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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit OKs Rejection Of ImmunoGen’s Cancer Patent Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s finding that a pharmaceutical company’s patent application for a treatment for ovarian and other cancers contains “‘fatally indefinite and obvious’” claims, nearly three years after the Federal Circuit vacated the judge’s grant of summary judgment against the company.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Patent Applicant’s Constitutional Argument Comes Too Late

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 6 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s grant of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) motion to dismiss a tech company’s complaint seeking review of the rejection of its patent application, holding that the company forfeited its arguments based on the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

  • March 07, 2025

    Photo Uploading Patent Holder Tells High Court Recusal Necessary

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was wrong to uphold a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities, the patent owner tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari; the patent owner argues that the judge and her spouse’s alleged economic connections to Google LLC, a party to the suit, make recusal necessary.

  • March 07, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rules Again On IPR Proceedings Between USAA, PNC

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Once again, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that all claims of a patent owned by the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) related to remote depositing of checks were unpatentable as obvious.

  • March 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates Part Of ITC Ruling On False Lash Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 5 agreed with a beauty company that the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) incorrectly applied a test from the Tariff Act when considering whether artificial eyelash products imported into the country infringed on the company’s patents; the panel vacated the ITC’s denial of the company’s requested relief.

  • March 06, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Another Injunction In Biosimilar Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the third time this year, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 5 affirmed a West Virginia federal judge’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction against a biosimilar manufacturer that barred it from marketing products that were biosimilars to an eye medication patented by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • March 06, 2025

    Dismissal Granted In Patent Infringement Case Absent Web-Based Jurisdiction

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on March 5 granted a defendant’s dismissal motion in a patent infringement case regarding a patent for a retractable water bottle, finding that the patent holder failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the defendant because the defendant’s maintaining an online marketplace that Illinois consumers can access does not suffice to establish jurisdiction.

  • March 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Mixed IPR Findings On Gesture-Related Tech Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two opinions, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 4 affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which held that most challenged claims in a company’s patent related to gesture-related inputs from users are invalid as obvious.

  • March 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Rehearing After Inhaler Patent Delisting Affirmation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a rehearing petition from Teva Branded Pharmaceutical Products R&D Inc. and related entities, leaving in place a panel’s December opinion affirming a New Jersey federal judge’s order granting delisting counterclaims in a patent dispute stemming from a new drug application (NDA) for ProAir HFA (albuterol sulfate) Inhalation Aerosol.

  • March 05, 2025

    Stem Cell Company Failed To Show Patent Invalid, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 4 affirmed a decision from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), agreeing that an appellant stem cell research company failed to show that a respondent competitor’s patent was invalid as obvious or anticipated by prior art references; the panel held that the PTAB did not err in its construction of multiple claim phrases.

  • March 04, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Arguments From Google Accuser On Patent Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a tech company that a partly split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in affirming a federal judge’s summary judgments against the company and in favor of Google LLC, which it accused of infringing on seven of its patents.

  • March 04, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Copyright Judgment In Software Ownership Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed all of a California federal judge’s findings on copyright infringement in a dispute between a software company and a logistics company over the ownership rights to a software product, including the judge’s refusal to impose contempt sanctions on the defendant entity.

  • March 04, 2025

    Google, Alphabet Say AI Copyright Claims Lacking, Seek To Strike Class

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Whether plaintiffs satisfactorily registered copyrights, sufficiently detail their claims and could possibly justify injunctive relief in their consolidated action against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. sits with a federal judge in California after briefing on motions to dismiss and strike class claims wrapped up in the artificial intelligence case.

  • March 03, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Judge Must Recalculate Prejudgment Interest In Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 28 said a Nevada federal judge did not err in denying a plaintiff company its request for enhanced damages or a new trial on damages in a long-running patent infringement case now before the Federal Circuit for the fifth time.

  • March 03, 2025

    Microsoft Identifies Individuals Allegedly Involved In Unlawful AI Conduct

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Microsoft Corp. filed an amended complaint identifying four individuals previously listed as anonymous defendants who allegedly used the company’s artificial intelligence systems for unlawful purposes, including creating images of misogyny and deepfake intimate images of celebrities.

  • March 03, 2025

    Judge: Photo Company Can’t Show Infringement By Real Estate Firm

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A photography company fails to point to any evidence that a real estate company intentionally participated in the infringement of two copyrighted photos that were posted on the social media accounts of an individual affiliated with the real estate firm, a federal judge in Florida ruled after considering dueling motions for summary judgment from the parties.

  • March 03, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Trademark Settlement ‘Fraud’ Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by four companies that argued the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly allowed to stand a New York federal judge’s denial of a request to vacate a 2011 settlement in a trademark case due to an allegedly fraudulent document submitted as evidence.

  • February 28, 2025

    Judge Won’t Let AI Copyright Plaintiffs Set Search Terms

    SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs’ efforts at relitigating issues they lost undermines rulings designed to prevent delays, and the parties appear to be “taking turns to simply conjure up something about which to fight,” a judge overseeing consolidated federal copyright litigation in California involving artificial intelligence said Feb. 27 in denying requested discovery.

  • February 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Finding In Netflix’s Favor On Streaming Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 27 rejected an appellant’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was wrong to rule in favor of Netflix Inc; according to the panel, there was no error in the board’s analysis of the claims in the appellant’s patent that led it to find that all challenged claims in the patent are invalid as obvious.

  • February 28, 2025

    Record Labels Seek Rehearing In Copyright Row With Vimeo Before 2nd Circuit

    NEW YORK — A group of record labels asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, arguing in a petition for panel rehearing that the decision was in part undergirded by an erroneous reading of the labels’ argument.

  • February 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Reverse Discovery Order In Memory Chip Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge did not err when ordering a defendant-appellant technology company to turn over 73 pages of source code to plaintiff-respondent entities in a patent infringement dispute over flash memory chips, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 26, denying a petition for a writ of mandamus.

  • February 27, 2025

    Patent Holder Tells High Court Federal Circuit Wrongly Held Appeals Were Mooted

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The assignee of patents related to wireless earphones tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its petition for a writ of certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inappropriately adopted “a novel and expansive rule of collateral estoppel” when it held that two appeals it brought were moot because it failed to appeal a federal trial court order holding that the patent claims at issue were invalid in a separate case.

  • February 27, 2025

    Judge Nixes Breach But Not Patent Claims From Dispute Over Resort Lagoon

    SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah delivered mixed results to a defendant resort company and related entities accused of violating a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and infringing on a patent with the construction of a large manmade lagoon at the resort; the judge granted the defendant entities’ summary judgment motion on the contract claims against it but largely allowed infringement claims to survive.

  • February 26, 2025

    Infant Probiotic Patent Holder Appeals Invalidity Finding To Federal Circuit

    CHICAGO — A biopharmaceutical company and a related entity on Feb. 25 appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by an Illinois federal judge that claims of two patents related to probiotic infant products are invalid.

  • February 26, 2025

    High Court: Lanham Act Doesn’t Support $43M Disgorgement From Nonparties

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 26 held that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a $43 million disgorgement award entered in a real estate company’s favor in a trademark infringement dispute with an entity it said infringed its marks; the court held that the Fourth Circuit and a Virginia federal judge should not have included profits from entities affiliated with the alleged infringer in damages calculations.