Mealey's Intellectual Property
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February 25, 2025
Judge: Media Outlet Alleges Injury, Copyright Removal For Single DMCA Claim
NEW YORK — While Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) protections don’t exactly match with historical analogs, the act hews closely enough to protected property rights to provide injury, and a news organization adequately alleges that OpenAI entities removed copyright management information (CMI) from articles during the training of artificial intelligence, a federal judge in New York said while dismissing the remainder of the DMCA claims against OpenAI and Microsoft.
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February 25, 2025
Federal Circuit Vacates IPR Decision On Meat Curing Patent, Citing Analysis Errors
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 vacated a finding of obviousness from the U.S. Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB) in a patent dispute between food packaging companies; the panel held that PTAB failed to adequately address elements of arguments presented by the appellant company.
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February 25, 2025
Supreme Court: No Certiorari In Patent Dispute Over Meat Slicing Products
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 rejected a food equipment company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place findings by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the company’s theory of patent infringement was based on allegations without evidence and that the defendant companies were entitled to judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and for a new trial on damages.
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February 25, 2025
Supreme Court Leaves 5th Circuit Copyright Infringement Affirmation In Place
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting a petition for a writ of certiorari on Feb. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments from a distribution company that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold a finding of copyright infringement against it for its use of another company’s software.
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February 24, 2025
Generic Drugmaker To High Court: Federal Circuit Patent Opinion Poses Risks
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to reverse a Delaware federal judge’s finding of no induced infringement in a patent dispute involving a generic bioequivalent of a prescription cardiovascular drug, the maker of the bioequivalent told the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
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February 24, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear DISH’s Patent Dispute Attorney Fees Arguments
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from DISH Network LLC, leaving in place a decision from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the company’s bid for attorney fees in a patent dispute that spanned a federal court and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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February 21, 2025
NBA Teams, Others To High Court: Take Up Copyright ‘Discovery Rule’ Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of eight teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) filed one of three amicus curiae briefs in support of a design company’s argument before the U.S. Supreme Court that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a New York federal judge’s finding that copyright claims against it were time-barred.
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February 21, 2025
Citing ‘Glacial Pace,’ Plaintiffs In AI Copyright Suit Seek To Compel Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO — While the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence promises to produce discovery before upcoming deadlines, its “glacial pace” over the last four months necessitates a court order compelling the production by certain deadlines to ensure that it doesn’t benefit from further delay, plaintiffs in a copyright suit tell a federal judge in California in a Feb. 20 letter brief.
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February 21, 2025
Tech Company’s Mark Proposal Rightfully Rejected, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 20 affirmed a decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to uphold the rejection of one of a technology company’s applications for trademarks associated with a website for medical information, agreeing with the board that the mark was merely descriptive.
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February 21, 2025
Perplexity AI Says New York Court No Place For Copyright Suit
NEW YORK — A copyright lawsuit challenging an artificial intelligence-assisted search engine doesn’t belong in New York courts, Perplexity AI Inc. told a federal judge there while advocating for dismissal or transfer to a court in San Francisco.
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February 21, 2025
9th Circuit: Singer Can’t Show Katy Perry, Others Infringed Song
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of a woman’s suit against pop singer Katy Perry and several associated individuals and record labels, agreeing with the judge that the woman failed to show how Perry’s song “Smile” infringed on a song she wrote and recorded.
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February 20, 2025
2nd Circuit: Publisher Doesn’t Show Infringement In Audiobook Dispute
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 19 agreed with a New York federal judge that an author’s publishing company clearly permitted the distribution of audiobooks based on her work, including through subscription programs offered by Amazon.com Inc. through its audiobook platform, affirming the judge’s dismissal of the publisher’s copyright infringement claims.
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February 20, 2025
No Rehearing In Sprawling Shoe Patent, Trademark Suit, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A long-running intellectual property dispute between Crocs Inc. and a company it accuses of copying its shoe design will not be reconsidered by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which rejected Crocs’ bid to rethink its reversal of a Colorado federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on a false advertising counterclaim in the suit first launched in 2006.
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February 20, 2025
Company Liable For Counterfeiting To High Court: Attorney Fees Unreasonable
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A distribution company and the man who controls it argue to the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold the entry of attorney fees against them in a trademark infringement suit; the petitioners were found liable for selling counterfeited beauty products.
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February 19, 2025
COVID-19 Treatment Patent Application Doesn’t Show Utility, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 18 said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it upheld an examiner’s rejection of multiple claims of a patent application for a treatment for the viral infection that causes COVID-19, but the panel partly disagreed with the PTAB and the examiner’s reasoning.
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February 19, 2025
Judge: State Law Claims Preempted In Rap Song Copyright Battle
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York rejected a request from a group of rappers and associated recording entities to dismiss copyright infringement claims against them accusing them of wrongfully denying another rapper writing credit for a 2016 smash hit, holding that the plaintiff rapper stated his claims adequately enough to survive dismissal.
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February 18, 2025
Federal Judge Right To Toss DNA Preservation Patent Suit, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge did not err during claim construction of the challenged phrase “reagent compartment” in a patent dispute involving COVID-19 testing products, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the judge’s decision to dismiss the suit based on the claim construction.
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February 18, 2025
9th Circuit: Skydiving Company Can’t Monopolize ‘Skydive Hawaii’ Mark
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 14 upheld a Hawaii federal judge’s finding in a trademark dispute between competing skydiving companies in the state over phrases similar to the appellant’s mark “Skydive Hawaii,” with the panel saying that “the classic fair use defense is apparent on the face” of the complaint.
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February 14, 2025
Federal Circuit: ITC Erred In Alice Analysis Of Diamond Drill Bit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 13 reversed a finding by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that a synthetic diamond company’s patent was directed at ineligible abstract ideas, instructing the ITC to reconsider its resolution to a case brought by the company against entities it said imported materials that infringed the patent.
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February 14, 2025
Judge: Infringement Claims, Invalidity Counterclaims About Eye Medication All Fail
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge said in unsealed finding of facts and conclusions of law that a plaintiff biopharmaceutical company failed to support its argument that a defendant company infringed on its patented eye medication product; the judge also found, though, that the defendant company failed to show that claims of the patents at issue were invalid.
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February 14, 2025
4th Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid On MOKE Mark Genericness Finding
RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 11 said it would not reconsider a January opinion from a split panel that reversed a Virginia federal judge’s holding that MOKE is a generic term describing a type of vehicle that is unable to be trademarked due to a lack of evidence on the record regarding genericness.
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February 13, 2025
Federal Circuit To PTAB: Rethink If Touch Device Patent Claims Are Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) applied an incorrect, overly narrow claim construction in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding brought by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and its American counterpart against the holder of a patent related to interactive device screens, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Feb. 12.
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February 13, 2025
Amici To High Court: DISH Entitled To Attorney Fees In Patent Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An advocacy group for patent holders tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief that DISH Network LLC was entitled to attorney fees it incurred in a trial in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board while also litigating related claims in a Delaware federal court; the group echoes the company’s argument that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals created a circuit split in affirming the denial of fees.
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February 13, 2025
Judge Upholds Limits On Depositions, Discovery In ChatGPT Copyright Case
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California denied a motion for relief from a pretrial order, turning away arguments that limits on depositions were improper in such a complex copyright infringement case and that OpenAI entities’ income was relevant evidence in the case.
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February 12, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Blockchain Patent Application
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 11 affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision to reject a man’s patent application regarding blockchain technology, agreeing with the PTAB that his claims were indefinite and directed at unpatentable material.