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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

November 18, 2024
Supreme Court Won’t Take 2nd Pass At Patent Dispute With Government Over Mail

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Denying a patent holding company’s petition for a writ of certiorari on Nov. 18, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it would not again hear a dispute between the company and the U.S. government over the government’s alleged infringement of the company’s patent on a technology system for more easily sorting return mail.
November 18, 2024
Judge Tosses ‘Tipsy’ Trademark Tiff For Lack Of Personal Jurisdiction

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted a New York wine store’s motion to dismiss a California beverage store’s complaint alleging infringement of a trademark on the word “tipsy,” holding that the plaintiff company failed to show that the New York company could have foreseen any harm in California.
November 04, 2024
COMMENTARY: Lady Justice May Be Blind, But Her Courts Aren’t: Gender Bias And Barriers To Representation For Female Plaintiffs

By Sophie Zavaglia
November 15, 2024
Split Judgment Issued On Infringement, Invalidity Of Wastewater Treatment Patent

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Ruling on both parties’ summary judgment motions in a four-year-old patent infringement suit, a Connecticut federal judge found that the plaintiff established infringement of its patent related to wastewater treatment, but mixed findings on invalidity based on anticipation and obviousness related to prior art led to partial judgment denials for both parties.
November 15, 2024
Magistrate Suggests Limited Injunction In Trademark Row Between Grocery Companies

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal magistrate judge in Ohio recommended that a discount grocery company’s petition for a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement suit it brought against a grocery chain operator selling its products should be granted in part, holding that some, but not all, of the products bearing the plaintiff company’s trademarks should not be sold in the story while proceedings continue.
November 15, 2024
Judge: No Injunction, Dismissal For False Endorsement Complaint

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge in Minnesota denied a plaintiff online influencer’s petition for a preliminary injunction against a defendant media company’s use of his image to allegedly falsely imply an endorsement, but the judge also denied the company’s request to dismiss a punitive damages claim and strike certain allegations from the complaint.
November 14, 2024
Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Targeting Online Patent Infringers

MIAMI — A company that owns a collection of health and beauty patents saw a Florida federal judge shut down the websites and freeze the assets of parties selling counterfeit, infringing products online as the judge granted the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
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.