Intellectual Property

  • August 09, 2024

    Intel Hit With Copyright Suit Over Expired Anaconda License

    Software company Anaconda Inc., which describes itself as "the operating system for AI," has accused Intel Corp. of copyright infringement, alleging in a complaint in Delaware federal court that Intel has been using Anaconda's technology for its artificial intelligence development platform without paying.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal Can't Be Used Against Ex-Client At PTAB, Fed. Circ. Says

    The Federal Circuit said Friday that the initial involvement of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a handful of patent challenges during her private practice days at Winston & Strawn LLP isn't enough to prevent the patent board from ever deciding on those petitions.

  • August 09, 2024

    Akoustis Blames Qorvo's Experts For $38M Trade Secrets Win

    Akoustis Technologies Inc. has asked a Delaware federal court to overturn a May jury verdict against it for stealing trade secrets and the $38.3 million in damages awarded to wireless company Qorvo Inc., arguing that two Qorvo experts "eschewed the well-established and accepted methods" to measure unjust enrichment for misappropriation.

  • August 09, 2024

    Novartis Wants DC Judge To Quickly Block Entresto Generic

    Novartis Pharmaceuticals urged a D.C. federal judge Friday to temporarily restrain the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from officially approving a generic version of the company's blockbuster heart failure medication Entresto.

  • August 09, 2024

    IP Row Over Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' Sample Dropped

    A New Orleans music group has voluntarily dropped its claims accusing Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Sony Music Entertainment and others of infringing the group's copyright in Beyoncé's song "Break My Soul" and her film discussing the world tour of her "Renaissance" album that features the track.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal's Sanctions Make It Clear: Don't Mess With The PTAB

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has only faced a handful of instances where sanctions took center stage, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's rulings have made attorneys increasingly aware that pushing ethical boundaries at the board could put their cases and their careers at risk.

  • August 09, 2024

    Mich. Pot Co. Alleges IP Atty, Wife Are Ruining Its Reputation

    Efforts by a Montana intellectual property attorney and his wife to hit back after losing money in an alleged investment scam have missed the mark by targeting a Michigan cannabis company that was also ripped off, the company claimed Wednesday.

  • August 09, 2024

    Rolling Stones Copyright Suit Can't Get No Jurisdiction

    The Fifth Circuit backed up a Louisiana federal court's decision to throw out a Spanish artist's copyright suit accusing the Rolling Stones of ripping off key elements of two of his songs, ruling that the artist failed to show why the Pelican State had jurisdiction over the matter.

  • August 09, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen China Evergrande Group file a commercial fraud claim against its founder's ex-wife, legal action by Manolete Partners against the directors of an insolvent construction company, VietJet tackle a claim by French banking group Natixis and more developments in the "Dieselgate" scandal. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • August 09, 2024

    Ex-Boston U Law Instructor Sues Over Course Materials

    A former Boston University Law School instructor has sued the university, accusing it of copyright infringement through use of course materials he developed, in violation of a prior settlement agreement.

  • August 08, 2024

    ​​​​​​​UMG Hit With Copyright Suit Over Pitbull Song 'I Feel Good'

    Rapper Pitbull's 2021 hit "I Feel Good" ripped off the melody, tempo and arrangement used in another composition made over a decade ago, a New York company alleges in a copyright infringement suit filed in New York federal court Thursday against Universal Music Group and Pitbull's label imprint.

  • August 08, 2024

    ITC Rips Google's Bid To Wield Chevron's End In Sonos Row

    The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday joined Sonos in urging the Federal Circuit to reject Google's argument that the end of so-called Chevron deference means the appellate court should review precedent on the ITC's patent powers, calling the dispute a "poor vehicle" for such a review.

  • August 08, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Fla. Biz Should Have Been More Diligent Earlier

    A small Florida chain of souvenir stores had no luck Thursday at the Second Circuit trying to revive allegations that owners of a bankrupt beachwear company concealed the ownership of trademark registrations in a since-settled, decade-old lawsuit, because the chain "should have uncovered the alleged fraud" the first time.

  • August 08, 2024

    Testimony of 3 Experts Limited In PNC's TM Suit Against Plaid

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has approved several suggested expert witnesses but limited the testimony of others in PNC Financial Services Group's trademark infringement lawsuit against Plaid Inc. claiming the company copied its logo and login screens when linking bank accounts to financial apps.

  • August 08, 2024

    Valve Says 'Enough Is Enough,' Seeks Patent Suit Sanctions

    Video game maker and online game store operator Valve Corp. urged a Texas federal judge to punish a Texas company that Valve called a "patent troll" in its sanctions motion for allegedly re-arguing "frivolous" legal theories and purposely taking its barcode patent infringement suit to an allegedly improper venue.

  • August 08, 2024

    Pot Cos. Get Creative To Boost Brands Despite Feds' TM Ban

    The marijuana industry still lives in the shadows of trademark law while the drug remains federally illegal, leaving businesses and their lawyers to seek workarounds to protect their brands.

  • August 08, 2024

    Apple Wins Bid For 2 Trials In IP Dispute With Masimo

    A California federal judge will hold separate trials on Masimo Corp.'s trade secrets and patent claims over the Apple Watch, siding with Apple Inc. and rejecting Masimo's request for one later trial on all the issues, in a case with potentially billions of dollars at stake.

  • August 08, 2024

    TikTok Says Chinese Co. Doesn't Own IP In Trade Secrets Spat

    TikTok Inc. has filed 18 affirmative defenses in California federal court in a copyright and trade secrets complaint it faces from a Chinese company that claims the popular social media platform ripped off proprietary information, saying among other things that Beijing Meishe Network Technology Co. Ltd. does not own some or all of the alleged copyrighted works and trade secrets.

  • August 08, 2024

    General Motors Fender Patent Won't Be Challenged, After All

    General Motors Co. says that it has come to a deal with a Chicago auto parts supplier who went all the way to the full Federal Circuit — and changed design patent jurisprudence — in a now-abandoned challenge to a patent covering the design of a front fender.

  • August 08, 2024

    New Car Seat Isn't Yesterday's Model, Judge Says In IP Suit

    An Ohio infant car seat company convinced a Delaware federal court that its newly designed car seats are not the same as the patent-infringing ones that were the subject of a sales ban and a $3.2 million court judgment won by a Taiwanese rival.

  • August 08, 2024

    Insurer Utica Off Hook In High-End Leather Goods Dispute

    Utica National Insurance Group is not obligated to defend or indemnify a maker of high-end leather goods against claims it fraudulently induced a former partner into a deal in order to steal his designs and then attempt to drive him out of business, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court has concluded.

  • August 08, 2024

    Colo. Trailer Dealership Says Would-Be Buyer Infringed TM

    A Colorado trailer dealership is accusing a competitor that purportedly tried to buy its business of changing its public name to one confusingly similar to the dealership's registered trademark after the acquisition offer was rejected for being "much less than plaintiff's business was worth."

  • August 08, 2024

    Sporting Good Cos. Fight Over Helmet Tech In Patent Suit

    A company suing football helmet manufacturer Certor for patent infringement took aim Wednesday at its rival's interpretations of the disputed patent, accusing it of trying to sidestep the court's earlier construction of a term with "no change in the law, no new facts to consider, nothing."

  • August 08, 2024

    Texas Co. Says Timex Infringed Wearable Device Data Patent

    A Texas company took Timex Group USA Inc. to Connecticut federal court alleging that the watch company infringed its patent for "systems, methods and apparatuses for enabling wearable device users access to secured electronic systems" by putting out a line of smartwatches for families to keep track of their children.

  • August 07, 2024

    Investor Asks Justices To Overturn $5.7M Arb. Award Ruling

    An investor who put money into an unsuccessful business looking to revolutionize the chemical manufacturing industry urged the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn a split Ninth Circuit decision enforcing a $5.7 million arbitration award in favor of that business' founders, arguing the award should never have been issued.

Expert Analysis

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing

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    When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Tracking China's Push To Invalidate Foreign Patents

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    China’s increasing use of courts and administrative panels to nullify patents in strategically important industries, such as technology, pharmaceuticals and rare-earth minerals, raises serious concerns about the intellectual property rights of foreign businesses operating there, say Rajat Rana and Manuel Valderrama at Selendy Gay.

  • 3 Ways To Fight Alice Rejections Of Blockchain Patents

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    With blockchain-related patent application filings on the rise, Thomas Isaacson at Polsinelli offers strategies for responding to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office determinations that the blockchain network is just a generic computer and patent-ineligible under the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice v. CLS Bank decision.

  • F1 Driver AI Case Sheds Light On Winning Tactics In IP Suits

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    A German court recently awarded damages to former F1 driver Michael Schumacher's family in an artificial intelligence dispute over the unlicensed use of his image, illustrating how athletes are using the law to protect their brands, and setting a precedent in other AI-generated image rights cases, William Bowyer at Lawrence Stephens.

  • 8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses

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    The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.

  • Counterfeits At The Olympics Pose IP Challenges

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    With the 2024 Olympic Games quickly approaching, the proliferation of counterfeit Olympic merchandise poses a difficult challenge to the protection of intellectual property rights and the preservation of the Olympic brand's integrity, says Kimiya Shams at Devialet.

  • Series

    Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.

  • Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In May

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    A look at recent cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court provide guidance on how to succeed on appeal by clarifying the obviousness analysis of design patents, the finality of a judgment, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians

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    Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • Momofuku Chili War May Chill Common Phrase TM Apps

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    Momofuku’s recent trademark battle over the “Chili Crunch” mark shows that over-enforcement when protecting exclusivity rights may backfire not just in the public eye, but with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as well, says Anthony Panebianco at Davis Malm.

  • Trademark In Artistic Works 1 Year After Jack Daniel's

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court's Jack Daniel's v. VIP Products ruling, courts have applied Jack Daniel's inconsistently to deny First Amendment protection to artistic works, providing guidance for dismissing trademark claims relating to film and TV titles, say Hardy Ehlers and Neema Sahni at Covington.

  • NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It

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    The recent House v. NCAA settlement in California federal court, in which the NCAA agreed to allow schools to directly pay March Madness television revenue to their athletes, may send outside name, image and likeness collectives in-house, says Mike Ingersoll at Womble Bond.

  • Legal Battles Show Brands' Dilemma In Luxury Resale Trend

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    Recent litigation, such as Chanel's pending case against The RealReal, underscores the intricate balance luxury brands must strike between protecting their trademarks and embracing the burgeoning secondhand market that values sustainability, says Prachi Ajmera at Michelman & Robinson.

  • AI-Generated Soundalikes Pose Right Of Publicity Issues

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    Artificial intelligence voice generators have recently proliferated, allowing users to create new voices or manipulate existing vocals with no audio engineering expertise, and although soundalikes may be permissible in certain cases, they likely violate the right of publicity of the person who is being mimicked, says Matthew Savare at Lowenstein Sandler.

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