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Intellectual Property
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Featured
How Penn State Trial Against Retailer Could Upend TM Law
The Pennsylvania State University and an online retailer of goods bearing retro logos and images of schools and sports teams are set to clash in a trademark trial next week that could upend how courts examine infringement claims.
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November 26, 2024
MLBPA, FanDuel Ink Licensing Deal After Settling Legal Spat
The Major League Baseball Players Association, FanDuel and OneTeam Partners on Tuesday announced that they are teaming up on a product and marketing licensing agreement, a move that comes just weeks after FanDiel was dropped from an MLBPA lawsuit over the alleged use of players' photos to promote sports gambling.
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November 26, 2024
Newman's Own's Quick IP Win Bid Meets Skeptical Judge
A Connecticut Superior Court judge on Tuesday appeared skeptical of Newman's Own Foundation's early win request in a licensing feud with two of late actor Paul Newman's daughters, criticizing the charity for using the wrong court proceeding to challenge the daughters' rights to sue while hinting a trial is likely needed.
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November 26, 2024
Navajo Nation's Diné College Awarded 2nd Medical Patent
The School of STEM at Diné College has secured a second patent for a device designed to measure and record various electric signals from the body's organs for diagnostic purposes, making it the only tribal college or university in the nation to receive such trademarks.
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November 26, 2024
Chinese Rival Stole Umbrella Design, Georgia Maker Says
An Atlanta-based patio furniture company alleged in a new lawsuit filed Monday that a Chinese competitor that has sold to retailers including Costco has ripped off its design for a cantilevered outdoor umbrella.
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November 26, 2024
DraftKings Wants Damages In NFLPA's Licensing Suit Axed
DraftKings Inc. wants partially tossed a suit launched by the NFL Players Association alleging the sports betting giant failed to make good on a licensing agreement related to nonfungible tokens, saying the players are not entitled to any damages but as a threshold matter, the maximum potential damages should be capped.
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November 25, 2024
Gibson Dunn Treated Crypto Client Like 'Hot Potato,' Suit Says
Crypto trading firm Swan Bitcoin hit Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP with a malpractice lawsuit in California court Friday, alleging Gibson Dunn dumped Swan "like the proverbial 'hot potato'" in underlying trade secret litigation and tried to take on Swan's rival as a client after a lateral hire created a conflict of interest.
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November 25, 2024
Samsung Inks Deal In Suit Nixed Over Rival's Atty Misconduct
Samsung has reached a settlement with former in-house attorneys seeking more than $300 million for alleged patent infringement, a deal that comes after Samsung defeated the suit based on attorney misconduct that a Texas federal judge called "repugnant to the rule of law," according to a motion filed Sunday.
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November 25, 2024
Calif. Jury Delivers $35M Verdict In Eyedrop Trademark Row
A Tennessee pharmaceutical company convinced a California federal jury that a rival owes it about $35 million for infringing its trademarks on brands of post-surgical eyedrops.
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November 25, 2024
Credit Bureaus Freed From VantageScore Antitrust Suit
An Illinois federal judge has ruled there is no evidence the three major credit bureaus conspired with the Fair Isaac Corporation to engage in a monopoly, reasoning there was no impetus for them to do so, but also found that credit score buyers sufficiently backed some of their antitrust claims against FICO.
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November 25, 2024
Amazon Settles Co.'s Patent Infringement Suit Over Alexa
Two Amazon companies have reached a settlement with a company that accused them of patent infringement over the voice processing technology used in the Amazon virtual assistant Alexa, according to a minute entry entered Monday.
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November 25, 2024
Judge Bemoans 'Chaotic' Contracts In Jack Nicklaus IP Case
The New York state judge presiding over golf legend Jack Nicklaus' intellectual property lawsuit on Monday signaled he may not be able to untangle a set of contradictory contracts, which could lead to a trial over who can use the "Golden Bear's" name and likeness.
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November 25, 2024
Hormone Therapy Co. Jilted Actress Over Image Use, Suit Says
A commercial actress has accused a hormone treatment company and its affiliates of improperly using her image and likeness in promotional materials touting its therapies, telling a Texas state court the business "blatantly misappropriated" her personal brand.
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November 25, 2024
ITC Bans Imports Of Nortek Garage Door Openers In IP Case
The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed with an administrative law judge's finding that Nortek Inc. violated U.S. trade law by importing products that infringe on a rival's intellectual property, putting a ban on imports of certain garage door openers.
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November 25, 2024
Calif. Panel Scraps Ex-Medical Supply Exec's $533K Fee Win
A California appeals court has found that an Orange County judge was wrong to order a medical supply company to pay out half a million dollars in legal fees to a former executive who a jury found took confidential files out the door with him.
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November 25, 2024
Tesla Nears Deal In Trade Secret Suit Against EV Rival Rivian
Tesla said in a notice filed in California state court that it would be settling its lawsuit accusing rival electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive of recruiting its employees, who allegedly took Tesla's trade secrets with them to the defendant to use for its plans to release an electric truck.
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November 25, 2024
'Sham' Patent Charges Bog Down Holiday Light Fight
Amid a multi-front intellectual property fight between a China-based holiday light manufacturer and a so-called "patent troll," the company told a Georgia judge Monday that the patent holder had impermissibly tried to engineer jurisdiction by signing over to itself one of the patents at issue just minutes before filing its counterclaim.
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November 25, 2024
Stolen Hitler Question Suit Barred By Immunity, MSU Says
Michigan State University said it's immune from claims that it used a trivia quiz containing a question about Adolf Hitler without the creator's permission during a sold-out rivalry football game, which sparked negative publicity for the creator and his company.
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November 25, 2024
Solicitor General's Input Sought On Music Cos., ISP Petitions
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the solicitor general to weigh in on a copyright dispute involving Cox Communications and a group of music publishers that won a $1 billion jury verdict of infringement against the internet service provider.
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November 25, 2024
TD Ameritrade Urges High Court To Reject Patent Case
TD Ameritrade said there is no reason for the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision in its favor in high-stakes litigation over computerized banking patents, pushing back at arguments that the justices should look at the circuit court's one-line orders in patent cases.
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November 25, 2024
Ex-Epstein Becker Healthcare Ace Joins Polsinelli Team
Polsinelli has added a former Epstein Becker Green partner to its healthcare litigation team as a shareholder, where he'll bring experience in managed care, payor disputes and intellectual property to the firm's Nashville, Tennessee office.
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November 25, 2024
Justices Reject Patent Case Challenging Newman Suspension
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear an appeal by a company that owns a background check patent invalidated for claiming only an abstract idea and that argued it was deprived of a fair hearing at the Federal Circuit due to the suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman.
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November 22, 2024
Wellness Software Co. Not Immune From IP Suit, Judge Says
A federal judge in San Antonio says the Patent Act's immunity protecting physicians from patent lawsuits is "broad, but it is not limitless," and it does not extend to a wellness software licensing company that "only licenses its product to medical providers."
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November 22, 2024
Jury Awards Netlist $118M In Patent Case Against Samsung
A Texas federal jury on Friday said computer memory company Netlist Inc. should get $118 million after finding that South Korean electronics giant Samsung infringed a trio of computer memory module patents.
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November 22, 2024
New Design Patent Treaty Comes Out Of Riyadh
Delegates from the world's major intellectual property groups signed a treaty Friday that would, if approved, establish new rules to facilitate the filing of design patents.
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November 22, 2024
GeigTech Gets $2.67M In Window Shade Patent Retrial
A federal jury in New York has found in a retrial that lighting fixture company Lutron Electronics should have to pony up $2.67 million for infringing a company's window shade patent.
Editor's Picks
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Why Many Drugs Remain Pricey 40 Years After Hatch-Waxman
In the four decades since Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act in an effort to make generic drugs more available, the pharmaceutical industry has used patent thickets, "evergreening" and pay-for-delay tactics to block competition and keep prices of life-saving specialty drugs astronomical, several legal experts told Law360, while the industry argues other parties shoulder more of the blame.
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Full Fed. Circ. Looks To Clarify Damages In Google Case
The full Federal Circuit has agreed to review EcoFactor's $20 million infringement award against Google, a move that attorneys say should provide much-needed guidance for both judges and parties when calculating damages.
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Who Wore '8' Better? Jackson, Aikman Locked In TM Battle
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is banking his popularity will make consumers think of him when they see the number "8" on products he sells, but a beer company associated with Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman — who wore the same jersey number — doesn't see it that way, as the players square off in a trademark fight.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.
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9th Circ.'s High Bar May Limit Keyword Confusion TM Claims
A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that a law firm did not infringe upon a competitor’s trademarks by paying Google to promote its website when users searched for the rival’s name signals that plaintiffs likely can no longer win infringement suits by claiming competitive keyword advertising confuses internet-savvy consumers, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.
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Trump Patent Policy May Be Headed In Unexpected Direction
While commentators have assumed that the patent policy of President-elect Donald Trump's second administration will largely mirror the pro-patent policy of his first, these predictions fail to take into account the likely oversized influence of Elon Musk, says Jorge Contreras at the University of Utah.
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Best Practices For Influencer Trademark Protection
Though the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently decided that an influencer couldn't qualify for a retail services trademark registration for posting affiliate links to a third-party website, there are other trademark protections that influencers can pursue for their branding and marketing services, say attorneys at Nixon Peabody.
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What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration
Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.
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Racing Patents To The Fed. Circ.: Collateral Estoppel Lessons
As more and more parties find themselves in two different forums addressing the same issues and then competing in a race to the Federal Circuit, certain strategies can help despite unanswered questions on when Patent Trial and Appeal Board determinations trigger collateral estoppel, say attorneys at Akin.
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Series
Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer
Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.
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Purse-Case Scenarios: 'MetaBirkin' Appeal Tests TM Rights
A federal court's finding that "MetaBirkin" nonfungible tokens infringed on Hermes' iconic Birkin bag imagery is now on appeal in the Second Circuit, and the order will have a lasting effect on how courts balance trademark rights and the First Amendment, say attorneys at Venable.
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OpenAI's Patent Pledge Is Not All It Seems
A recent statement that OpenAI won't assert its own patents is more of an aspiration than an obligation, and should prompt practitioners to think deeply about the underlying legal mechanisms of patent and contract law when determining the effectiveness of similar nonassertion pledges, say attorneys at McDonnell Boehnen.
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3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less
Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.
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8 Tech Tips For Stress-Free Remote Depositions
Court reporter Kelly D’Amico shares practical strategies for attorneys to conduct remote depositions with ease and troubleshoot any issues that arise, as it seems deposition-by-Zoom is here to stay after the pandemic.
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How AstraZeneca Ruling Could Change Dosage Patent Claims
If affirmed on appeal, the rationale employed by the Delaware federal court in Wyeth v. AstraZeneca to find "unit dosage"-related patent claims invalid could lead to a significant paradigm shift in how active-ingredient-focused patent applications are drafted and litigated, say Matthew Zapadka and John Schneible at Arnall Golden.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Unclear Criteria, Data Rights, Conflicts
Liam Bowers at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims examining the use of unstated evaluation criteria, an agency's investigation of its own data rights and unequal access to information about an organizational conflict of interest.
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Failed W.Va. Patent Challenge Reveals Secret Prior Art's Risks
A West Virginia federal court's recent ruling — that references used by a patent challenger to establish an ordinarily skilled artisan's existing knowledge must be published before a patent's filing — may discourage claim construction challenges based on secret prior art and steer drafters away from externally defined terms, says Brianna Potter at Baker Botts.
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4 Ways Attorneys Can Emotionally Prepare For Trial
In the course of litigation, trial lawyers face a number of scenarios that can incite an emotional response, but formulating a mental game plan in advance of trial can help attorneys stay cool, calm and collected in the moment, says Rachel Lary at Lightfoot Franklin.