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Intellectual Property
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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."
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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.
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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.
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August 07, 2024
Hemp Cos. Owner Says Cousin Ripped Off Formula, Trademarks
The owner of Florida-based CBD and hemp companies White Lab LLC and GS Distribution LLC is suing a company owned by his cousin, saying the cousin has failed to pay up on a distribution agreement and is now trying to steal the trademarks to one of White Lab's product lines.
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August 07, 2024
Judge's Pharma Comments Could Decide Ineligibility Appeal
A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday was willing to explore Astellas Pharma's argument that a Nebraska federal judge should be taken off its infringement case over the bladder medication Myrbetriq, given statements that showed a potential bias against the pharmaceutical industry, but also made clear that such reassignments are rare and difficult.
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August 07, 2024
6th Circ. Backs 20 Years For Chinese Spy Who Targeted GE
The Sixth Circuit upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a Chinese spy convicted of espionage for trying to steal trade secrets from General Electric's GE Aviation unit, noting in an opinion unsealed Wednesday the punishment was reasonable as he continuously pursued the confidential information using sophisticated tradecraft processes for several years.
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August 07, 2024
Robot Vacuum Cleaner Patent Ruling Remains Undisturbed
Federal Circuit judges proved unpersuaded on Wednesday to do anything to touch an administrative board ruling that wiped out most, but not all, of the claims in a patent that allegedly covered a new feature in the Roomba brand of robotic vacuum cleaners.
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August 07, 2024
Advocates Tell 9th Circ. To Revive Invisalign Monopoly Suit
Competition advocates are backing the revival of a class action accusing the makers of Invisalign of monopolizing the market for clear dental aligners, telling the Ninth Circuit in a new amicus brief that a district court summary judgment ruling for Align Technology creates a dangerous precedent for refusal-to-deal cases.
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August 07, 2024
Teva Finds Some Big-Pharma Friends In Inhaler Patent Fight
Two large pharmaceutical companies have weighed in to ask the Federal Circuit to overturn a ruling that found that Teva's branded drugmaking operation misused a key federal patent database in order to block the release of competing generic asthma inhalers.
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August 07, 2024
Judge Says PNC's TM Suit Against Plaid Must Go To Trial
A Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled that PNC Financial Services Group's trademark infringement complaint against third-party software broker Plaid Inc. will proceed to trial after he denied each party's summary judgment motion on Wednesday, saying jurors must decide claims that "could reasonably come out either way."
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August 07, 2024
Fed. Circ. Scrutinizes Role Of A Patent's Admissions In IPRs
A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday grappled with when statements in a patent admitting that certain technology was well-known can improperly form the basis of an inter partes review validity challenge, taking up a long-running dispute between Apple and Qualcomm.
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August 07, 2024
NC Biz Court Bulletin: The Battles Making Summer Sizzle
A 1983 championship basketball team's intellectual property rights and a public feud between Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and its insurer are among the legal battles that have kept North Carolina Business Court judges and Tar Heel state private practice attorneys busy this summer. In case you missed those and others, here are the highlights.
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August 07, 2024
Amgen Waged Lawfare To Overcharge For Drug, Suit Claims
Maryland-based independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association claim pharmaceutical giant Amgen Inc. and its subsidiaries have engaged in unlawful monopolistic practices that have inflated the cost of the blockbuster drug Enbrel.
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August 07, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Amazon Patent Program Suit Revival
The Federal Circuit issued an order Wednesday declining to hold a panel rehearing or a full court rehearing on its May decision to revive an electric outlet cover maker's declaratory judgment action over alleged infringement through Amazon's patent evaluation program.
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August 07, 2024
Dykema Faces Sony Sanctions Bid In Baseball Game TM Suit
Attorneys from Dykema representing a baseball training program in its trademark battle against Sony hit back at the media juggernaut's bid for punitive sanctions Tuesday, blasting the request as baseless.
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August 07, 2024
Apple Loses Fight To Keep Bid For Patent Suit Docs In Del.
Delaware's chief district judge has transferred Apple's bid to force litigation funding company Omni Bridgeway LLC to turn over documents explaining its financial interest in patent litigation against Apple in California to that state, saying he couldn't "think of a good reason" why he should decide the matter.
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August 07, 2024
Pool Co. Can't Get Atty Fees After Losing False Ads Trial
A pool parts supplier on the hook for a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment isn't entitled to attorney fees in the case, a North Carolina federal judge has ruled, finding there's "no question" the winning party is its opponent given the eight-figure damages award.
Expert Analysis
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3 Ways To Fight Alice Rejections Of Blockchain Patents
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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.
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F1 Driver AI Case Sheds Light On Winning Tactics In IP Suits
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.
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8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses
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.
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Counterfeits At The Olympics Pose IP Challenges
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.
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Series
Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer
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.
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Patent Lessons From 7 Federal Circuit Reversals In May
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.
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
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.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
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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Momofuku Chili War May Chill Common Phrase TM Apps
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.
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Trademark In Artistic Works 1 Year After Jack Daniel's
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.
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NCAA Settlement May End The NIL Model As We Know It
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.
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Legal Battles Show Brands' Dilemma In Luxury Resale Trend
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.
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AI-Generated Soundalikes Pose Right Of Publicity Issues
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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Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond
Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.
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Beware Of Trademark Scammers Leveraging USPTO Data
Amid a recent uptick in fraudulent communications directed at trademark applicants, registrants must understand how to protect themselves and their brand from fraudulent schemes and solicitation, say Michael Kelber and Alexandra Maloney at Neal Gerber.