X Corp. On The Hook For $105M In Video IP Row, Jury Finds

By Spencer Brewer

X Corp. will have to cough up $105 million after a Dallas jury found Wednesday that it infringed a startup company's video sharing technology, awarding significantly less than the $632 million that the patent owner VidStream LLC had sought.

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AT&T Gets $450M 'Twinning' Patent Suit Tossed Again

By Andrew Karpan

A New York federal judge has held that it is only fitting that she rule twice on a motion to dismiss a $450 million patent lawsuit against AT&T over so-called twinning phone technology, deciding yet again that the patent is not inventive enough to be worth anything.

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New USPTO Group To Target Fraud In Patent Applications

By Ryan Davis

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced new efforts Wednesday to combat fraudulent patent application activity, such as false signatures on filings and attempts to claim undeserved fee discounts, saying the moves will protect the integrity of the patent system.

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Greek IT Co.'s Suit Over Leaked Patent Info Gets Tossed

By Adam Lidgett

A New York federal judge has tossed a Greece-based technology company's suit alleging Ladas & Parry LLP sent proprietary information to a third party while the company had an attorney-client agreement with the firm.

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NC Hospital Beats Weight Loss Clinic's Trademark Suit

By Ryan Harroff

A North Carolina federal judge tossed a Tar Heel State weight loss clinic's trademark infringement suit, calling the clinic's mark "relatively weak" and finding it has "very little similarity" to the purportedly infringing mark used by the hospital and healthcare provider it sued.

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Texas Ranch Neighbor Agrees Not To Use 'Mesa Vista' Name

By Adam Lidgett

The owner of a property neighboring the late T. Boone Pickens' luxurious Mesa Vista Ranch hunting estate in the Texas Panhandle has agreed to stop using the name after being sued by the ranch's new owner.

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Texas Law Firm Hits Rival With Web Search Keywords Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

Texas personal injury firm Thomas J. Henry Law has claimed in a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court that a Lone Star State competitor is unlawfully capitalizing on his reputation by misdirecting web searches through the purchase of certain search keywords.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Revive MIT Patent In Electric Vehicle Fight

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive a technology company's patent covering a wireless charging system created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, backing a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that the challenged claims were too obvious to warrant patent protection.

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AlmondNet Sues Amazon Again After $136M Ad IP Victory

By Dani Kass

AlmondNet Inc. is aiming to expand on the $136 million it already won against Amazon for patent infringement with a new suit in Texas federal court accusing the technology giant of infringing another patent tied to directing television advertisements.

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Touch Meta's PTAB Win Against Xerox

By Andrew Karpan

A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday quickly and without comment rejected a bid from Xerox Corp. to overturn a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in favor of Meta Platforms Inc. that found claims in a message distribution patent are invalid.

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Ye Says DJ Khalil Is Fishing For Profits In 'Donda' IP Lawsuit

By Lauren Berg

The artist formerly known as Kanye West denied derailing discovery in a lawsuit alleging he stole music from DJ Khalil and three other artists for two tracks on his blockbuster "Donda" album, telling a California federal judge Tuesday that the $50,000 sanctions bid is just a "profit-driven fishing expedition."

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Pa. Poultry Farm's Slaughter Methods Deemed Trade Secrets

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that an animal rights group cannot force a Lebanon County poultry farm to disclose its chicken slaughtering practices, with the court ruling that the materials sought were confidential trade secrets.

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Brief

Jack Nicklaus Granted $1M In Damages After NIL Win

By Elliot Weld

Jack Nicklaus was granted $1 million Wednesday by a New York state court judge for damages incurred as a result of a preliminary injunction that prevented the golf legend from signing new commercial deals during now-dismissed litigation over the use of his name, image and likeness.

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9th Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Beach Boy Guitarist's Royalty Fight

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a former Beach Boys guitarist's suit that sought to revoke his royalty agreements with Universal Music Group since they were based on physical record sales and didn't contemplate the evolution of digital streaming, ruling Wednesday the contracts only paid for physical record sale royalties.

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Bradley Arant Lands 12-Member Morris Manning IP Team

By Tracey Read

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP has hired a 12-person intellectual property team from Morris Manning & Martin LLP for its Atlanta office.

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Sterlington Adds Ex-Loeb & Loeb PTAB Trials Head In Calif.

By Emily Johnson

International law firm Sterlington PLLC has added a partner who has guided clients in more than 140 proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, strengthening its intellectual property practice with the former chair of Loeb & Loeb's PTAB trials practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

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Unpacking FTC's New Stance On Standard-Essential Patents

Under its new chairman, Andrew Ferguson, the Federal Trade Commission is likely to bring more stand-alone Section 5 cases to challenge anticompetitive conduct, and it will be important for companies to see how the FTC responds to allegations of patent holdup by standard-essential patent holders committed to fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

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Solicitor General's Office Now Features Two Top Lieutenants

By Jeff Overley

Mere days after the U.S. Solicitor General's Office got a new leader, it also got a new leadership structure featuring two BigLaw alums in the traditional second-in-command post, according to a hearing list the U.S. Supreme Court released Thursday.

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Jenner & Block Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Exec Order Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Jenner & Block LLP on Thursday urged a D.C. federal court to reject the government's bid to dismiss its lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm, saying the "legal profession as a whole is watching."

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4th Circ. Refuses To Halt Abrego Garcia Probe In Sharp Order

By Dorothy Atkins

A Fourth Circuit panel on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's "extraordinary" emergency motion to stay a discovery order in litigation over Kilmar Abrego Garcia's deportation to El Salvador, while cautioning the administration against ignoring federal courts, saying it could degrade both executive and judicial branch powers and that "law in time will sign its epitaph."

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K&L Gates Bungled Crypto Co.'s Bankruptcy Claim, Suit Says

By Aislinn Keely

Gryphon Digital Mining has sued its former counsel K&L Gates LLP, claiming it dropped the ball on a bankruptcy filing that cost the company millions of dollars and complicated another legal case, all while allegedly overbilling the crypto mining firm by $1 million for related matters.

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Akerman Sues To Block Malpractice Claim, Secure $750K Fees

By Jake Maher

Akerman LLP sued the healthcare services company Rennova Health Inc. and three medical laboratories in Florida state court this week, alleging that they owe the firm about $750,000 in unpaid fees and are now threatening to sue the firm for malpractice even though they have already released any claims.

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Calif. Judge To Resign Over Misconduct Amid Office Romance

By Jack Karp

A California state judge will resign and be barred from serving on the bench after engaging in misconduct that included pretending to be the lawyer for his judicial secretary with whom he was having an affair, according to a Thursday decision.

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LegalZoom Scores Arbitration In Unlawful Practice Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A suit accusing online legal services provider LegalZoom of engaging in the unauthorized practice of law will head to arbitration, after a New Jersey federal judge ruled the claims fall within the scope of an enforceable arbitration agreement.

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Judge Accused Of Sexting, Misusing Bench For Ex-Client

By Thy Vo

A Colorado state judge improperly used his position to help a former client with legal advice and exchanged sexually explicit texts with her while on the bench, according to a judicial disciplinary complaint that also alleged the judge failed to disclose their "prior sexting" when he later presided over her case.

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High Court Sets Arguments Over Birthright Pause

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ordered special oral arguments over President Donald Trump's bid to pause or limit three nationwide court orders prohibiting implementation of his executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, keeping the president's mandate on hold until at least mid-May.

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Top Democrats Urge DOJ To Defend GAO's Legislative Status

By Courtney Bublé

Three top House Democrats are looking for assurances from the U.S. Department of Justice that it will "zealously defend" a government watchdog in upcoming litigation by a conservative legal organization that challenges its status in the government.

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Debt Firm's Successor, Ch. 11 Trustee End Latest Pay Dispute

By Daniel Connolly

A law firm that bought thousands of client files left over from the collapse of bankrupt California-based debt relief business Litigation Practice Group PC has agreed to pay nearly $1 million to the bankruptcy estate to help settle a payment dispute that began months ago.

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'Latter-Day Machiavelli' Defamed Calif. Law Firm, Court Told

By Rose Krebs

California employment law firm Lawyers for Justice PC has filed a suit in state court accusing one of its former clients of defamation in what the firm calls "a scorched-earth crusade against her former attorneys."

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the producers of West End show "Elf the Musical" face a contract dispute, Korean biotech company ToolGen Inc. bring a fresh patents claim against pharma giant Vertex, and ousted car tycoon Peter Waddell bring a claim against the private equity firm that backed his business. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

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Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

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