Intellectual Property

  • May 31, 2024

    DC Judge Takes Dim View Of Proposed 'Surfside' TM Deal

    A D.C. federal judge has refused to enforce a scrapped settlement in a trademark dispute between a Mexican restaurant operator and a distilling company over the name "Surfside," saying there wasn't ever an enforceable deal.

  • May 31, 2024

    3rd Circ. Preview: Labor Battles Heat Up In June

    Several cases are heating up the Third Circuit argument calendar in June, including a home care company's attempt to duck a $7 million payout to thousands of workers who claimed the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not compensating them for travel time.

  • May 31, 2024

    NYT Opposes 'Worldle' TM Bid To Protect Its 'Wordle' Game

    The New York Times Co. is trying to stop the trademark registration of a game called "Worldle," where players attempt to find landmarks and other things on Google Street View, arguing the name would cause confusion with the newspaper's popular "Wordle" game.

  • May 31, 2024

    COVID Test Contract Suit 'Cries Out' For Jury, NC Judge Says

    A fight between two companies over a doomed distribution deal for COVID-19 tests has gone from "ships passing in the night" to not even "sailing in the same ocean," a North Carolina Business Court judge said, paring the case for trial.

  • May 31, 2024

    Netgear Wins Most Of Its ITC Case Against TP-Link

    An administrative judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission largely ruled in favor of Netgear in its case that accused Hong Kong-based network equipment rival TP-Link of infringing its patents.

  • May 31, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right

    In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.

  • May 31, 2024

    Polsinelli's Medical Device Team Gains Ex-Lerner David IP Trio

    Polsinelli PC is continuing to grow its intellectual property bench, saying Thursday that it has brought on three attorneys from the boutique Lerner David LLP who focus on intellectual property strategy and protection.

  • May 31, 2024

    WDTX Chief Adds New Hurdle For Patent Attys Eyeing Albright

    The Western District of Texas' chief judge has made it harder for parties to have their patent cases end up in U.S. District Judge Alan Albright's court by refusing to automatically connect related litigation.

  • May 31, 2024

    Greek IT Company Sues NY Law Firm Over Leaked Patent Info

    A Greece-based technology company has sued Ladas & Parry LLP in New York federal court, alleging that the firm sent proprietary information to a third party while the company had an attorney-client agreement with the firm.

  • May 31, 2024

    New Antibody IP Ruling Still Needs To Be Tested In Courts

    A May decision from top U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials is giving some attorneys renewed hope that they'll be able to secure antibody patents, but they say the agency's ruling may not be enough to overcome courts that have been hostile toward these patents.

  • May 31, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen financier Crispin Odey file a defamation claim against the Financial Times, Ford hit with the latest "Dieselgate" claim and a human rights activist bring a privacy claim against Saudi Arabia. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • May 31, 2024

    NJ Judge Says Mortgage Lender's Counterclaim Falls Flat

    A New Jersey federal judge tossed an unfair competition counterclaim brought by Nationwide Mortgage Bankers Inc. in a trade secrets suit by its rival Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, ruling that Nationwide Mortgage's counterclaim allegations do not actually count as unfair competition under Garden State law.

  • May 30, 2024

    Warren Pushes To Clinch 'Popular' Drug Patent 'March-In' Plan

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Thursday urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to finalize a proposal that would allow the government to take possession of "taxpayer-funded" patents on drugs and lease them to generic-drug makers, saying the "popular framework will help reduce exorbitant drug costs."

  • May 30, 2024

    Divided PTAB Sinks Wildseed Mobile IP In Wins For Google

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a pair of rulings wiping out claims in two patents asserted by a litigation outfit targeting the way that ads work on YouTube, but the decisions included a rare dissent-in-part from an administrative judge who disagreed on how a 2005 Sony patent application fit into the dispute.

  • May 30, 2024

    Albright Urged To Up Flypsi's $12M Trial Win Against Google

     A Texas jury verdict requiring Google to pay $12 million in damages to software developer Flypsi Inc. for patent infringement is insufficient, Flypsi has told U.S. District Judge Alan Albright, asking the court to order a damages retrial or award it ongoing royalties and require Google to pay attorney fees.

  • May 30, 2024

    Netflix Fails To Show Inventor, Funder Violated Injunction

    A California federal judge has said Netflix couldn't prove a Finnish inventor violated an injunction tied to his concealment of certain legal funds, or that a litigation fund manager the inventor worked with needs to face claims tied to that concealment.

  • May 30, 2024

    Jury Awards Electric Jet Startup $72M In Boeing IP Case

    A Washington federal jury said Thursday that The Boeing Co. should pay Zunum Aero Inc. $72 million for misappropriating the electric jet startup's trade secrets and souring a deal with a potential investor, in an award partially subject to trebling under state law.

  • May 30, 2024

    Apple Gets PTAB To Ax Patent Claims On Waking Up Phone

    Apple has successfully challenged an inventor's patent covering a way for a mobile phone to show information by a user just looking at it, with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding several claims were invalid as obvious.

  • May 30, 2024

    Sorority, Ex-Affiliate End Trademark Suit After Mediation

    A sorority and a former affiliate have agreed to scrap a trademark dispute alleging the affiliate continued to use the sorority's name and symbols after their relationship had been severed.

  • May 30, 2024

    ITC Judge Clears Amazon In Video Tech Co.'s Patent Case

    A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has found that Amazon hasn't broken federal patent trade law by importing streaming products, dealing a setback to video technology company DivX LLC in its infringement case.

  • May 30, 2024

    NCAA Loses Bid To Sink Reggie Bush Defamation Suit

    The NCAA has failed in its bid to get an early toss of the defamation suit filed by 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, with an Indiana court ruling a dismissal is premature at this point because the former running back has met the pleading standards.

  • May 30, 2024

    DOJ's Kanter Says AI Cos. Could Exploit Creators

    The head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Jonathan Kanter, said Thursday that a lack of competition between artificial intelligence companies could allow them to exploit writers, artists and other content creators.

  • May 30, 2024

    Cher Gets Key Win In Royalty Fight With Sonny Bono's Widow

    The Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning star Cher has now won a key victory in California federal court in a dispute over song royalties with the widow of ex-husband Sonny Bono, with a judge concluding that Mary Bono must continue to pay the female half of Sonny & Cher composition royalties under a 1978 marriage settlement agreement, or MSA, following their 1975 divorce.

  • May 30, 2024

    NCAA V. Athletes Suits Paused As Parties Talk Final Deal

    The consolidated cases in the class action against the NCAA over athletes' name, image and likeness compensation were stayed by a California federal judge Thursday, the next step toward finalizing the multibillion-dollar settlement the two sides reached last week.

  • May 30, 2024

    What To Watch As The FTC Targets Drug Patent Listings

    The Federal Trade Commission has been scrutinizing patents listed by drugmakers on a key federal database, warning several companies that their listings are improper and drive up drug prices. Here's a look at what the agency and others could do next.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Can A DAO Be Sued? SDNY Case May Hold The Answer

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    A case pending in the Southern District of New York will examine whether decentralized crypto co-op MakerDAO is a partnership with the capacity to be sued in federal court, and the decision could shape how legal frameworks will adapt to accommodate blockchain technologies moving forward, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Navigating Trade Secret Litigation In A High-Stakes Landscape

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    Recent eye-popping verdicts are becoming increasingly common in trade secret litigation — but employers can take several proactive steps to protect proprietary information and defend against misappropriation accusations in order to avoid becoming the next headline, say Jessica Mason and Jack FitzGerald at Foley & Lardner.

  • Disney Copyright Expiration Spurs Trademark Questions

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    While the recent expiration of Disney’s Steamboat Willie copyright is not likely to have an immediate impact, it could provide clarity on the extent to which trademark rights in character names and appearance affect what others can do with characters from works whose copyright has expired, says Bryan Wheelock at Harness IP.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC

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    The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Opinion

    There Is No NCAA Supremacy Clause, Especially For NIL

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    A recent Tennessee federal court ruling illustrates the NCAA's problematic position that its member schools should violate state law rather than its rules — and the organization's legal history with the dormant commerce clause raises a fundamental constitutional issue that will have to be resolved before attorneys can navigate NIL with confidence, says Patrick O’Donnell at HWG.

  • Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.

  • Webpages Must Meet Accessibility Standard To Be Prior Art

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's First Solar Inc. v. Rovshan Sade decision, that an available internet resource doesn't necessarily qualify as a prior art "printed publication" that is publicly accessible, serves as a reminder of the unforgiving requirements that must be satisfied to establish that a reference is a printed publication, say attorneys at Akin.

  • The Pros And Cons Of Protecting AI As Trade Secrets

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    Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of artificial intelligence models, federal policy acknowledges, and perhaps endorses, trade secret protection for AI information, but there are still hurdles in keeping AI information a secret, say Jennifer Maisel and Andrew Stewart at Rothwell Figg.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Navigating A Motion To Amend

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent decisions in motions to amend patent claims highlight the challenges of taking advantage of the board's pilot program for amending such claims, and owners and petitioners should keep several strategic considerations in mind as the program continues through mid-September, say Joshua Goldberg and Kai Rajan at Finnegan.

  • How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts

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    Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.

  • How Echoing Techniques Can Derail Witnesses At Deposition

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    Before depositions, defense attorneys must prepare witnesses to recognize covert echoing techniques that may be used by opposing counsel to lower their defenses and elicit sensitive information — potentially leading to nuclear settlements and verdicts, say Bill Kanasky and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Fed. Circ. In Feb.: Using Prior Products To Invalidate A Patent

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    The Federal Circuit's recent Weber v. Provisu ruling, that prior-product operating manuals constituted printed publications that can be used to invalidate patents in an inter partes review proceeding, makes it easier for a petitioner to invalidate a patent, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.

  • How Cos. Can Assess Open-Source Contribution Patent Risks

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    Recent trends underscore the importance of open-source software to the technology industry for both engineering and strategic purposes, and companies should consider using a framework that addresses whether contributions require granting licenses to patent claims in portfolios to analyze associated risks, says Shrut Kirti at TAE Technologies.

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

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