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Intellectual Property
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September 25, 2024
Walgreens' TM Suit Can Proceed Against Founder's Relative
Walgreen Co. can move forward with its trademark infringement suit against the great-grandson of the company's founder for operating Walgreen Health Solutions after an Illinois federal judge denied his motion to dismiss, finding the drugstore chain has shown a likelihood of confusion between the two brands.
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September 25, 2024
Judge Connolly Sticks By Fining Paralegal Patent Owner
Delaware's top federal judge won't budge on ordering a Texas paralegal to pony up $53,000 for refusing to appear for months to answer questions about a patent litigation outfit that was registered to her name, after he grilled her lawyer over who he was representing at a hearing she did show up to last week.
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September 25, 2024
Rapper Says Mike Jones, Houston Texans Stole Song
The owner of the unofficial Houston anthem "Still Tippin'" told a Harris County court this week that rapper Mike Jones and others have ripped off his 2002 song for use by the Houston Texans football team without his permission.
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September 25, 2024
Hairbrush Co.'s Patent Suit Over Straighteners Settles
A hairbrush company and an investment firm that together filed several lawsuits accusing various companies of "poisoning" the market with knockoffs of their patented ceramic straightening brush asked a California federal judge Wednesday to dismiss the last of those cases, stating that the claims have been settled.
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September 25, 2024
Marriott Gets $8M Default Win In TM Robocall Scam Case
A Virginia federal judge has granted Marriott International Inc. the maximum damages that the law allows for the company's trademark infringement claims against a pair of Mexican firms it accused of using its "Marriott Marks" for a robocall scam, ending the claims with an $8 million default judgment.
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September 25, 2024
NC State '83 Basketball Champs Drop TV Networks In NIL Suit
Members of the 1983 North Carolina State University men's basketball team, known as the Cardiac Kids, dropped CBS and TNT from their suit in North Carolina state court accusing the NCAA of exploiting their names, images and likenesses from their national championship run during the annual promotion of March Madness.
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September 25, 2024
Boies Joins Authors' Meta IP Suit After Judge Blasts Lead Atty
Veteran litigator David Boies and a top member of his firm have joined the team heading a proposed class action against Meta Platforms Inc. for allegedly using copyrighted material to train its artificial intelligence product "Llama" — days after a California federal judge told the lead plaintiff's attorney, "You are not doing your job."
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September 25, 2024
IP Protection Firm's $426M SPAC Merger Is Scrapped
Intellectual property management firm Zacco Holdings, formerly known as OpSec Group, and blank check company Investcorp Europe Acquisition Corp. I on Wednesday announced that they will be terminating their merger plans.
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September 25, 2024
Breaking IP Barriers: Q&A With Spencer Fane's DJ Healey
Spencer Fane LLP partner DJ Healey came out as a transgender woman in 2017 — 30 years into her legal career — opening doors at a time when LGBTQ+ attorneys were gaining more acceptance from colleagues and clients.
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September 25, 2024
Vape Co. Sues Buchalter Alleging Malpractice After IP Action
A Los Angeles-based cannabis company called Smoke Tokes LLC has filed a legal malpractice suit accusing Buchalter PC and two of its attorneys of causing a federal trademark action to drag on unnecessarily even after Smoke Tokes took all necessary steps to satisfy a judgment and injunction.
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September 25, 2024
Venable Brings On Baker McKenzie IP Litigator In DC
A longtime Baker McKenzie intellectual property litigator whose work touches on sectors including medical devices, software, and the oil and gas industry has moved his practice to Venable LLP, the firm announced Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
Former Administrative Patent Judge Joins McGuireWoods
McGuireWoods LLP has added a former administrative judge with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board as a partner in its Richmond, Virginia, office.
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September 25, 2024
Pfizer, BioNTech Get New Shot To Ax Moderna's MRNA Patent
Pfizer and BioNTech have won another shot at challenging the validity of one of Moderna's key mRNA vaccines as a judge ruled Wednesday that their appeal had a reasonable prospect of success.
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September 25, 2024
Full Fed. Circ. To Tackle Patent Damages In $20M Google Case
The full Federal Circuit said Wednesday it will review a panel's holding that Google must pay EcoFactor $20 million for infringing a smart thermostat patent, after the tech giant said the court has allowed patent owners to "manufacture a royalty rate."
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September 24, 2024
Dentons Accused Of Hacking Laptop, Aiding Vape Co. Usurper
Dentons helped the founder of vape distributor Next Level sabotage and usurp manufacturer Avid Holdings' brand, including breaking into its founder's laptop to access confidential information, Avid alleged in a sprawling lawsuit filed Tuesday in California federal court.
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September 24, 2024
Aristocrat Wins Injunction In Slot Machine Trade Secret Row
A federal judge in Las Vegas blocked gambling game company Light & Wonder Inc. from commercializing its Dragon Train video slot machine game, saying competitor Aristocrat Technologies Inc. is "extremely likely" to succeed in showing L&W misappropriated Aristocrat's trade secrets in developing the game.
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September 24, 2024
Verizon Foe Defends $847M Patent Win In EDTX
A Dallas patent business said on Tuesday it doesn't think the $847 million verdict it scored in Texas federal court in Marshall against a pair of telecom giants in June is too much.
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September 24, 2024
Neurosurgeon Deems Judge Newman's Brain 'Entirely Normal'
A third doctor has found that suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, 97, is not cognitively impaired and that there's no reason to keep her off the bench, according to a report released by her attorneys Tuesday.
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September 24, 2024
Motorola Ducks Out Of Smartphone Camera Patent Suit
A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday decided to end one of the patent lawsuits by a retired businessman over operating smartphone cameras, ruling that "no reasonable jury could conclude Motorola is infringing the patent."
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September 24, 2024
Novo Nordisk Tells Sens. Ozempic Costs Are Linked To PBMs
Novo Nordisk's CEO argued Tuesday that the high prices of the company's diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy primarily stem from the actions of pharmacy benefit managers, earning support from many members of a Senate committee and frustrating others who wanted more direct answers on the Danish drugmaker's own responsibilities.
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September 24, 2024
Musk, X Seek To End Ex-CNN Anchor's Talk Show Fraud Suit
Elon Musk and his social media platform X have asked a California federal judge to toss former CNN anchor Don Lemon's suit against over a collapsed talk show deal, saying the claims are insufficiently supported, Musk wasn't properly served, and there's no jurisdiction to proceed in the Golden State.
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September 24, 2024
Microsoft Fights Mich. Tax Treatment Of Cost Share Payments
Microsoft urged the Michigan Tax Tribunal to find that cost sharing agreement receipts from affiliates constituted licenses of intellectual property that should be included in its apportionment formula, arguing that the state's tax agency incorrectly followed federal transfer pricing rules in excluding the payments from its tax calculations.
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September 24, 2024
Pilates Co. Stretches Patent Campaign To ITC
A San Francisco pilates equipment maker has persuaded the U.S. International Trade Commission to hear its patent infringement case against an assortment of companies that one of its lawyers calls "Chinese knockoff artists."
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September 24, 2024
11th Circ. Rejects Atty Fees In Roller-Coaster IP Dispute
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday shot down an attempt by attorneys to collect fees after securing a partial win in an intellectual property dispute related to a roller-coaster project in Dubai.
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September 24, 2024
Firms Allowed To Exit IP Case After Gaining Philips' Consent
A North Carolina federal judge allowed Dentons and Morningstar Law Group to withdraw as Transtate Equipment Co. Inc.'s counsel in a copyright and unfair competition case, after a stipulation was struck with opposing attorneys representing a Dutch health technology conglomerate that initially scoffed at the request.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Proposed Terminal Disclaimers Rule Harms Colleges, Startups
Universities and startups are ill-suited to follow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers due to their necessity of filing patent applications early prior to contacting outside entities for funds and resources, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Opinion
Cell Tech Patent Holdup Is Stalling Automaker Innovation
Courts and Congress should seek to stem anticompetitive harm caused by standard-essential patent holders squeezing automakers with unfairly high royalties for cellular connectivity technology, says Charles Haake at Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
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M&A In The AI Era: Key Deal Terms To Watch
As the artificial intelligence market matures, so will due diligence needs, as M&A deals aimed at consolidation and new synergies raise unique legal and regulatory challenges, including potential antitrust and national security reviews, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Trending At The PTAB: Multiple Petitions In IPRs
Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions and a proposed rulemaking indicate the board’s intention to continue to take a tougher stance on multiple inter partes review petitions challenging the same patent, presenting key factors for petitioners to consider, like the necessity of parallel filings and serial petitions, say Yinan Liu and Cory Bell at Finnegan.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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Series
After Chevron: Rethinking Agency Deference In IP Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent overturning of Chevron deference could make it simpler to challenge the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s proposed rule on terminal disclaimers and U.S. International Trade Commission interpretations, says William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Opinion
'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Series
After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.
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Fed. Circ. Skinny Label Ruling Guides On Infringement Claims
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Amarin v. Hikma shows generic drug manufacturers must pay close attention to the statements in their abbreviated new drug application labels to put themselves in the best position in defending against an induced infringement claim, say Luke Shannon and Roshan Shrestha at Taft Stettinius.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.