Not To 'Gamble' In Bid To DQ Quinn Emanuel
A California federal judge considering Bright Data's bid to disqualify Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP from representing X Corp. in the social media company's data scraping lawsuit suggested Monday that Bright Data's Proskauer Rose LLP counsel is "gambling" by withholding a document from the judge.
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July 01, 2024
Dish Faces Appeal After Beating Jury's $469M Verdict
A company that developed a way of skipping naughty scenes from movies wants the Federal Circuit to restore the $469 million that a jury in Salt Lake City ordered the satellite company Dish Network LLC to cough up for allegedly using those ideas to let customers skip commercials.
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July 01, 2024
$18M Hoodie Blanket Verdict Stands Despite New Design Test
The Federal Circuit's newly revised test for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious does not warrant a new trial following an $18.4 million verdict in a dispute between rival makers of wearable hoodie blankets, an Arizona federal judge ruled Friday.
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July 01, 2024
Starbucks Targets 'Starbuds' Marijuana Truck In IP Suit
Starbucks has filed a trademark suit against the operator of a repurposed New York City food truck that sells marijuana under the brand Starbuds Flowers and uses an altered image of the coffee giant's iconic siren logo smoking a joint.
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July 01, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Hold Off VLSI Appeal For Lynk-Samsung Case
The Federal Circuit on Monday denied a stay request from VLSI Technology LLC, where the chip patent owner had argued that related litigation between Lynk Labs and Samsung could affect the outcome of its appeal.
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July 01, 2024
Pegasystems Investors Sue After $2B Trade Secrets Verdict
A pair of Pegasystems Inc. stockholders are seeking to hold its CEO and other officers liable for lost value following a $2 billion judgment against the company in a trade secrets case, according to a shareholder derivative complaint filed in Massachusetts state court.
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July 01, 2024
Kilpatrick Taps First Woman Atty To Lead IP Group
Kilpatrick has elevated a longtime trademark partner based in Atlanta to lead its global intellectual property department, making her the first woman to lead the IP department.
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July 01, 2024
Newman's Own Hairbrush License Deal Barred By Conn. Court
Two daughters of late Hollywood actor and philanthropist Paul Newman have won a temporary injunction in Connecticut state court against the use of his image and likeness in connection with a Wet Brush brand hairbrush, barring the licensing of his publicity and intellectual property rights to any product that is not food.
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July 01, 2024
CNX Says Employee Tried To Patent Its Tech For Himself
CNX Resources Corp. has filed a trade secret lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court accusing a former employee of wrongfully using the natural gas company's confidential business information to file patent applications in his own name.
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July 01, 2024
2nd Circ. Throws Out Disbarred Ex-BigLaw Atty's RICO Suit
Former BigLaw associate Anthony Zappin is now 0-for-16 in the flurry of lawsuits he filed after a 2015 divorce sanctions ruling led to him being fired, disbarred and routinely mocked in the New York City tabloids, after the Second Circuit on Monday upheld the dismissal of a racketeering case against three foes he blames for his predicament.
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July 01, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Two multimillion-dollar settlement approvals, a $25 million fee-shifting demand, and a biotech merger spoiled by murder: This was just the beginning of the drama last week in the nation's preeminent court of equity. Shareholders in satellite companies filed new cases, a cannabis company headed toward trial, and there were new developments in old disputes involving Tesla and Truth Social.
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July 01, 2024
Apple Scores Some Patent Board Reviews In Watch IP Fight
Yet another front has opened in Apple's ongoing legal war with a small medical software company that claims the tech giant used its patents in a blood oxygen sensor found in the newer version of the Apple Watch.
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July 01, 2024
Artist Not Entitled To Exhibition Profits, Argues Arts Charity
A charity has argued that an artist it previously sued for £100,000 ($125,500) over holographic portraits of the queen wasn't entitled to profits from a 2012 exhibition of those works.
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June 28, 2024
Chevron's End Is Just The Start For Energized Agency Foes
By knocking down a powerful precedent that has towered over administrative law for 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court's right wing Friday gave a crowning achievement to anti-agency attorneys. But for those attorneys, the achievement is merely a means to an end, and experts expect a litigation blitzkrieg to materialize quickly in the aftermath.
Expert Analysis
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3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'
Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.
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Infringement Policy Lessons From 4th Circ. Sony Music Ruling
The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Sony Music v. Cox Communications, which in part held that the internet service provider was liable for contributing to music copyright infringement, highlights the importance of reasonable policies to terminate repeat infringers, and provides guidance for litigating claims of secondary liability, say Benjamin Marks and Alexandra Blankman at Weil.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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Tips On Numerical Range From Fed. Circ. Philip Morris Ruling
The Federal Circuit's recent RAI v. Philip Morris decision that a patent provided sufficient written description to support a claimed numerical range offers several takeaways for practitioners, including the need for a cautious approach to criticism of ranges, say attorneys at BCLP.
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UMG-TikTok IP Rift Highlights Effective Rights Control Issues
Despite Universal Music Group's recent withdrawal of TikTok's licensing rights to its music catalog, the platform struggles to control uploads and reproductions of copyrighted material, highlighting the inherent tension between creative freedom and effective rights control in the age of social media, says Simon Goodbody at Bray & Krais.
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5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers
Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.
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Fed. Circ. Patent Lesson: No Contradiction, No Indefiniteness
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Maxwell v. Amperex Technology highlights the complexities of construing patent claims when seemingly contradictory limitations are present, and that when a narrowing limitation overrides a broader one, they do not necessarily contradict each other, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Data-Driven Insights On Optimizing PTAB Institution Decisions
A look at Patent Trial and Appeal Board institution decisions from the last six years highlights critical information a patent owner should know regarding trends in the board’s decision making when patents come under challenge, and which arguments to raise in preliminary responses, say Jacob Golan and Benjamin Anger at Knobbe Martens.
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Golf Course Copyright Bill Implications Go Beyond The Green
A new federal bill, the BIRDIE Act, introduced in February would extend intellectual property protections to golf course designers but could undercut existing IP case law and raise broader questions about the scope of copyright protection for works that involve living elements or nonhuman authorship, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.
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What's At Play In Rising Lanham Act Cases At The ITC
Amid an uptick in Lanham Act claims involving false advertising related to medical devices at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Brian Busey and Maryrose McLaughlin at MoFo discuss recent ITC complaints from Eli Lilly and R.J. Reynolds, Lanham Act claim limits under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the issues practitioners face in this realm.
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Key Factors In Establishing Compelling Merits At The PTAB
A look at over 450 Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions between June 2022 and now provides insights into strategies for petitioners and patent owners in establishing compelling merits arguments in post-grant proceedings, say David Holman and Tyler Liu at Sterne Kessler.
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Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment
As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.
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Takeaways From USPTO's AI-Assisted Invention Guidance
Recently issued guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office clarifies how patent inventorship is to be determined when AI is involved, and while the immediate risk of prosecution for failing to meet the new standards appears low, the extent of examiners’ scrutiny remains to be seen, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
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The Taylor Swift Effect: Leveraging IP Thresholds In Ads
The Cetaphil #GameTimeGlow commercial, which aired before the Super Bowl, has garnered attention for its indirect use of Taylor Swift-related symbols that were easily spotted by fans — sparking questions about the legality of nodding to the iconic pop star without violating intellectual property rights, say attorneys at Brooks Kushman.
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5 Ways To Hone Deposition Skills And Improve Results
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Depositions must never be taken for granted in the preparations needed to win a dispositive motion or a trial, and five best practices, including knowing when to hire a videographer, can significantly improve outcomes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.