Intellectual Property

  • August 15, 2024

    Eminem Publisher Chided By Judge In Losing Spotify IP Fight

    A Tennessee federal judge on Thursday granted summary judgment to Spotify in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Eminem's music publisher, with the judge chiding the music publisher for using a "wait-and-sue strategy" to increase the potential damages owed by the music-streaming behemoth.

  • August 15, 2024

    Baker Botts, Sumner Schick $14M Fee Hit As 'Unreasonable'

    Baker Botts LLP and Sumner Schick LLP's request for $14.3 million in attorney fees plus $1.8 million in costs following their client Computer Sciences Corp.'s $168.4 million trade secrets verdict against Tata Consultancy Services is "facially unreasonable," the consulting firm told a Texas federal judge Wednesday.

  • August 15, 2024

    Philips' Fitness Tracker Patent Suit Is Back On Course

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday breathed new life into a patent suit by electronics giant Philips targeting fitness trackers made by Garmin.

  • August 15, 2024

    Hytera Says Diligent Radio Retool Should Head Off Contempt

    Hytera Communications Corp. Ltd. says it should not be held in contempt for allegedly failing to pay Motorola Solutions royalties on mobile radios it redesigned after getting slapped with a trade secret theft verdict, arguing that evidence proves that Hytera redesigned its products "module by module, line by line."

  • August 15, 2024

    Nvidia Illegally Scraped Videos To Train AI, YouTuber Says

    Artifical intelligence technology titan Nvidia Corp. has been collecting millions of YouTube videos without creators' permission and using them to train its deep-learning AI software, according to a proposed class action filed Wednesday in California federal court.

  • August 15, 2024

    Trump's Use Of Isaac Hayes Song Sparks IP Political Tension

    Donald Trump’s habit of closing his speeches with the song "Hold On (I’m Coming)” has angered the family of the late legendary soul singer Isaac Hayes, the latest election-year example of political candidates upsetting artists or their families who don’t want their music associated with a particular campaign.

  • August 15, 2024

    Yearbook Site Has 'Tortured View' Of Suit Waiver, Judge Says

    A Washington federal judge criticized the company behind Classmates.com on Thursday for arguing someone could've waived their right to sue the company for using their photo without ever visiting the website, calling it a "tortured view" of the Terms of Services language.

  • August 15, 2024

    You Can Drive 100 Miles, Albright Tells Texas Instruments

    Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. failed Thursday to persuade U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas to let a patent lawsuit leave his jurisdiction, in part because of the "less than 100 miles" between Waco and the federal courthouse in Dallas.

  • August 15, 2024

    'What Is An NFT?': 9th Circ. Mulls Novel Bored Ape TM Fight

    A Ninth Circuit judge considering whether a trial court correctly found artists owe millions for ripping off trademarks on the Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token collection questioned Thursday whether the NFT market is comparable to typical consumer markets, rhetorically asking, "What are we even talking about? What is an NFT?"

  • August 15, 2024

    Juul License Doesn't Negate R.J. Reynolds' Royalties, Altria Says

    The parent company of Philip Morris is pushing back on what it described as a delayed bid by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. to skirt paying royalties on a pod-style vape, telling a North Carolina federal court that an "after-the-fact sublicense" with Juul isn't enough to undo the ongoing payments.

  • August 15, 2024

    Ex-Mushroomhead Singer Sues Bandmate Over Royalties

    The co-founder of metal band Mushroomhead has filed a copyright infringement and breach of contract suit in Ohio federal court accusing his fellow co-founder of failing to pay him royalties and income from tours and merchandise sales, and failing to rightfully attribute his ownership of many of the band's original musical works.

  • August 15, 2024

    No Dismissal Yet In Dispute Over Education Law Firm TM

    A Philadelphia-based education law firm's suit seeking to cancel registration for its competitor's trademark "The Education Lawyers" must continue because open questions remain, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.

  • August 15, 2024

    Texas Trio Willfully Stole Lewis Brisbois Name, Judge Says

    A Texas mediation service that named itself after BigLaw behemoth Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP and told the firm to "come and take it" has infringed Lewis Brisbois' trademark and must pay its attorney fees from the bitter suit, which racked up over 300 docket entries in under two years, a Texas federal judge has ruled.

  • August 15, 2024

    Pharma Co. TM Dispute Doesn't Belong In Florida, Judge Says

    A trademark lawsuit between two drug companies with similar names does not belong in a Florida federal court, a judge in West Palm Beach has ruled.

  • August 15, 2024

    Partners Stole Dairy Product Co.'s Trade Secrets, Suit Says

    A dairy farm products company has filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court claiming its manufacturing and distribution partners used its trade secrets to develop and sell a competing line of infection prevention offerings.

  • August 15, 2024

    Delaware Judge Sends Tracking Tech IP Dispute To California

    A Delaware federal judge sent a patent infringement suit brought by a company that sells truck driver tracking software to California federal court, questioning in her opinion whether the company "ever fully intended" to pursue its claims in the First State in the first place.

  • August 14, 2024

    Gilstrap Can't Keep IP Case Top Secret, Federal Circuit Told

    Law professors and media groups are backing a nonprofit's legal quest at the Federal Circuit to unseal documents in a since-concluded patent lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas, arguing that keeping patent cases secret harms the public interest.

  • August 14, 2024

    Fla. Gratuity Platform Alleges Toast Stole Trade Secrets

    Gratuity Solutions LLC accused Boston-based Toast Inc. of misappropriating trade secrets in a lawsuit brought Wednesday in Florida federal court, alleging that executives from the point-of-sale software company stole confidential information after a failed bid to merge the two companies.

  • August 14, 2024

    Cannabis Fertilizer Co. Says Rival Stole IP For Fake THC Study

    A company that sells fertilizer to commercial cannabis growers has claimed a competitor used its trademarks as part of an unsanctioned co-branding campaign and on THC lab testing reports that falsely advertise its products as less effective, according to a suit filed in Washington federal court.

  • August 14, 2024

    Texas Atty Must Pay Volkswagen $200K In Fees For Patent Suit

    A Texas federal judge has ordered litigation firm VDPP LLC and its counsel, Texas attorney William Ramey III of Ramey LLP, to pay Volkswagen $207,543 in fees stemming from a now-dismissed patent case after determining a fee multiplier that applies to "exceptional" cases was appropriate due to the suit's "obvious lack of merit."

  • August 14, 2024

    Novartis' $45B Biz Can Survive If Generic Debuts, Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge told Novartis to stop acting like it would be destroyed financially by having a generic version of its best-selling drug Entresto enter the market, saying the drugmaker will be fine if it loses $3 billion in U.S. sales out of its $45 billion global revenue.

  • August 14, 2024

    AstraZeneca Freed From $107.5M Verdict In Pfizer Patent Case

    A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a Delaware jury verdict that AstraZeneca owes $107.5 million for infringing two cancer drug patents owned by a Pfizer unit, concluding that both patents are invalid for failing to provide sufficient information about the invention.

  • August 14, 2024

    Boeing Scraps Electric Jet Co.'s $72M Trade Secrets Trial Win

    A Washington federal judge on Wednesday canceled a $72 million jury award against The Boeing Co. for misappropriating electric jet startup Zunum Aero Inc.'s trade secrets, finding Zunum offered "only vague and amorphous descriptions" of the trade secrets at trial.

  • August 14, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Fla. Judge 'Misread' Precedent In Elfbar Row

    The maker of the popular Elfbar vape will get another shot at upending a court-imposed order banning it from selling under the "Elf" mark, the Federal Circuit ruled Wednesday, saying the district judge who ordered the injunction "misread" precedent and relied on a "deficient" legal analysis.

  • August 14, 2024

    Netgear Says Scammer Used Its TMs To Defraud Customers

    An alleged online scammer is using Netgear Inc.'s trademarks to trick the computer networking company's customers into thinking they are buying products and services from Netgear itself, according to the company's $4 million complaint alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • When Patents As Loan Collateral Can Cost You Standing

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Intellectual Tech v. Zebra Technologies shines a light on loan default provisions' implications for patent infringement litigation, as a default may inadvertently strip a patent owner of constitutional standing to sue over a patent pledged as collateral, say Joseph Marinelli and Suet L. Lee at Irwin IP.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • How Life Science Companies Are Approaching UPC Opt-Outs

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    A look at recent data shows that one year after its launch, the European Union's Unified Patent Court is still seeing a high rate of opt-outs, including from large U.S.-based life science companies wary of this unpredictable court — and there are reasons this strategy should largely remain the same, say Sanjay Murthy and Christopher Tuinenga at McAndrews Held.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • 6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months

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    The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • FTC Focus: Competition And The Right To Repair

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    If the Federal Trade Commission includes commercial and industrial products as part of copyright exemptions that allow consumers to modify or repair products, then businesses and affected rights holders will need to consider copyrights' impact on infringement issues, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • The Fed. Circ. In May: A Major Shift In Design Patent Law

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    The Federal Circuit's recent en banc decision in LKQ v. GM overruled three decades of precedent and adopted a new standard for assessing the obviousness of design patents, leaving many questions unanswered, say Sean Murray and Jeremiah Helm at Knobbe Martens.

  • Series

    Skiing And Surfing Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I’ve learned while riding waves in the ocean and slopes in the mountains have translated to my legal career — developing strong mentor relationships, remaining calm in difficult situations, and being prepared and able to move to a backup plan when needed, says Brian Claassen at Knobbe Martens.

  • Unpacking The Circuit Split Over A Federal Atty Fee Rule

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    Federal circuit courts that have addressed Rule 41(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are split as to whether attorney fees are included as part of the costs of a previously dismissed action, so practitioners aiming to recover or avoid fees should tailor arguments to the appropriate court, says Joseph Myles and Lionel Lavenue at Finnegan.

  • 4 Steps To Repair Defense Credibility In Opening Statements

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    Given the continued rise of record-breaking verdicts, defense counsel need to consider fresh approaches to counteract the factors coloring juror attitudes — starting with a formula for rebuilding credibility at the very beginning of opening statements, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Fair Use Doctrine Faces Challenges In The Generative AI Era

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    As courts struggle to apply existing copyright principles to new, digital contexts, the evolving capabilities of AI technologies are testing the limits of traditional frameworks, with the fair use doctrine being met with significant challenges, says John Poulos at Norton Rose.

  • Prejudicial Evidence Takeaways From Trump Hush Money Trial

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    The Manhattan District Attorney's Office's prosecution and conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts provides a lesson on whether evidence may cause substantial unfair prejudice, or if its prejudicial potential is perfectly fair within the bounds of the law, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

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