Intellectual Property

  • September 18, 2024

    Texas Firm, Marketing Biz Settle 'Click To Call' Ad Scheme Suit

    A Houston-based personal injury firm has reached a settlement with an Oklahoma-based marketing company it accused in a federal lawsuit of diverting clients and business to competitors through misleading advertisements in a click-to-call scheme.

  • September 18, 2024

    Calif. Gov. Signs Suite Of Bills Combating AI Deepfakes

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed five first-in-the-nation artificial intelligence-related bills giving actors more protections over their digital likenesses and reining in the use of AI-generated deepfakes during elections.

  • September 18, 2024

    Breitling Can't Get $1.4M Fee In Jeweler's 'Red Gold' TM Suit

    A Connecticut federal judge has rejected a request for $1.48 million in attorney fees by Swiss watchmaker Breitling SA and its American arm after they beat trademark infringement claims brought by a California jeweler, ruling that the claims may have been unsuccessful but that they were "not frivolous."

  • September 18, 2024

    Another IP Team Joins Barclay Damon From DC Boutique

    Three intellectual property attorneys from the D.C.-based boutique firm Gardella Grace PA have moved their practices to Barclay Damon LLP, making them the second IP group to move to Barclay Damon from a boutique in the last five months, according to a Tuesday announcement.

  • September 17, 2024

    Bible Tabs Maker Says Chinese Co. Sold Amazon Dupes

    The maker of Bible index tabs has sued a Chinese company allegedly selling knock-offs on Amazon that copy the brand's "expressive, ornamental and distinctive floral designs."

  • September 17, 2024

    JM Smucker Says Rival Is Spreading Uncrustable Lies

    A Los Angeles-based online snack retailer is smearing the image of J.M. Smucker Co.'s signature Uncrustables sandwiches through defamatory social media posts and false claims that its own products are nutritionally superior, the jam giant alleged Monday in an Ohio federal court complaint.

  • September 17, 2024

    2nd Circ. Lets American Girl Doll Counterfeit Case Proceed

    The Second Circuit on Tuesday held that doll manufacturer American Girl LLC could move ahead with its New York federal suit accusing a China-based company of selling counterfeit versions of its dolls, finding that American Girl showed the defendant transacted business in the state.

  • September 17, 2024

    Ford Barred From Using InterMotive Mark After $13M Verdict

    A Michigan federal judge permanently barred Ford Motor Co. from using the name of a California tech company's vehicle control module, following last year's jury award of more than $13 million to the tech maker for infringement by Ford.

  • September 17, 2024

    Flowers For Miley? Not Without Bruno Mars, Suit Says

    Singer Miley Cyrus is accused of lifting extensively from Bruno Mars' popular song "When I Was Your Man" to create her hit "Flowers," according to a copyright suit in California federal court that also targets Sony, Apple, Disney and several others.

  • September 17, 2024

    Brooklyn Feds Unveil Whistleblower Nonprosecution Plan

    The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office on Tuesday announced an initiative to reward corporate whistleblowers with nonprosecution deals amid a broader effort by federal prosecutors to encourage voluntary disclosure of criminal activity.

  • September 17, 2024

    Tech Co. Takes Shot At Brooklyn Nets Over 'Netaverse' Use

    The Brooklyn Nets have damaged the reputation of hardware and software technology company Phinge Corp. by unlawfully using the phrase "netaverse," which Phinge has been using since 2022, for the team's virtual reality services, according to a new trademark infringement lawsuit lodged in California federal court.

  • September 17, 2024

    GC Base Salaries At Big Companies On The Rise

    General counsel base salaries at companies making $5 billion or more in revenue has increased from last year, while their total compensation has decreased, according to a report released Tuesday by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Empsight International LLC.

  • September 17, 2024

    Google Taps In-House Atty For Head Of General Litigation

    Google has promoted a longtime in-house attorney to be its head of general litigation, tapping a 13-year veteran of the tech giant who originally studied architectural engineering before going to law school. 

  • September 17, 2024

    Meta Deletes Photo Tagging IP At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday handed Meta Platforms Inc. a win in an infringement case, upholding the invalidation of a patent-holding company's patent on digitally tagging images and dismissing related patents on appeal after they failed to survive at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • September 17, 2024

    Addleshaw Goddard Expands IP Team With Five Stobbs Hires

    Addleshaw Goddard LLP has hired a five-lawyer team from an intellectual property boutique led by a veteran IP litigator from the high-profile Colin the Caterpillar case as it strives to grow a market-leading team.

  • September 17, 2024

    Toshiba Sheet-Counting Patent Gets Revoked On Appeal

    Toshiba has lost a patent over a sheet-inspecting machine that can count and reject banknotes, after European officials ruled that it was obvious in light of previous patents.

  • September 17, 2024

    Competitiveness Outranks Climate In New EU Commission

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shifted her focus from climate change to boosting competitiveness as she proposed her team of commissioners for the next five-year mandate Tuesday, handing out key jobs covering everything from competition enforcement to trade policy.

  • September 17, 2024

    Nokia's UPC Clash With Rival Paused Amid German Case

    Nokia cannot press ahead with its bid to revoke an Israeli company's connectivity patent at the Unified Patent Court until its "almost identical" German case concludes, an appeals panel ruled Tuesday.

  • September 17, 2024

    Dutch Bike Maker Proves Rival's 'Fat Bike' Infringes Its Design

    A bicycle company has persuaded a Dutch court to prevent its rival from selling its "fat bikes" in the European Union, proving that the wide-tired mount infringes its design rights over a similar bicycle.

  • September 17, 2024

    EasyGroup Hits Bathroom Retailer For "Easy Bathrooms" TM

    Airline and hotel giant EasyGroup is suing a supplier of bathroom equipment for infringing its trademark by using an "Easy Bathrooms" logo reading, saying the company is unlawfully benefiting from its reputation.

  • September 16, 2024

    Teleflex Gets Another Chance In Catheter Patent Feud

    The Federal Circuit on Monday held that a Minnesota district court was wrong to invalidate claims in seven catheter patents Teleflex LLC asserted against Medtronic Inc. as indefinite, finding the lower court took an overly narrow view of how claims are construed.

  • September 16, 2024

    Injectable Analgesic Maker Wants Generic Version Blocked

    Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals has sued a rival drugmaker in Delaware federal court, alleging the company copied its injectable version of acetaminophen and infringed four patents in the process.

  • September 16, 2024

    IBM Wins $45M From Zynga In Gaming Patent Trial

    A Delaware federal jury has found that social game developer Zynga Inc. infringed two IBM patents with its interactive games and owes the tech giant $45 million.

  • September 16, 2024

    Texas Trio Ordered To Pay Lewis Brisbois $1.5M After TM Spat

    A Houston federal judge ordered a Texas trio to pay more than $1.5 million in statutory damages to Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP after finding last month that the group willfully stole the BigLaw behemoth's name for its mediation business in 2022.

  • September 16, 2024

    Bayer Beats IP Firm's Bid To Nix European MRI Patent

    Bayer AG has seen off a challenge by law firm De Simone & Partners to scrap its patent for a type of contrast agent used to improve the quality of MRI scans after European patent officials confirmed that it contained a new compound.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Expert Witness Standards Must Consider Peer Review Crisis

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    For nearly two decades, the so-called replication crisis has upended how the scientific community views the reliability of peer-reviewed studies, and it’s time for courts to reevaluate whether peer review is a trustworthy proxy for expert witness reliability, say Jeffrey Gross and Robert LaCroix at Reid Collins.

  • USPTO Must Anticipate 'Black-Box Problem' For AI Inventions

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent guidance allows patents for inventions created with artificial intelligence, but inventors need to address the so-called black-box problem to ensure others can recreate the invention, thus meeting the enablement requirement, say Mark Basanta and Georg Reitboeck at Haug Partners.

  • Irish Businesses Should Act Now To Prepare For EU AI Act

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    Artificial intelligence is increasingly transforming the Irish job market, and proactive engagement with the forthcoming European Union AI Act, a significant shift in the regulatory landscape for Irish businesses, will be essential for Irish businesses to responsibly harness AI’s advantages and to maintain legal compliance, say lawyers at Pinsent Masons.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Considerations For Federal Right Of Publicity As AI Advances

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    Amid rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence technology, Congress should consider how a federal right of publicity would interact with the existing patchwork of state name, image and likeness laws, as well as other issues like scope, harm recognized and available relief, says Ross Bagley at Pryor Cashman.

  • What Patent Litigators Should Know About CHIPS Act Grants

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    With the U.S. Department of Commerce now actively awarding grants under the CHIPS and Science Act, recipients should ensure they understand the implications of promises to construct new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, especially in jurisdictions with active patent litigation dockets, say Gabriel Culver and Peter Hillegas at Norton Rose.

  • Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June

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    A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Trending At The PTAB: 1 Year Of Denials Of Institution

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    An analysis of Patent Trial and Appeal Board denials of institutions between May 2023 and May of this year highlights the board’s common reasons for denial, which can provide insight to both petitioners and patent owners in future proceedings, say Kevin Rodkey and Victor Palace at Finnegan.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Conception Is The Proper Test For AI-Assisted Inventions

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should adopt the conception standard for reviewing AI-assisted inventions, and require the disclosure of artificial intelligence prompts and responses because they are material to patentability, which would then simplify the patent examiner’s invention decision, says Thomas Hamlin at Robins Kaplan.

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