Mealey's Intellectual Property : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Intellectual Property

November 14, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms Denial Of Transfer Of Patent Fight From Texas To New York

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 13 denied a defendant electronics company’s petition for a writ of mandamus directing a federal judge in Texas to transfer a patent infringement suit to a New York federal court; the panel agreed with the Texas judge that practical considerations favor keeping the case there.
November 14, 2024
Divided 9th Circuit Affirms OpenAI Trademark Ruling

SAN FRANCISCO — The conclusion that OpenAI Inc.’s mark acquired a secondary meaning prior to the release of its ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 and prior to being used by a different company is not “clearly erroneous,” a majority of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said Nov. 13 in affirming an injunction for OpenAI, with the dissent writing that confusion evident in the ruling requires remand.
November 14, 2024
6th Circuit: Man’s Reverse Domain-Hijacking Claims Against FedEx Fail

CINCINNATI — A federal judge in Tennessee committed no error when dismissing a Bulgarian citizen’s trademark infringement action against Federal Express Corp. (FedEx), saying that the man failed to plead facts necessary to support his “reverse domain-name hijacking claim,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the man’s arguments fail because one of his “gripe” websites critical of FedEx was never taken down.
November 14, 2024
9th Circuit: Counterclaim In Trademark Row Filed Too Late

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge did not err when granting summary judgment in a trademark infringement dispute between two companies over their use of the marks XTREME and INFINITY in connection with audio speakers, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the judge that the concept of laches applied.
November 13, 2024
Magistrate Recommends Injunction Against Alleged Louis Vuitton Counterfeiters

MIAMI — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended granting a designer handbag company’s motion for a preliminary injunction against three online retailers, holding that the company adequately substantiated its claim that the online stores violated its trademarks by selling counterfeited products.
November 12, 2024
Judge: Tech Company Fails To Support Patent, Antitrust Claims Against Google

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida dismissed most of a web development company’s suit against Google LLC, holding that the company failed to substantiate both its antitrust claims and patent infringement claim related to Google’s reverse phone number lookup technology.
November 12, 2024
Wireless Tech Firm Has Standing To Sue AT&T, Others In Patent Disputes

MARSHALL, Texas — A plaintiff that claims a license in two cellular technology patents and ownership of a third has sufficiently established that it has standing to pursue a consolidated patent infringement suit against AT&T Mobility LLC, T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., a Texas federal judge ruled as he adopted four reports and recommendations issued by a magistrate judge.
November 12, 2024
The White Stripes Drop Copyright Suit Against Trump Camp After Election Win

NEW YORK — In the days after President-elect Donald J. Trump won his reelection bid, former members of alternative rock band The White Stripes dropped a copyright infringement complaint against the president-elect over the allegedly infringing use of the band’s song “Seven Nation Army” without its consent.
November 11, 2024
Judge: No Stay In Patent Dispute Over Hotel Room Key Smart Phone App

MARSHALL, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 8 denied a defendant hotel chain company’s motion to stay a patent infringement case involving room key technology while a Virginia federal judge considers a related patent infringement case, holding that most applicable factors weigh against granting the stay.
November 11, 2024
Magistrate: Sports Store Owed Fees In Copyright Case After Summary Judgment

TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended the award of attorney fees to an online sports memorabilia store after a federal judge granted the store’s motion for summary judgment in its favor on claims brought against it by a photography company that accused it of copyright infringement by selling prints of photos of horse races.
November 11, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms 2 PTAB Decisions Invalidating Network Threat Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Issuing rulings in two patent infringement disputes between the same parties pertaining to the same technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that in both cases the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly concluded, after conducting inter partes reviews (IPRs), that the patents in suit were invalid as obvious in light of prior art.
November 11, 2024
Judge: Patent Holder’s Patent Too Abstract To Be Protectible; Complaint Tossed

PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona dismissed a patent holding company’s infringement claims against a sporting good company over its golf swing measurement device, agreeing with the defendant company that the claims contained within the patent are too abstract to be protectible.
November 08, 2024
Judge Dismisses AI Suit, Says Removal Of CMI Alone Not Sufficient For Standing

NEW YORK — Two media outlets have not established that the removal of copyright management information (CMI) from news stories without corresponding dissemination of the works constitutes an injury or that an artificial intelligence is likely to reproduce the works verbatim, a federal judge in New York said in dismissing the outlets’ lawsuit on Nov. 7 for lack of standing.
November 07, 2024
Parties To Newspaper AI Copyright Case Debate Progress Of Discovery

NEW YORK — Newspaper plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence copyright suit say technical issues plaguing searches of datasets used to train the AI programs are making the discovery process impossible and asked a New York federal judge to compel OpenAI entities to identify and admit which relevant works were used. In the joint letter, OpenAI says that while the parties are in “uncharted waters,” there is no need for the unprecedented relief the plaintiffs seek. The joint letter comes on the heels of a third case being added to the litigation and disputes over discovery into social media and what types of damages and benefits the New York Times Co. has seen from AI.
November 08, 2024
Judge: Counterclaims From Nokia In Patent Dispute Exceed Its Role As Intervener

MARSHALL, Texas — A federal judge in Texas dismissed counterclaims brought by Nokia of America Corp. in a patent infringement suit in which it intervened; the judge said Nokia’s counterclaims exceeded Nokia’s stated intention only to assist in defending AT&T Corp. and several affiliated entities in the complaint.
November 07, 2024
Judge: Drone Seller Didn’t Show Patent Claims Were Baseless For Restraining Order

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington denied a request from a plaintiff company for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against defendant companies it said is bringing takedown actions against it in bad faith for alleged patent infringement; the judge said that the evidentiary record is still too thin to determine whether the defendant companies were acting in good faith.
November 07, 2024
For 3rd Time, Judge Rejects Injunction Request In Film Fest Trademark Row

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Nov. 6 denied a motion for reconsideration for his rejection of a preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute brought by the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York against the owner of another South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, marking the third time that the judge has rejected a preliminary injunction in the case.
November 07, 2024
Medical Company Can’t Get Defendant’s Ankle Monitor Data In Trademark Dispute

NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York said that a plaintiff pharmaceutical company in a trademark counterfeiting dispute is not entitled to have ankle monitor data from a defendant who was convicted of federal fraud counts, holding that granting the request would allow a non-government agency years of surveillance data, which would amount to a massive violation of the man’s constitutional rights.
November 07, 2024
Lack Of Injury Dooms YouTube Scraping AI Suit, Nvidia Says

SAN FRANCISCO — A man can point to no injury from the alleged transcribing of YouTube videos for the use in the training of artificial intelligence, and any viable claims would be preempted by copyright law, dooming his California unfair competition law, so the court should dismiss the claims with prejudice, Nvidia Corp. argues.
November 06, 2024
Federal Judge: No Jury Would Find Infringement In Patent Dispute Over Chairs

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Nov. 5 dismissed with prejudice a patent infringement suit involving two furniture companies, holding that no reasonable jury could find that the defendant company infringed on the plaintiff company’s patents related to chair designs.
November 06, 2024
YouTube Entities Seek Dismissal Of UCL Claims In AI Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — California unfair competition law claims involving the alleged training of artificial intelligence on YouTube videos are preempted by copyright law, but even if they weren’t there is no injury or reliance on which to base them, Google LLC and related companies tell a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal.
November 06, 2024
AI Company Opposes Bid For Summary Judgment In Sci Fi-Based Name Battle

NEW YORK — Defendants asked a federal judge in New York for leave to file a motion for summary judgment in a trademark infringement case, saying their health care-based product is nothing like the plaintiff’s artificial intelligence and specialized microchip company. But in a motion to strike, the plaintiff said potential confusion among consumers is a fact-intensive analysis and that the court should strike the defendants’ pre-motion letter and deny the relief.
November 06, 2024
Judge: DMCA Claim Tossed From Copyright Dispute Over Architectural Designs

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge granted a defendant architectural firm’s motion for partial summary judgment on a count brought against it by a plaintiff firm, holding that the plaintiff company failed to show that the defendant company violated the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) by copying elements of the design of a home after the homeowner switched design firms.
November 05, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment, Recusal Denial In Tech Patent Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of opinions, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed both a California federal judge’s entries of summary judgments of noninfringement in a set of related cases brought by a patent owner that accused multiple companies of infringing on a patent related to the automatic uploading of photos and the judge’s later order denying the patent owner’s motion for the judge’s recusal.
November 05, 2024
2nd Circuit Affirms Finding That Ed Sheeran Didn’t Infringe Marvin Gaye Song

NEW YORK — A 2014 hit single from English pop star Ed Sheeran did not infringe on the copyright related to a 1973 song from Marvin Gaye, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, affirming a New York federal judge’s finding of noninfringement.