Intellectual Property

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Patent Cases To Watch In 2025

The Federal Circuit has taken on a rare en banc patent case looking at damages, while the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review when foreign damages can be incorporated into patent awards. Here's what you need to know about these cases and others that attorneys are keeping an eye on in 2025.
January 07, 2025
EDTX Judge Suggests Knocking Out 2 Patents Before LG Trial

A magistrate judge in Texas has recommended cutting two patents from a lawsuit against LG over technology used to program "smart" TVs, marketed a decade ago in China by a prominent electronics maker that LG once used as a supplier.
January 07, 2025
Fed. Circ. Rejects Software Co.'s Bid For $86M From Navy

A Federal Circuit panel affirmed a decision holding that the U.S. Navy owes a software company just $154,000 for its infringing use of a 3-D virtual reality program, and not the nearly $86 million the company sought based on installations on more than 429,000 computers.
January 07, 2025
Starbucks Says It Can Target Inventor In Mobile Ordering Feud

Starbucks has urged the Eastern District of Texas to keep alive its counterclaims against a patent-licensing executive who claims the coffee chain infringed a patent covering a mobile ordering system, accusing him of creating an "extensive thimblerig" of shell entities to avoid paying the cost of his "meritless" cases.
January 07, 2025
O'Melveny Beats DQ Bid In Hyundai Trademark Dispute

A California federal judge has denied a bid to disqualify O'Melveny & Myers LLP from representing Hyundai Motor Co. in a trademark dispute with computing company Hyundai Technology Group, saying the firm's failure to destroy a clawed-back document didn't justify booting it from the case.
January 07, 2025
Judge Looks To Finally Resolve Mass. 'Right To Repair' Suit

A long-stalled fight over Massachusetts' expanded "right to repair" law requiring open access to vehicle telematics software appears to be on a fast track after a new judge took over the case and said Tuesday she plans to rule in the near future.
January 07, 2025
Judge Tosses Classic Car Suit Against Springsteen

A lawsuit seeking payment for the use of a classic car on the cover of Bruce Springsteen's 2022 album "Only the Strong Survive" was dismissed Friday by a New Jersey state judge who said the only evidence amounted to "double hearsay."
January 06, 2025
T.I. Fights To Keep $53M Punitive Damages Win Against MGA

Rapper Clifford "T.I." Harris urged a California federal judge Monday to rethink his tentative decision slashing $53 million in punitive damages from a jury's $71 million verdict against MGA Entertainment over infringement by its line of L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls, arguing the jury's advisory finding of willful infringement can't be disregarded.
January 06, 2025
Tesla Gets PTAB To Trim Patents In AI Vehicle Feud

An administrative patent board has issued several rulings on patents covering the use of artificial intelligence in self-driving vehicles, largely won by Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. and the subject of litigation in Delaware federal court.
January 06, 2025
Jury Will Hear Proud Boys 'Context' In Trial Against Law Firm

A federal judge ruled Monday that a lawyer and law firm who supposedly misused a Texas company's jury pool research can't keep a jury from hearing certain details about their defense of Proud Boys who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
January 06, 2025
Trucking Financial Co. Says Ex-Worker Broke Noncompete

The former face of customer service for a Charlotte, North Carolina, branch of a full-service provider for companies in the logistics and transportation industries has been hit with a suit by his former employer alleging he violated his noncompete agreement by joining a rival business and enticing "significant customers" to follow him.
January 06, 2025
'Pizza Puff' Maker Fights Little Caesars' Injunction Stay Bid

An Illinois federal judge shouldn't wait to enforce his order blocking Little Caesars from marketing its latest pizza muffin appetizer as "pizza puffs" because the chain won't convince the Seventh Circuit the term is generic, the company behind the trademarked fried pizza product argued Monday.
January 06, 2025
High Court Asked To Take Whistleblower Medical Device Row

A former Minerva Surgical Inc. sales representative who says he was mistreated after raising concerns about the safety of certain medical devices wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his challenge to an arbitration award given to his former employer in whistleblower proceedings.
January 06, 2025
Biotech Trade Secrets Case Gets New Punitive Damages Trial

A California federal judge has ordered a new punitive damages trial on how much a former Skye Orthobiologics LLC employee owes in a case where he was found to have breached his fiduciary duties by leveraging Skye's proprietary information, after ruling last year there wasn't enough evidence to support an earlier $25 million award.
January 06, 2025
Artist Tells Justices To Protect His 'Stupid Banana'

While a California artist acknowledged to the U.S. Supreme Court that his work of art was just "a stupid banana taped to a wall," he still thinks it deserves copyright protection after an appeals court ruled that it wasn't "strikingly similar" to a more famous banana taped to a wall that debuted at Art Basel Miami over a decade later.
January 06, 2025
WDTX Urged To Spurn Microsoft's Bid To 'Slow' AI Chip Fight

Technology startup Xockets has slammed Microsoft's bid to separate itself from patent infringement claims against it and Nvidia concerning computer chips used for generative artificial intelligence, telling the Western District of Texas that the company is trying to "slow the case" and "inundate the court with threshold motion practice."
January 06, 2025
Google Looks To Toss Big Tech Litigant's Antitrust Claims

Google asked a Florida federal court on Monday to dismiss antitrust claims from web development company Greenflight over the search giant's reverse phone number lookup, saying the newly amended suit does not rectify the pleading problems already pointed out by the court.
January 06, 2025
USA Football Falls Short Of Goal Line In TM Infringement Claim

A Texas federal judge has found that a jury will have to decide a trademark infringement claim launched by USA Football in a feud over the national leadership of flag football within the U.S., but said the organization's marks were valid.
January 06, 2025
Amazon, Black & Decker Win $13M Default In Fake Battery Suit

A Seattle federal judge has awarded The Black & Decker Corp. $8 million and Amazon $5.2 million in a default judgment against two individuals using 17 different accounts to peddle counterfeit DeWalt-branded batteries through Amazon's online marketplace.
January 06, 2025
Labcorp Loses Appeal Of Gene-Testing Patent In $372M Case

Labcorp, one of the world's largest chains of clinical lab providers, lost its appeal over a patent tied to a $372 million judgment it is facing in the Western District of Texas, after Federal Circuit judges on Monday upheld an administrative patent board ruling against it two years ago.
January 06, 2025
Judge Urged To Sit Out Alopecia IP Row Over Ex-Clerk's Role

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has asked a New Jersey federal judge to recuse himself from a case alleging the company's alopecia drug infringes an Incyte patent, saying Incyte's attorneys hired the judge's former law clerk and put him on the case, creating "an indelible appearance of impropriety."
January 06, 2025
Robot Lawn Mower Cos. End Their Contract Fight In NC

A pair of robot lawn mower companies that have been fighting over the aftermath of their prior partnership have come together to tell North Carolina's business court that they are ready to drop their dispute following an earlier motion that stated they had agreed to a settlement.
January 06, 2025
Insurance Execs Seek Defense Costs For Self-Dealing Suit

Insurance company executives who were fired amid accusations they stole assets from their company to start a competing venture demanded coverage for the dispute from their new business's insurer in Georgia Federal Court.
January 06, 2025
Akoustis Says Ch. 11 Plan Handles IP Injunction Concerns

Radio frequency filter venture Akoustis Technologies Inc. has accused judgment creditor Qorvo Inc. of seeking to scuttle Akoustis' Chapter 11 stalking-horse sale in Delaware for competitive reasons beyond Qorvo's $38 million patent infringement judgment.
January 06, 2025
Ohio State, NCAA, Big Ten Look To Sack Ex-QB's NIL Suit

Ohio State University, the NCAA, The Big Ten Conference Inc. and a media rights licensing company urged an Ohio federal judge to toss a proposed class action brought by former Buckeye star quarterback Terrelle Pryor alleging they engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy to monopolize profits on athletes' names, images and likenesses.
January 03, 2025
Vizgen Loses Antitrust Claims Against 10x In Biotech IP Fight

A Delaware federal court on Friday dropped Harvard's business partners at 10x Genomics Inc. out of some of the antitrust counterclaims by a rival biotech developer that is targeted in a patent lawsuit set for trial next month.

Editor's Picks

Why Many Drugs Remain Pricey 40 Years After Hatch-Waxman

In the four decades since Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act in an effort to make generic drugs more available, the pharmaceutical industry has used patent thickets, "evergreening" and pay-for-delay tactics to block competition and keep prices of life-saving specialty drugs astronomical, several legal experts told Law360, while the industry argues other parties shoulder more of the blame.
Full Fed. Circ. Looks To Clarify Damages In Google Case

The full Federal Circuit has agreed to review EcoFactor's $20 million infringement award against Google, a move that attorneys say should provide much-needed guidance for both judges and parties when calculating damages.
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.

Expert Analysis

Rejoinder Strategy After Allergan Double-Patenting Case

A closer look at last year's Allergan v. MSN case at the Federal Circuit highlights the importance of rejoinder during patent prosecution in view of the risks associated with obviousness-type double patenting based on later-filed applications in the same patent family, say attorneys at BCLP.
7 Pitfalls To Watch In Tech Referral Fee Programs

The recent attempt by FluidStack to recover $10 million in referral fees allegedly promised by software vendor Denvr Dataworks should alert potential participants in so-called partnership programs to seven signs that a proposed technology referral agreement may not equally benefit all sides, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.
Takeaways From 2024's Emerging IP Licensing Trends

Themes in intellectual property licensing from the past year – including artificial intelligence; risk management; and name, image and likeness rights – highlight key considerations for navigating an evolving landscape, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.
Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
How The UPC, ITC Complement Each Other In Patent Law

Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss the similarities and differences between the Unified Patent Court and the International Trade Commission, as well as recent matters litigated in both venues and why parties choose to file at these forums.
Series

Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
Identifying Deepfakes During Evidence Collection, Discovery

Excerpt from Practical Guidance

Attorneys must familiarize themselves with the tools used to create and detect deepfakes — media manipulated by artificial intelligence to convincingly mimic real people and events — as well as best practices for keeping this fabricated evidence out of court, says Bijan Ghom at Saxton & Stump.
Fed. Circ. In December: A Patent Prosecution History Lesson

Despite relying on two rock-solid principles of patent law, DDR lost its Federal Circuit case against Priceline.com, highlighting how a change in the scope of the invention from the provisional to the nonprovisional application can affect the court's analysis of how a skilled artisan would understand claim terms after reading the prosecution history, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.
An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
2025 Patent And TM Policy At USPTO: What We Know So Far

This upcoming year at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office promises a continued focus on artificial intelligence-related policies, as well as initiatives to drive efficiency and modernize standard processes, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.
Reviewing 2024's Crucial Patent Law Developments

As 2024 draws to a close, significant rulings and policies aimed at modernizing long-standing legal practices or addressing emerging challenges have reached patent law, says Michael Ellenberger at Rothwell Figg.
How White Collar Enforcement May Shift In Trump's 2nd Term

After President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the administration’s emphasis on immigration laws, drug offenses and violent crime will likely reduce the focus on white collar crime overall, but certain areas within the white collar world may see increased activity, say attorneys at Keker Van Nest.
Series

Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.
2024's Most Notable FTC Actions Against Dark Patterns And AI

In 2024 the Federal Trade Commission ramped up enforcement actions related to dark patterns, loudly signaling its concern that advertisers will use AI to manipulate consumer habits and its intention to curb businesses' use and marketing of AI to prevent alleged consumer deception, say attorneys at Goodwin.