Intellectual Property

  • August 09, 2024

    Intel Hit With Copyright Suit Over Expired Anaconda License

    Software company Anaconda Inc., which describes itself as "the operating system for AI," has accused Intel Corp. of copyright infringement, alleging in a complaint in Delaware federal court that Intel has been using Anaconda's technology for its artificial intelligence development platform without paying.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal Can't Be Used Against Ex-Client At PTAB, Fed. Circ. Says

    The Federal Circuit said Friday that the initial involvement of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal in a handful of patent challenges during her private practice days at Winston & Strawn LLP isn't enough to prevent the patent board from ever deciding on those petitions.

  • August 09, 2024

    Akoustis Blames Qorvo's Experts For $38M Trade Secrets Win

    Akoustis Technologies Inc. has asked a Delaware federal court to overturn a May jury verdict against it for stealing trade secrets and the $38.3 million in damages awarded to wireless company Qorvo Inc., arguing that two Qorvo experts "eschewed the well-established and accepted methods" to measure unjust enrichment for misappropriation.

  • August 09, 2024

    Novartis Wants DC Judge To Quickly Block Entresto Generic

    Novartis Pharmaceuticals urged a D.C. federal judge Friday to temporarily restrain the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from officially approving a generic version of the company's blockbuster heart failure medication Entresto.

  • August 09, 2024

    IP Row Over Beyoncé's 'Renaissance' Sample Dropped

    A New Orleans music group has voluntarily dropped its claims accusing Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Sony Music Entertainment and others of infringing the group's copyright in Beyoncé's song "Break My Soul" and her film discussing the world tour of her "Renaissance" album that features the track.

  • August 09, 2024

    Vidal's Sanctions Make It Clear: Don't Mess With The PTAB

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has only faced a handful of instances where sanctions took center stage, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director's rulings have made attorneys increasingly aware that pushing ethical boundaries at the board could put their cases and their careers at risk.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 15 Quick Tips For Uncovering And Mitigating Juror Biases

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    As highlighted by the recent jury selection process in the criminal hush money trial against former President Donald Trump, juror bias presents formidable challenges for defendants, and attorneys must employ proactive strategies — both new and old — to blunt its impact, say Monica Delgado and Jonathan Harris at Harris St. Laurent.

  • Tips For Keeping Trade Secrets In The Vault

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    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.

  • Reducing Patent Litigation Costs Starts With Early Strategy

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    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.

  • Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate

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    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.

  • Opinion

    'Natural Person' Or Not, AI-Made IP Deserves Protection

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    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.

  • Lessons On Challenging Class Plaintiffs' Expert Testimony

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    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.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    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.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    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.

  • Del. IP Ruling May Mark Limitation-By-Limitation Analysis Shift

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    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.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    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.

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    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.

  • ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports

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    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.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    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.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe

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    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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