Intellectual Property

  • March 10, 2025

    Ga. IP Boutique Says Md. Firm Copied Its 'Founders' Mark

    A Georgia-based law firm that does business as Founders Legal on Monday sued a similarly named Maryland firm and its founder for allegedly infringing its federally registered marks in a way that is likely to confuse prospective and current legal clients.

  • March 10, 2025

    Patent Office Solicitor Moves To PTAB Vice Chief Judge Role

    Farheena Y. Rasheed, who had been the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's solicitor since June, has moved to a new role as a Patent Trial and Appeal Board acting vice chief judge, to assist the board as it deals with several vacancies, the office said Monday.

  • March 10, 2025

    DOJ Wants In On Invisalign Monopoly Arguments At 9th Circ.

    The U.S. Department of Justice wants to be there when orthodontists and consumers who purchased clear teeth aligners face off with the company behind Invisalign at the Ninth Circuit next month, so it can tell the appellate judges where the lower court went wrong in killing their monopoly suits.

  • March 10, 2025

    Miley Cyrus Says 'Glee' Ruling Wilts 'Flowers' Copyright Suit

    An attorney for Miley Cyrus and co-writers of her hit "Flowers" urged a California federal judge Monday to toss a music investment company's complaint alleging they ripped off a Bruno Mars song, arguing that a Ninth Circuit ruling clearing the school that inspired the show "Glee" of infringement supports the move.

  • March 10, 2025

    Adidas Seeks Injunction In Fashion Nova Trademark Row

    Adidas is seeking a preliminary injunction against Fashion Nova, accusing the popular fast-fashion brand in a California federal lawsuit of infringing on its iconic three-stripe trademark and noting that the company has "a penchant for overlooking" intellectual property rights.

  • March 10, 2025

    Money Manager Can't Block Alleged Client Poach, Judge Says

    Connecticut investment firm TJT Capital Group LLC has not demonstrated that it will suffer irreparable harm without a temporary restraining order that bars a former member from using client information he allegedly misappropriated, a federal judge has ruled in denying the request.

  • March 10, 2025

    Disney Unit Wins Copyright Trial Over 'Moana' Film

    A Los Angeles federal jury handed a win Monday to a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co. in a copyright infringement trial over the 2016 blockbuster "Moana," rejecting a claim that the movie ripped off another animation artist's Polynesian adventure epic.

  • March 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Skeptical Of USPTO's Refusal To Register F-Word TM

    A Federal Circuit panel appeared skeptical of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's reasoning for rejecting an application to register the F-word as a mark because of its widespread use, with one judge telling the government's attorney a couple of times during arguments Monday, "I don't understand what you're saying."

  • March 10, 2025

    Perkins Coie Adds 2 Finnegan IP Attys In Calif.

    Perkins Coie LLP is growing its West Coast team, announcing Monday it is bringing in two Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP intellectual property attorneys as partners in its Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, California.

  • March 10, 2025

    Patent Exec Seeks Defamation Win Over Atty's Statements

    A patent-licensing company executive has asked a Florida federal court to rule in his favor on a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP attorney representing Starbucks in a Texas patent case and toss a counterclaim from the attorney, saying her abuse-of-process allegation "reads like a failed exercise in ontological gymnastics."

  • March 10, 2025

    CBD Co. Launches More Patent Suits Over Topical Cream

    CBD company Metronome LLC has filed another pair of suits in Delaware federal court alleging competitors are infringing its patent with a topical pain relief cream that uses cannabis-derived ingredients.

  • March 10, 2025

    Philly Inquirer Cuts IP Deal With Framed Front Page Seller

    The Philadelphia Inquirer has confidentially settled its infringement suit against a company that sold framed copies of its articles and front pages, according to filings in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • March 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Pause Teva Patent Delisting For Appeal

    The Federal Circuit denied on Friday Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals' bid to keep an injunction ordering it to remove its inhaler patents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book on hold pending its appeal of the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • March 10, 2025

    High Court Skips Florida Brokerage's Copyright Fee Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Florida real estate brokerage firm's challenge to lower court decisions denying it attorney fees when another company accusing it of copyright infringement voluntarily dropped the case.

  • March 07, 2025

    FDA Can Take Eli Lilly Weight Loss Drug Off Shortage List

    A Texas federal judge has refused to issue an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to produce a lucrative weight loss drug, ruling that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was within its authority when it removed the medication from the drug shortage list.

  • March 07, 2025

    Photographer Sanctioned For Skipping Deposition In IP Case

    A federal judge in the Southern District of New York has issued sanctions over skipped depositions, among other conduct, by the plaintiff in a copyright lawsuit over a photo of actor Jonah Hill that appeared on a fashion retail website. 

  • March 07, 2025

    Justices Asked To Audit Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' Win

    Structured Asset Sales LLC asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to review the Second Circuit's opinion that Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" did not rip off Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," arguing that the lower appellate court incorrectly affirmed that the Copyright Act of 1909 only protected the Motown song's sheet music.

  • March 07, 2025

    ByteDance Wants Sanctions For Attys After Client's Perjury

    TikTok's parent company ByteDance has urged a California court to sanction Nassiri & Jung LLP attorneys it says "enabled" a former engineer's perjury in a suit alleging he was wrongly fired, arguing that the lawyers should've prevented their client's "abuse of the justice system."

  • March 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Talks Definitions In Express Mobile Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit spent a chunk of its morning hashing it out over the meaning of the phrase "runtime engine" in a pair of disputes brought to the court by Express Mobile, one in which it accused GoDaddy of violating a set of patents and another fighting the invalidation of one of those patents.

  • March 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Panel Wary Of Discarding Prosecution Laches

    A Federal Circuit panel indicated Friday that it doesn't plan to overturn precedent holding that inventors forfeit their patent rights when they cause unreasonable delays in the application process, telling counsel for prolific inventor Gilbert Hyatt that it would take the full court to do that.

  • March 07, 2025

    Ex-Kirkland IP Atty Can't Fire Her Bias Suit Atty 'For Cause'

    A former Kirkland & Ellis LLP intellectual property associate suing the firm over bias claims cannot fire her counsel at Filippatos PLLC over professional misconduct allegations, a California federal judge ruled Thursday while allowing Filippatos to withdraw as her counsel.

  • March 07, 2025

    Charter Defeats Touchstream's $1B Patent Case At Texas Trial

    A Texas federal jury cleared cable giant Charter Communications on Friday in a patent case over a New York startup's device that allows videos to be played on a separate, larger screen.

  • March 07, 2025

    'Spiderman' Leak Cost Film Studio Tens Of Millions, DOJ Says

    A 37-year-old Tennessee man who worked at a DVD and Blu-ray manufacturing and distribution company used by major studios has been charged with stealing and selling copies of blockbuster movies before their release and with leaking "Spiderman: No Way Home" online, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

  • March 07, 2025

    Apple Prevails In Watch Tech Patent Fight At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit handed Apple a significant victory Friday in a dispute that might have led to a ban on imports of its smartwatches, affirming that a competing company's heart monitor patents are invalid and vacating a conflicting U.S. International Trade Commission decision that found the watches infringed those patents.

  • March 07, 2025

    USPTO Scraps Expedited Review Program For New Filers

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is winding down a program that expedites review of patent applications from first-time filers, the agency announced, saying the initiative will "expire as scheduled" on Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Drug Pricing Policy Trends To Expect In 2025 And Beyond

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    Though 2025 may bring more of the same in the realm of drug pricing policy, business as usual entails a sustained, high level of legal and policy developments across at least six major areas, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Imagine The Possibilities Of Openly Autistic Lawyering

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    Andi Mazingo at Lumen Law, who was diagnosed with autism about midway through her career, discusses how the legal profession can create inclusive workplaces that empower openly autistic lawyers and enhance innovation, and how neurodivergent attorneys can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with disclosing one’s diagnosis.

  • Opinion

    Courts Should Nix Conferencing Rule In 1 Discovery Scenario

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    Parties are generally required to meet and confer to resolve a discovery dispute before bringing a related motion, but courts should dispense with this conferencing requirement when a party fails to specify a time by which it will complete its production, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Law.

  • Series

    Documentary Filmmaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a documentary filmmaker has allowed me to merge my legal expertise with my passion for storytelling, and has helped me to hone negotiation, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important to both endeavors, says Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Litigation Funding Disclosure Debate: Strategy Considerations

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    In the ongoing debate over whether courts should require disclosure of litigation funding, funders and plaintiffs tend to argue against such mandates, but voluntarily disclosing limited details about a funding arrangement can actually confer certain benefits to plaintiffs in some scenarios, say Andrew Stulce and Marc Cavan at Longford Capital.

  • FDA's Red No. 3 Ban Reshapes Food Safety Legal Landscape

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent ban on Red No. 3 represents more than the end of a controversial dye — it signals a shift in regulatory priorities, consumer expectations, intellectual property strategy, compliance considerations and litigation risk, says Dino Haloulos at Foley Mansfield.

  • Series

    Adventure Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Photographing nature everywhere from Siberia to Cuba and Iceland to Rwanda provides me with a constant reminder to refresh, refocus and rethink the legal issues that my clients face, says Richard Birmingham at Davis Wright.

  • Fed. Circ. Inherency Ruling Refines Obviousness Framework

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    The Federal Circuit's December decision in Cytiva v. JSR has definitively eliminated the requirement of "reasonable expectation of success" analysis for inherent properties in obviousness determinations, while providing some key clarifications for patent practitioners, says Lawrence Kass at Steptoe.

  • 5 Ways To Create Effective Mock Assignments For Associates

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    In order to effectively develop associates’ critical thinking skills, firms should design mock assignments that contain a few key ingredients, from messy fact patterns to actionable feedback, says Abdi Shayesteh at AltaClaro.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: How MDLs Fared In 2024

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    A significant highlight of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's practice during 2024 was the increase in the percentage of new MDL petitions granted by the panel, with 25 granted and only eight denied — one of the highest grant rates in years, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

  • What Public View Of CEO's Killing Means For Corporate Trials

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    Given the proliferation of anti-corporate sentiments following recent charges against Luigi Mangione in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO, attorneys who represent corporate clients and executives will need to adapt their trial strategy to account for juror anger, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Private-Bidding Compliance Lessons From Siemens Plea Deal

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    Siemens Energy’s recent wire fraud conspiracy guilty plea shows that U.S. prosecutors are willing and able to police the private, domestic bidding market to protect the integrity of the competitive marketplace, and companies will need a robust compliance program to mitigate these risks, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Lessons From The Pharma Industry On Patent Cliffs

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    In the next five years, patents for drugs that have generated billions in global sales are set to expire, and companies that view this imminent patent cliff as an opportunity for strategic renewal rather than a challenge will be best positioned to maintain market leadership, says Keegan Caldwell at Caldwell Law.

  • FTC Report On AI Sector Illuminates Future Enforcement

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    The Federal Trade Commission's report on cloud service providers and their partnerships with developers of artificial intelligence's large language models suggests that the agency will move to rein in Big Tech with antitrust enforcement to protect startups, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Artfully Conceding Liability Can Offer Defendants 3 Benefits

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    In the rare case that a company makes the strategic decision to admit liability, it’s important to do so clearly and consistently in order to benefit from the various forms of armor that come from an honest acknowledgment, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

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