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Intellectual Property
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September 05, 2024
MGA's O.M.G. Dolls Imitated Girl Group's Looks, Member Says
Toy company MGA Entertainment Inc.'s line of O.M.G. dolls imitated the signature looks of a pop group created by rapper T.I. called OMG Girlz, a member of the singing group testified Thursday in a California federal court retrial of a long-running intellectual property fight.
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September 05, 2024
NCAA's $2.78B NIL Deal Misses 1st Shot At Initial OK
A California federal judge declined Thursday to preliminarily approve a $2.78 billion deal to settle an antitrust class action targeting the NCAA's name, image and likeness compensation rules, saying counsel must "go back to the drawing board" on some of the deal's terms.
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September 05, 2024
TM Ruling Creates Way To Pierce Corporate Veil, Justices Told
A conservative legal group says that a Fourth Circuit ruling the justices have agreed to review over a $43 million trademark award in a fight between two businesses that use the name "Dewberry" provides a new way to pierce the corporate veil that "veers far from acceptable legal principles."
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September 05, 2024
Lupin Infringes Exeltis Contraceptive Patents, Judge Finds
Mumbai-based generic-pharmaceuticals company Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. has infringed five patents of the estrogen-free contraceptive Slynd, a Delaware federal judge said Wednesday, finding in favor of Spanish pharmaceutical company Insud Pharma and its New Jersey-based division Exeltis USA Inc. on all asserted claims.
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September 05, 2024
ITC To Investigate Synthetic Hair Cos. For Patent Violations
The U.S. International Trade Commission said it's launching an investigation after Atlanta-based JBS Hair Inc. claimed rival companies are importing synthetic hair that infringes ts patents.
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September 05, 2024
Guess What? The Guess Who Settled Their Intra-Band TM Suit
The trademark dispute between two halves of the Canadian rock band The Guess Who ended Thursday when the four rockers filed a joint stipulation asking a California federal judge to toss the lead singer and lead guitarist's claims that their two former bandmates were using the group's trademarks without permission.
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September 05, 2024
OpenAI Slams YouTuber's AI Training Class Action
OpenAI told a California federal judge that a proposed class action accusing it of unjustly enriching itself by training its large language model programs with transcripts of YouTube videos is just a "carbon copy" of similar claims already thrown out by the courts, arguing the complaint should be dismissed.
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September 05, 2024
Norton, Quinn Emanuel Decry $600M Patent, Contempt Ruling
NortonLifeLock and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP again urged the Federal Circuit to overturn a $600 million patent infringement verdict against the company that was in part based on the firm's being held in contempt, with both saying the holding has serious flaws.
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September 05, 2024
Shoemaker Can't Avoid Birkenstock's Copycat Suit
A Massachusetts-based shoemaker and its manufacturer must face almost every intellectual property claim brought against it by Birkenstock after a federal judge declined to dismiss all but one claim in the popular brand's suit alleging design patent, trademark and trade dress infringement.
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September 05, 2024
UK Screen Directors Tap Ex-Disney GC To Seek Royalties
One year ago this month, Peter Wiley walked away from his job as chief international counsel for the Walt Disney Co., saying he wanted to "take a short break." And he did.
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September 05, 2024
Veteran Atty Launches Solo Patent Boutique In Va.
Longtime patent attorney Michael Kiklis — a former partner at both Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Oblon McClelland Maier & Neustadt LLP who has represented companies including SLB, Thermo Fisher Scientific's Life Technologies Corp. and Steuben Foods Inc. — has launched his own patent boutique in Alexandria, Virginia.
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September 05, 2024
Ex-Siemens Exec Concedes Trade Secret Caper Merits Prison
A former executive of Siemens Energy Inc. has told a Virginia federal judge that he recognizes that a period of incarceration is merited after he pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from General Electric Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. to undercut their bids to build a gas turbine plant.
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September 05, 2024
Chile Approves Trade Protections For US Cheeses, Meats
Chile approved an agreement with the U.S. that will allow U.S. exporters to continue selling prosciutto, cheddar and dozens of other meats and cheeses under their current names in the Chilean market.
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September 12, 2024
Bird & Bird Recruits M&A Partner In Frankfurt Amid Growth
Bird & Bird LLP has hired a business expert as a partner in Frankfurt as the firm bolsters its growing corporate practice internationally, with a keen eye on its new office in Japan.
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September 04, 2024
'I Was Blown Away': Tiny Harris Says MGA Stole Group's Look
Tameka "Tiny" Harris testified Wednesday in California federal court that she was taken aback the first time she saw MGA Entertainment's line of O.M.G. dolls because she believed they ripped off the OMG Girlz pop group she created, and said a survey of her Instagram followers confirmed her reaction.
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September 04, 2024
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.
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September 04, 2024
Leech Tishman Combines With Calif. Firm Nelson Hardiman
Leech Tishman is set to add California-based healthcare and life science law firm Nelson Hardiman's 17 attorneys to its Los Angeles office this fall and will do business in the Golden State under the combined name Leech Tishman Nelson Hardiman, the firm announced Tuesday.
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September 04, 2024
Fed. Circ. Told To Skip Dish's Review Bid Of $3M Fee Ruling
A patent litigation company and its former counsel have shot back at an attempt to get the full Federal Circuit to weigh in on whether Dish Network LLC can collect more than $3 million in legal fees directly from the lawyers who filed the failed patent case.
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September 04, 2024
Nonsolicits Don't Need Geographic Terms, Ga. Justices Say
The Supreme Court of Georgia said on Wednesday that restrictive covenants don't need to contain an explicit territorial component for them to be deemed reasonable under state law, reviving a marketing organization's attempt to enforce a nonsolicitation provision in its contracts with independent agents.
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September 04, 2024
Dynapass Drops Patent Suit Against Bank Of America
A litigation outfit has agreed to drop its patent infringement allegations against Bank of America, ending a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas over the programming behind user-authentication software.
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September 04, 2024
Bid To Nix Expert Fails As Fed. Circ. OKs $2.3M Patent Verdict
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld a $2.3 million patent verdict against dental imaging device maker Planmeca USA Inc., rejecting the company's argument that plaintiff Osseo Imaging LLC's technical expert was not qualified because his experience came after the invention.
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September 04, 2024
Honda Again Loses Patent Challenge After Reprieve From Vidal
Months after U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly refused to review a Neo Wireless patent targeted by Honda because Volkswagen had already challenged it, the board again has rejected Honda's petition.
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September 04, 2024
CommScope Must Pay $5.4M Atop $11M IP Verdict
A Texas federal judge has ordered North Carolina network infrastructure business CommScope Holding Co. Inc. and its related companies to pay $5.4 million in addition to the $11 million in patent infringement damages CommScope already must pay to a licensing company that prevailed in its claims asserting six patents.
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September 04, 2024
AI Co. Keeps Engine Supplier In Trade Secrets Suit
An artificial intelligence software developer can continue pursuing a case seeking at least $500 million in Delaware state court from an engine manufacturer over claims that it misappropriated its trade secrets after canceling a deal they had to develop an AI tool.
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September 04, 2024
NC Biz Court Bulletin: Blackbeard IP Fight, Firm Data Breach
As summer winds down, the North Carolina Business Court tackled usage rights pertaining to footage and artifacts from Blackbeard's shipwreck while grappling with uncovering the details of a cyberattack that exposed the data of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP. In case you missed those and others, here are the highlights.
Expert Analysis
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Tips For Keeping Trade Secrets In The Vault
Key practices aimed at maintaining confidentiality can help companies establish trade secret status as the Federal Trade Commission's ban on noncompetes makes it prudent to explore other security measures, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.
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Reducing Patent Litigation Costs Starts With Early Strategy
With the average cost ranging from $1 million to $4 million, defending a patent case can create a serious strain on resources, particularly for midsize or smaller companies, so certain cost-cutting steps should be considered at the outset — even if some seem counterintuitive, say Jeffrey Ahdoot and Wendy Verlander at Verlander.
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Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate
With increasingly sophisticated and accessible voice-cloning technology raising social, ethical and legal questions, particularly in the entertainment industry and politics, further legislative intervention and court proceedings seem very likely, say Shruti Chopra and Paul Joseph at Linklaters.
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Opinion
'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection
The entire legal edifice rests on a determination that an artificial system is not a so-called natural person, and although this may appear to be straightforward on its face, rapid advances in technology may soon force us to revisit our understanding of a natural person, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.
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Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony
In class actions seeking damages, plaintiffs are increasingly using expert opinions to establish predominance, but several recent rulings from California federal courts shed light on how defendants can respond, say Jennifer Romano and Raija Horstman at Crowell & Moring.
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Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance
A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.
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Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew
When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.
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Del. IP Ruling May Mark Limitation-By-Limitation Analysis Shift
A Delaware federal court's recent ruling in Lindis Biotech v. Amgen, which involved complex technology where the complaint contained neither facts nor a specific allegation directed to a claim limitation, might spark a shift away from requiring a limitation-by-limitation analysis, say Ted Mathias and Ian Swan at Axinn.
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Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy
The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors
Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.
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ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports
While a recent U.S. International Trade Commission decision is a win for trade secret owners who can show injury to a U.S. domestic industry, the decision also means that companies operating in foreign jurisdictions will be subject to the requirements of U.S. trade secret law, say Paul Ainsworth and Cristen Corry at Sterne Kessler.
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What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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Series
Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.
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How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe
A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.
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TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.