Intellectual Property

  • July 02, 2024

    DLA Piper Tells Judge Fired Associate Got Proper Discovery

    Counsel for DLA Piper LLP told a Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday the firm has provided responsive information to a former associate who claims she was unlawfully fired while pregnant, adding it is confident her termination was lawful.

  • July 02, 2024

    Pfizer, BioNTech Infringed Moderna's MRNA Vaccine Patent

    Pfizer and BioNTech are on the hook for infringing Moderna's protections over its mRNA vaccines after a London court upheld on Tuesday the validity of one of two key U.K. patents over the technology.

  • July 01, 2024

    9th Circ. Cites Led Zeppelin In Affirming 'SmartBiz' TM Loss

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed a trial loss by the user of the "SmartBiz" trademark against Collins Cash, the user of the "Smart Business Funding" mark, citing the circuit's own ruling that sided with Led Zeppelin in a copyright dispute to find the lower court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to give the plaintiff's requested jury instruction.

  • July 01, 2024

    Arrgh, Nintendo Sues Mod Of 'SwitchPirates' Subreddit

    Nintendo is now going after a Reddit poster who moderates a subreddit called "SwitchPirates" and who the video game company accuses of stocking ​​"a massive catalog of Nintendo Switch games."

  • July 01, 2024

    Wolfgang Puck Judge Chops Sanctions Bids In Royalty Fight

    A Florida magistrate judge on Sunday rejected competing sanctions bids in a contentious lawsuit filed by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and interior designer Barbara Lazaroff claiming the owner of an appliance company hid assets to get out of paying a $2.4 million arbitration award for unpaid royalties.

  • July 01, 2024

    Atty Warned Not To 'Gamble' In Bid To DQ Quinn Emanuel

    A California federal judge considering Bright Data's bid to disqualify Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP from representing X Corp. in the social media company's data scraping lawsuit suggested Monday that Bright Data's Proskauer Rose LLP counsel is "gambling" by withholding a document from the judge.

  • July 01, 2024

    Dish Faces Appeal After Beating Jury's $469M Verdict

    A company that developed a way of skipping naughty scenes from movies wants the Federal Circuit to restore the $469 million that a jury in Salt Lake City ordered the satellite company Dish Network LLC to cough up for allegedly using those ideas to let customers skip commercials.

  • July 01, 2024

    $18M Hoodie Blanket Verdict Stands Despite New Design Test

    The Federal Circuit's newly revised test for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious does not warrant a new trial following an $18.4 million verdict in a dispute between rival makers of wearable hoodie blankets, an Arizona federal judge ruled Friday.

  • July 01, 2024

    Starbucks Targets 'Starbuds' Marijuana Truck In IP Suit

    Starbucks has filed a trademark suit against the operator of a repurposed New York City food truck that sells marijuana under the brand Starbuds Flowers and uses an altered image of the coffee giant's iconic siren logo smoking a joint.

  • July 01, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Hold Off VLSI Appeal For Lynk-Samsung Case

    The Federal Circuit on Monday denied a stay request from VLSI Technology LLC, where the chip patent owner had argued that related litigation between Lynk Labs and Samsung could affect the outcome of its appeal.

  • July 01, 2024

    Pegasystems Investors Sue After $2B Trade Secrets Verdict

    A pair of Pegasystems Inc. stockholders are seeking to hold its CEO and other officers liable for lost value following a $2 billion judgment against the company in a trade secrets case, according to a shareholder derivative complaint filed in Massachusetts state court.

  • July 01, 2024

    Kilpatrick Taps First Woman Atty To Lead IP Group

    Kilpatrick has elevated a longtime trademark partner based in Atlanta to lead its global intellectual property department, making her the first woman to lead the IP department.

  • July 01, 2024

    Newman's Own Hairbrush License Deal Barred By Conn. Court

    Two daughters of late Hollywood actor and philanthropist Paul Newman have won a temporary injunction in Connecticut state court against the use of his image and likeness in connection with a Wet Brush brand hairbrush, barring the licensing of his publicity and intellectual property rights to any product that is not food.

  • July 01, 2024

    CNX Says Employee Tried To Patent Its Tech For Himself

    CNX Resources Corp. has filed a trade secret lawsuit in Pennsylvania federal court accusing a former employee of wrongfully using the natural gas company's confidential business information to file patent applications in his own name.

  • July 01, 2024

    2nd Circ. Throws Out Disbarred Ex-BigLaw Atty's RICO Suit

    Former BigLaw associate Anthony Zappin is now 0-for-16 in the flurry of lawsuits he filed after a 2015 divorce sanctions ruling led to him being fired, disbarred and routinely mocked in the New York City tabloids, after the Second Circuit on Monday upheld the dismissal of a racketeering case against three foes he blames for his predicament.

  • July 01, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Two multimillion-dollar settlement approvals, a $25 million fee-shifting demand, and a biotech merger spoiled by murder: This was just the beginning of the drama last week in the nation's preeminent court of equity. Shareholders in satellite companies filed new cases, a cannabis company headed toward trial, and there were new developments in old disputes involving Tesla and Truth Social.

  • July 01, 2024

    Apple Scores Some Patent Board Reviews In Watch IP Fight

    Yet another front has opened in Apple's ongoing legal war with a small medical software company that claims the tech giant used its patents in a blood oxygen sensor found in the newer version of the Apple Watch.

  • July 01, 2024

    Artist Not Entitled To Exhibition Profits, Argues Arts Charity

    A charity has argued that an artist it previously sued for £100,000 ($125,500) over holographic portraits of the queen wasn't entitled to profits from a 2012 exhibition of those works.

  • June 28, 2024

    Chevron's End Is Just The Start For Energized Agency Foes

    By knocking down a powerful precedent that has towered over administrative law for 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court's right wing Friday gave a crowning achievement to anti-agency attorneys. But for those attorneys, the achievement is merely a means to an end, and experts expect a litigation blitzkrieg to materialize quickly in the aftermath.

  • June 28, 2024

    Quinn Slammed By Columbia For Its 'Continuing Audacity'

    Columbia University shot back Friday against arguments from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP that Federal Circuit judges should disregard arguments made by the firm's former client, who says the firm lied to a federal court in Virginia to avoid damaging testimony in a $600 million patent case.

  • June 28, 2024

    LawFirms.com Can't Dodge LegalForce's Ad Trademark Suit

    A California federal judge has denied a bid by online legal services website LawFirms.com to escape a trademark suit accusing it of ripping off law firm LegalForce's stylized text and symbol used in advertisements.

  • June 28, 2024

    In Chevron Case, Justices Trade One Unknown For Another

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overrule a decades-old judicial deference doctrine may cause the "eternal fog of uncertainty" surrounding federal agency actions to dissipate and level the playing field in challenges of government policies, but lawyers warn it raises new questions over what rules courts must follow and how judges will implement them.

  • June 28, 2024

    Chevron's End May Put Target On ITC And Patent Office Policy

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Friday striking down precedent that gave deference to the legal interpretations of government agencies could spur new attacks on patent office rules and decisions governing U.S. International Trade Commission patent disputes, attorneys said.

  • June 28, 2024

    Report Shows PI Wiped Evidence Of Other Hacks, Mogul Says

    A private investigator in North Carolina deleted 110,000 documents — including data reportedly stolen from an attorney — the night before he was set to testify in a London case against airline mogul Farhad Azima, according to documents filed in federal court.

  • June 28, 2024

    USPTO Asks Public For Input On Addressing AI Deepfakes

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said Friday that it will seek public input about whether existing laws are enough to protect individuals from unauthorized artificial intelligence-created replicas of their image, voice and likeness, commonly called deepfakes.

Expert Analysis

  • How Associates Can Build A Professional Image

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    As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.

  • Determining Who Owns Content Created By Generative AI

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    Adobe's recent terms-of-service update and ensuing clarification regarding its AI-training practices highlights the unanswered legal questions regarding ownership of content created using artificial intelligence, says John Poulos at Norton Rose.

  • Skip Versus File: The Patent Dilemma That Costs Millions

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    In the nearly 30 years since the inception of the provisional application, many have weighed the question of whether or not to file the provisional, and data shows that doing so may allow inventors more time to refine their ideas and potentially gain an extra year of protection, says Stanko Vuleta at Highlands Advisory.

  • Orange Book Warnings Highlight FTC's Drug Price Focus

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    In light of heightened regulatory scrutiny surrounding drug pricing and the Federal Trade Commission's activity in the recent Teva v. Amneal case, branded drug manufacturers should expect the FTC's campaign against allegedly improper Orange Book listings to continue, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age

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    As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 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.

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