Intellectual Property

  • June 05, 2024

    McDonald's Loses 'Big Mac' TM Rights Over Poultry In EU

    A European Union court on Wednesday stripped McDonald's of its right to use the "Big Mac" trademark on chicken sandwiches in the bloc, ruling that the fast food giant had failed to put the sign to proper use on poultry products in recent years.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Mulls Whether To Undo $13M Jury IP Verdict

    NCR Corp. has a "tough burden" on its shoulders if it wants to prove that the evidence a jury relied on to deliver a $13 million jury verdict against the company for infringing two payment processing patents was not substantial enough, a Federal Circuit judge said Tuesday.

  • June 04, 2024

    Judge Recommends $27.7M For Textbook Publishers In IP Suit

    A federal magistrate judge in Manhattan has recommended that a group of textbook publishers be awarded nearly $27.7 million in damages in a copyright and trademark infringement complaint against nearly a dozen defendants who defaulted for not participating in a case where they were accused of selling counterfeits on Amazon.

  • June 04, 2024

    Paramount Hit With $142.5M 'Lucha Libre' Lawsuit

    Paramount and Univision have been hit with a $142.5 million copyright lawsuit over allegedly continuing to broadcast masked "Lucha Libre" fights on Pluto TV, over a year after ending a licensing deal with a California company that markets the videos in the U.S.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pours Doubt On Trademark Board's 'Cognac' Ruling

    Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday repeatedly expressed skepticism over a split administrative board ruling that allowed a small hip-hop record label to land a trademark using the word "cognac" over objections from the cognac distilling industry.

  • June 04, 2024

    PQA Tells Fed. Circ. To Deny VLSI's Speculative Stay Bid

    One of the companies sanctioned for misconduct while successfully challenging a VLSI Technology LLC patent has told the Federal Circuit that there's no reason to stay VLSI's appeal while unrelated litigation plays out.

  • June 04, 2024

    PTAB Upholds G+ Patent After Samsung Challenge

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has refused to invalidate any claims of a G+ Communications 5G network patent following a review requested by Samsung, which argued they were either obvious or anticipated.

  • June 04, 2024

    Netflix Tells 10th Circ. Warhol Helps Defense In 'Tiger King' Suit

    Netflix Inc. has told the Tenth Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year finding that an Andy Warhol silkscreen of pop icon Prince infringed the photo it was based on strengthens its position in a lawsuit that accuses the streaming service of infringing a copyrighted funeral video by using a clip of it in the popular 2020 docuseries "Tiger King."

  • June 04, 2024

    Smartflash Says Patent Office Can't Hide Apple Docs

    An inventor is arguing against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's bid to toss a D.C. federal court case challenging the office's redactions in documents regarding Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews of patents at the center of his battle with Apple Inc.

  • June 04, 2024

    Houston IP Firm Settles Trade Secrets Case With Ex-Law Clerk

    Houston-based intellectual property law firm Lloyd & Mousilli PLLC and a former law clerk accused of stealing confidential information while working virtually from California reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the firm in a Texas federal court.

  • June 04, 2024

    Ex-Restoration Co. Execs 'Teeter' On Contempt, Judge Says

    The former presidents of a property restoration company have staved off civil contempt after narrowly convincing a North Carolina Business Court judge that they merely misunderstood an injunction curbing their business activities as opposed to flagrantly disregarding it.

  • June 04, 2024

    NJ Deer Repellent Co. Can't Get TRO In Trade Secret Fight

    A New Jersey deer repellant maker cannot restrain a competitor in Ohio who used to license its trademarks, its formerly patented repellant formula and its secret spraying techniques, a federal judge ruled, because its trade secrets complaint has not alleged any harm that cannot be cured later with damages.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fish & Richardson Grows Austin IP Team With Solo Patent Pro

    Fish & Richardson PC has strengthened its intellectual property practice with the addition of Gabriel J. González, previously a solo practitioner, as of counsel in Austin.

  • June 03, 2024

    Self-Driving Tech Co. Beats Investor Suit Over Chip Pic Gaffe

    Autonomous vehicle technology company Luminar Technologies Inc. no longer faces a proposed investor class action alleging it passed off an image of a competitor's technology as its own after a Florida federal judge found that the allegedly stolen image wouldn't actually be relevant to reasonable investors.

  • June 03, 2024

    Michaels Stole Paint-By-Number IP, Company Says

    A paint-by-number company told a jury Monday during opening arguments in Texas federal court that arts and crafts corporation Michaels Stores Inc. used the company's trademarks to create a competing product, saying it only learned of the phony product after a customer called in praising it.

  • June 03, 2024

    Ex-Biopharma Co. Prez Accused Of Defecting With Secrets

    Biopharmaceutical firm United Therapeutics Corp. has accused a former executive of violating an employment agreement by taking ideas to a rival company to develop a competing lung treatment.

  • June 03, 2024

    Patent Owner Says Facts Have Changed Since It Lost At ITC

    A patent licensing company accusing HP of infringing old Panasonic patents is seeking to resume its suit in Texas federal court, arguing that an invalidity ruling it lost last month at the U.S. International Trade Commission doesn't hold up in district court.

  • June 03, 2024

    Software Group Says IP Quality, Not Quantity, Is The Goal

    Making sure patent standards are up to snuff, using artificial intelligence when looking into whether patents are viable and having the Patent Trial and Appeal Board maintain high standards when reviewing patents are goals federal patent officials should focus on, according to a trade collective of software businesses.

  • June 03, 2024

    Google Gets Amicus Boost In Fed. Circ. Battle With Sonos

    Google's efforts to prevent the reinstatement of a $32.5 million patent infringement verdict won against it by wireless speaker company Sonos have found support in the Federal Circuit from business trade groups, public interest nonprofits and a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office official.

  • June 03, 2024

    Food Co. Gets Win In 'Digital Checklist' Patent Fight

    A Connecticut federal judge has found that claims in a patent owned by the Georgia-based CM Systems LLC are invalid, handing a win to TransAct Technologies Inc. in a suit over restaurant food safety technology.

  • June 03, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Backs EcoFactor's $20M Trial Win Over Google

    The Federal Circuit on Monday affirmed that Google should pay EcoFactor $20 million for infringing its smart thermostat patent, but one judge took issue with allowing the damages to stand, saying her colleagues' ruling "at best muddles our precedent and at worst contradicts it."

  • June 03, 2024

    Jane Street Blasts Trading Firm's Defense In Trade Secret Row

    Trading firm Jane Street Group LLC has urged a Manhattan federal judge to toss the counterclaims and affirmative defenses of two ex-employees and Millennium Management LLC in a trade secret suit, saying each is either "redundant" or has "little to no alleged facts to support" it.

  • June 03, 2024

    Pool Co. Says It Won't Survive $16M Judgment In Bid For Stay

    The American arm of a Chinese swimming pool equipment maker told a North Carolina federal judge it faces insolvency if forced to fork over a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment, asking instead for a stay without bond while it appeals the verdict.

  • June 03, 2024

    Design Patents May Be Harder To Get Under New Test

    The Federal Circuit's decision discarding long-standing tests for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious means the world has changed for patent examiners and applicants, attorneys said, and the new standard could lead to more design patent applications being turned down.

  • June 01, 2024

    Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

    As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    9th Circ. Should Overturn The Miles Davis Tattoo Ruling

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    A California district court made several missteps that led to a finding that celebrity artist Kat Von D's Miles Davis tattoo did not infringe copyright, and the Ninth Circuit should overturn the decision because recent U.S. Supreme Court guidance was ignored and the jury did not receive adequate instruction, says Brian Moriarty at Hamilton Brook.

  • Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues

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    As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Is Compulsory Copyright Licensing Needed For AI Tech?

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's inquiry into whether Congress should establish a compulsory licensing regime for artificial intelligence technologies that are trained on copyrighted works has received relatively little attention — but commenters recently opposed the regime under three key themes, say Michael Kientzle and Ryan White at Arnold & Porter.

  • EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

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