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Intellectual Property
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August 09, 2024
Mich. Pot Co. Alleges IP Atty, Wife Are Ruining Its Reputation
Efforts by a Montana intellectual property attorney and his wife to hit back after losing money in an alleged investment scam have missed the mark by targeting a Michigan cannabis company that was also ripped off, the company claimed Wednesday.
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August 09, 2024
Rolling Stones Copyright Suit Can't Get No Jurisdiction
The Fifth Circuit backed up a Louisiana federal court's decision to throw out a Spanish artist's copyright suit accusing the Rolling Stones of ripping off key elements of two of his songs, ruling that the artist failed to show why the Pelican State had jurisdiction over the matter.
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August 09, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen China Evergrande Group file a commercial fraud claim against its founder's ex-wife, legal action by Manolete Partners against the directors of an insolvent construction company, VietJet tackle a claim by French banking group Natixis and more developments in the "Dieselgate" scandal. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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August 09, 2024
Ex-Boston U Law Instructor Sues Over Course Materials
A former Boston University Law School instructor has sued the university, accusing it of copyright infringement through use of course materials he developed, in violation of a prior settlement agreement.
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August 08, 2024
UMG Hit With Copyright Suit Over Pitbull Song 'I Feel Good'
Rapper Pitbull's 2021 hit "I Feel Good" ripped off the melody, tempo and arrangement used in another composition made over a decade ago, a New York company alleges in a copyright infringement suit filed in New York federal court Thursday against Universal Music Group and Pitbull's label imprint.
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August 08, 2024
ITC Rips Google's Bid To Wield Chevron's End In Sonos Row
The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday joined Sonos in urging the Federal Circuit to reject Google's argument that the end of so-called Chevron deference means the appellate court should review precedent on the ITC's patent powers, calling the dispute a "poor vehicle" for such a review.
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August 08, 2024
2nd Circ. Says Fla. Biz Should Have Been More Diligent Earlier
A small Florida chain of souvenir stores had no luck Thursday at the Second Circuit trying to revive allegations that owners of a bankrupt beachwear company concealed the ownership of trademark registrations in a since-settled, decade-old lawsuit, because the chain "should have uncovered the alleged fraud" the first time.
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August 08, 2024
Testimony of 3 Experts Limited In PNC's TM Suit Against Plaid
A Pennsylvania federal judge has approved several suggested expert witnesses but limited the testimony of others in PNC Financial Services Group's trademark infringement lawsuit against Plaid Inc. claiming the company copied its logo and login screens when linking bank accounts to financial apps.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling
In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.
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Should NIL Collectives Be Allowed Tax-Favored Status?
Arguments are being made for and against allowing organizations to provide charitable contribution tax deductions for donations used to compensate student-athletes, a practice with impacts on competition for student-athletes and overall tax fairness, but ultimately it is a question for Congress, say Andres Castillo and Barry Gogel at the University of Maryland School of Law.
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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
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Patent Damages Jury Verdicts Aren't Always End Of The Story
Recent outcomes demonstrate that patent damages jury verdicts are often challenged and are overturned approximately one-third of the time, and successful verdict challenges typically occur at the appellate level and concern patent validity and infringement, say James Donohue and Marie Sanyal at Charles River.
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Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws
Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.
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Why High Court May Have Rejected IP Obviousness Appeal
Attorneys at Womble Bond analyze possible reasons the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Vanda Pharmaceuticals' request to review the Federal Circuit’s reasonable expectation of success standard for determining obviousness, including that the court was unpersuaded by the company's argument that Amgen v. Sanofi places a bind on drug developers.
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Opinion
Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation
As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.
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A Guide To Using The DTSA For Misappropriation Recourse
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Nicholas Armington at Mintz explains the ins and outs of drafting a misappropriation complaint under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, and how and why companies should think strategically about federal and state law when filing a claim.
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How Cos. Can Protect IP In Light Of FTC Noncompete Rule
While several groups are challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s recently approved rule banning noncompetition agreements, employers should begin planning other ways to protect their valuable trade secrets, confidential information and other intellectual property, says Thomas Duston at Marshall Gerstein.
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The Fed. Circ. In April: Hurdles Remain For Generics
The Federal Circuit’s recent Salix v. Norwich ruling — where Salix's brand-name drug's patents were invalidated — is a reminder to patent practitioners that invalidating a competitor's patents may not guarantee abbreviated new drug application approval, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Series
Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
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The Secret Sauce For Trademarking Viral Food Products
Three recent high-profile trademark disputes in the food industry illustrate the importance of protecting brands early — especially for any company aiming for viral fame — and underscore the value of intent-to-use applications, say Elliot Gee and Matthew Dowd at Dowd Scheffel.
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Chanel TM Ruling Shows Resellers Must Tread Carefully
The Southern District of New York's recent jury verdict in Chanel v. What Goes Around Comes Around, in which Chanel brought trademark infringement and false association claims, serves as a reminder that businesses must routinely ensure their practices are protected by the first sale and fair use doctrines, say Stephen Barrett and Gabriela Rios at Wilson Elser.