Intellectual Property

  • November 18, 2024

    Full 2nd Circ. Asked To Weigh Sheeran's 'Let's Get It On' Win

    Structured Asset Sales LLC has asked the full Second Circuit to review a panel's opinion that Ed Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" did not copy Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On," arguing the panel incorrectly affirmed a lower court's ruling that the Copyright Act of 1909 only protected the Motown song's sheet music.

  • November 18, 2024

    Meta Can Ditch Mike Huckabee's CBD Fake Ad Suit

    Former Arkansas governor and conservative pundit Mike Huckabee can't sue Facebook after an unidentified company posted advertisements implying he endorsed a brand of CBD gummies, a Delaware federal judge ruled Monday, saying he can't prove the social media giant was actually aware the ads were bogus.

  • November 18, 2024

    Texas Judge Suggests Letting Influencers Battle Over 'Beige' IP

    A federal magistrate judge has declared that a "feud between social media influencers" in Texas is the first of its kind in the country, as it's an intellectual property dispute over replicating a rival's "neutral, beige, and cream aesthetic."

  • November 18, 2024

    ITC Judge Clears Lenovo In Ericsson Patent Fight

    A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has found that claims in a pair of Ericsson patents were invalid, handing a win to Lenovo in a case over mobile phones, laptops and other related products.

  • November 18, 2024

    1st Circ. Denies Lizzie Borden House Infringement Claim

    The First Circuit won't bar a Massachusetts coffee shop from using the first name of historical figure Lizzie Borden and an image of an ax, finding that the company that owns and runs Borden's family home as a museum and bed and breakfast is unlikely to prove a trademark infringement claim.

  • November 18, 2024

    Medical Group Wants Justices To Review IP Safe Harbor Fight

    A medical device trade group has said the U.S. Supreme Court should take up an appeal of a Federal Circuit decision Edwards Lifesciences said broadened a drug-development safe harbor to avoid patent infringement, saying the circuit court misread the provision.

  • November 18, 2024

    PPG Says Manager Stole Sales Data In Incora Move

    PPG Industries Inc. hit its competitor Incora and a former sales manager who joined the latter company earlier this year with a trade secrets lawsuit Friday, alleging that its onetime employee absconded with PPG's "highly proprietary" pricing platform to help Incora move in on the company's markets.

  • November 18, 2024

    USPTO Director Kathi Vidal To Rejoin Winston & Strawn

    Winston & Strawn LLP said Monday that Kathi Vidal, director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is slated to rejoin the firm.

  • November 18, 2024

    Supreme Court Turns Down 3 Patent Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear three patent cases dealing with patent eligibility, standing to bring infringement suits and the rules surrounding the launch of generic drugs.

  • November 15, 2024

    X Sues To Block Calif.'s New Deepfake Political Ads Law

    X Corp. filed a lawsuit in California federal court seeking to block a new Golden State law aimed at combating artificial intelligence-generated deepfake political ads, claiming the regulation that takes effect in January is unconstitutional and violates Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  • November 15, 2024

    Sake Co.'s 'Tipsy' TM Fight Can't Find Its Footing In Calif.

    A California federal judge has determined that a Los Angeles sake brand can't litigate a trademark dispute in the Golden State with a similarly named wine store in Brooklyn, saying a cease and desist letter wasn't enough to establish jurisdiction.

  • November 15, 2024

    Tech Co. Urges Judge To Trim Starbucks' IP Counterclaims

    A patent-licensing company has said that an inventor connected to the business shouldn't have been dragged into its suit claiming that Starbucks infringed its patent on meal ordering technology, saying the coffee chain is trying to wrongly expand the case.

  • November 15, 2024

    Tech Co. Salesman Settles Ex-Employer's AI Misuse Claims

    A Connecticut salesman accused of using an artificial intelligence application to record company conference calls and his former employer have settled the company's trade secrets lawsuit, according to a joint request filed Friday seeking a permanent injunction.

  • November 15, 2024

    FanDuel Dropped From Suit Over MLB Players' NIL Use

    The Major League Baseball Players Association said Friday it's dropping FanDuel from a case over the alleged use of players' photos to promote sports gambling.

  • November 15, 2024

    Showtime, Lionsgate Accused Of Cribbing For 'Yellowjackets'

    The owner of the 2015 film "Eden" sued Showtime, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and the makers of the TV series "Yellowjackets" in California federal court on Thursday, alleging that the hit show ripped off the film, which chronicles the tribulations of soccer players who resort to cannibalism after their plane crashes in the wilderness.

  • November 15, 2024

    New Trade Secrets Case Brought In Trucker Tracking Row

    A fight between two neighboring San Francisco startups that sell artificial intelligence-powered software used to monitor truck drivers has resulted in yet another lawsuit: a new state court case that accuses a CEO of personally "texting and meeting in person" with competing sales reps in order to obtain trade secrets. 

  • November 15, 2024

    USPTO Finalizes Adjustments In 2025 Trademark Fees

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is finalizing a proposal from earlier this year on changes to its fee structures, including adding surcharges on trademark applications lacking sufficient information and increasing the cost for paper applications.

  • November 15, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Send Smartwatch Patent Case Out Of Texas

    The Federal Circuit on Friday shot down smartwatch maker Zepp Health's bid to transfer a patent infringement case from Texas to California, agreeing with a lower court's finding that the company failed to show the Golden State was the better forum.

  • November 15, 2024

    Penn State Asks To Keep Defendant In Vintage Brand TM Trial

    In the middle of a closely watched trademark infringement trial, the Pennsylvania State University asked a federal judge Friday to reconsider his decision to dismiss one of the defendants, arguing that Sportswear Inc.'s role as the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of Vintage Brand merchandise means Sportswear can be liable for infringement.

  • November 15, 2024

    Abbott Inks $8M Deal With Healthcare Fraudster In TM Suit

    A New York federal judge on Thursday green-lit a trademark infringement settlement in which Abbott Laboratories will receive $8 million from a Florida businessman who recently pled guilty to healthcare fraud for his role in a sprawling gray market scheme to profit off of Abbott's line of diabetic test strips meant to be sold internationally.

  • November 15, 2024

    Coffee Shop Agrees To Stop Using Dior Name After Suit

    A Western Massachusetts coffee shop will stop using the name "Café Dior," settling a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by French luxury brand Christian Dior, according to a Friday filing.

  • November 15, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA Eligibility Fight, Movie Script Dispute

    In this week's Off The Bench, a college football star takes the NCAA to court seeking one more year to play, the plot of a recent Netflix release might have been lifted from another creator and a transgender college athlete's right to compete is challenged by other players.

  • November 15, 2024

    Another Paul Hastings Int'l Arbitration Atty Joins Linklaters

    Linklaters has added a senior counsel in Washington, D.C., who joins the firm's international arbitration practice from Paul Hastings LLP, weeks after that firm's international arbitration practice co-chair made a similar jump.

  • November 15, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen Ocado file an intellectual property claim against an African fruit and vegetable importer, a claim filed against a Swiss bank founded by Indian billionaire Srichand Parmanand Hinduja and 300 individuals sue travel company TUI. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • November 14, 2024

    LeBron James, Netflix Accused Of Ripping Off Movie Script

    A Montana filmmaker on Thursday accused Netflix, LeBron James and other "heavy Hollywood hitters" of ripping off his copyrighted script to make one of the streaming service's recent releases, telling a California federal court the works shared obvious similarities from their dialogue, down to their characters and scene sequences.

Expert Analysis

  • Considerations For Federal Right Of Publicity As AI Advances

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    Amid rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, Congress should consider how a federal right of publicity would interact with the existing patchwork of state name, image and likeness laws, as well as other issues like scope, harm recognized and available relief, says Ross Bagley at Pryor Cashman.

  • What Patent Litigators Should Know About CHIPS Act Grants

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    With the U.S. Department of Commerce now actively awarding grants under the CHIPS and Science Act, recipients should ensure they understand the implications of promises to construct new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, especially in jurisdictions with active patent litigation dockets, say Gabriel Culver and Peter Hillegas at Norton Rose.

  • Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June

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    A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Trending At The PTAB: 1 Year Of Denials Of Institution

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    An analysis of Patent Trial and Appeal Board denials of institutions between May 2023 and May of this year highlights the board’s common reasons for denial, which can provide insight to both petitioners and patent owners in future proceedings, say Kevin Rodkey and Victor Palace at Finnegan.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Conception Is The Proper Test For AI-Assisted Inventions

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should adopt the conception standard for reviewing AI-assisted inventions, and require the disclosure of artificial intelligence prompts and responses because they are material to patentability, which would then simplify the patent examiner’s invention decision, says Thomas Hamlin at Robins Kaplan.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

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