Intellectual Property

  • January 27, 2025

    Harvard Drops Chip Patent Suit Against Samsung

    Harvard University on Monday dropped its lawsuit that accused Samsung and several of the South Korean multinational's U.S. affiliates of infringing two patents assigned to the Ivy League university when manufacturing certain microprocessors and memory chips.

  • January 27, 2025

    Keep Damages Rules, Let Newman Hear Case, Fed. Circ. Told

    The full Federal Circuit has been urged by startups and attorneys to reject calls by Google to tighten rules for admitting patent damages testimony, while counsel for suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman told the court it can't lawfully decide the case without her.

  • January 27, 2025

    Proud Boys Atty Calls Researcher Copyright Claim A "Ruse"

    A Texas-based researcher laid out her case against an attorney she accuses of violating her copyright and skipping out on his bill, claiming that her firm foundered after the lawyer, who was defending a Proud Boy accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol, didn't tell her he couldn't pay.

  • January 27, 2025

    Judge Grants Bid For Docs, Code In EPassport Fight

    A Court of Federal Claims judge partially granted a German company's bid to secure discovery materials from the U.S. government and a French cybersecurity firm for its suit accusing the government of infringing on patents related to electronic passport readers.

  • January 27, 2025

    Takeda Pushes Meijer Antitrust Suit Into Arbitration

    Meijer is going to have to arbitrate its claims that Takeda Pharmaceutical broke antitrust law by cutting a pay-for-delay deal with Par Pharmaceuticals to keep a generic version of Takeda's anti-constipation drug Amitiza off the market for several years.

  • January 27, 2025

    PTAB Axes Processor Patent Asserted Against Carmakers

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated all the claims in a patent issued almost a decade ago to engineers at Intel and then assigned to a litigation business that asserted it against automakers and others. 

  • January 27, 2025

    Cisco Tells Fed. Circ. To Uphold Win In Cybersecurity IP Row

    Cisco has defended its retrial victory in a multibillion-dollar computer security patent case by telling the Federal Circuit the new judge had seen through a cybersecurity startup's legal "tactics."

  • January 27, 2025

    Party City Inks Deal To Sell IP, Assets In 2nd Ch. 11

    Bankrupt retailer Party City has reached a stalking horse agreement to sell its brand name, other intellectual property and related operating assets to an affiliate of the pop culture merchandiser Ad Populum LLC, which owns the brand behind Chia Pet and is an owner of the entertainment complex at Elvis Presley's home Graceland.

  • January 27, 2025

    Judge Orders Litigation Funder To Give Docs To Netflix

    A Virginia federal judge said AiPi LLC, an intellectual property strategy service, has to hand over certain documents that Netflix Inc. requested relating to patent litigation claims against the streaming giant.

  • January 27, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Rules Smartphone Camera Patent Claims Are Invalid

    The Federal Circuit ruled Monday that all the claims in a pair of patents relating to smartphone camera technology were invalid, backing most of various Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions involving tech giants like Apple, Google and LG.

  • January 27, 2025

    NFL Union, DraftKings Reach Settlement In NFT Licensing Suit

    The NFL Players Association and DraftKings Inc. asked a New York federal judge Monday to pause a lawsuit that accused the betting platform of failing to follow through on a licensing agreement related to nonfungible tokens while they iron out details of a settlement.

  • January 27, 2025

    Broadcom Unit Loses Patent In Netflix Fight At Fed. Circ.

    A Broadcom subsidiary had no luck at the Federal Circuit on Monday in breathing new life into data caching patent claims that were asserted in the chipmaker's legal war with Netflix, but later rejected by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • January 27, 2025

    SCOTUSblog Publisher Pleads Not Guilty To Tax Crimes

    U.S. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein pled not guilty in Maryland federal court on Monday to charges that he schemed to evade taxes and used funds from his boutique law firm to cover gambling debts.

  • January 27, 2025

    Intellectual Property Group Of The Year: Reichman Jorgensen

    Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP won a $525 million infringement verdict against Amazon, and successfully challenged DC Comics' and Marvel's "super hero" trademark, earning the firm a place among the 2024 Law360 Intellectual Property Groups of the Year.

  • January 27, 2025

    Pool Co. To Face Rival's Contempt Bid Over $16M Judgment

    A Chinese pool parts supplier will have to appear for a show cause hearing to address whether it should be held in contempt for allegedly funneling money out of the country to avoid paying a $16 million judgment, a North Carolina federal judge said Monday.

  • January 24, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Partly Revives Steuben's Win In $38M IP Trial

    The Federal Circuit largely revived Steuben Foods' infringement victory from a jury trial on Friday, in an opinion that also delved into the status of the rarely used reverse doctrine of equivalents.

  • January 24, 2025

    Senate Bill Not Seen As Death Knell For Skinny Label Suits

    A Senate bill aiming to protect generic-drug makers from patent suits when using so-called skinny labels could give the law more clarity if passed, but it likely wouldn't halt such cases since they involve issues that are more complex than lawmakers may realize, attorneys say.

  • January 24, 2025

    Chinese Co. Rips Micron's 'Speculative' Fear Of Sharing Code

    Yangtze Memory Technologies on Friday urged the Federal Circuit to leave in place a district court's ruling requiring rival Micron Technology Inc. to turn over its source code in a flash memory chip patent dispute, arguing that Micron's security concerns "are entirely speculative."

  • January 24, 2025

    Shyamalan, Apple Cleared Of Copyright Infringement By Jury

    A California federal jury on Friday delivered M. Night Shyamalan from a real-life Hollywood nightmare when it cleared the director and others of stealing an independent filmmaker's work for his Apple TV+ show "Servant."

  • January 24, 2025

    Colgate Gets PTAB To Ax Travel Toothbrush Patent Claims

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that Colgate-Palmolive was able to show that all the challenged claims of a patent on a toothbrush preloaded with toothpaste are invalid as obvious based on earlier inventions.

  • January 24, 2025

    Anschutz Gets Trade Secrets Trial Delayed Amid Sale Dispute

    A Colorado state judge on Friday delayed an upcoming trial in a trade secrets suit brought by Anschutz Exploration Corp., giving the parties more time to deal with a discovery fight over a recent sale that left the jurist "totally dumbfounded" and "furious" at a Denver oil prospector earlier this week.

  • January 24, 2025

    Justices Urged To Review Souvenir Store's TM Fraud Case

    A Florida souvenir store chain has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider its challenge to a Second Circuit decision foreclosing its arguments that a bankrupt beachwear company fraudulently procured a trademark registration to secure a $3.5 million settlement in yearslong litigation between the competitors.

  • January 24, 2025

    Deere Loses Fed. Circ. Bid To Revive Seeding Patent Fight

    The Federal Circuit on Friday shot down John Deere's appeal of its loss at the lower court in a case where a jury found that a rival's SpeedTube products didn't infringe a pair of patents, affirming a lower court's denial of the farming equipment giant's bid for a new trial.

  • January 24, 2025

    Biotech Co. Defends Antitrust Counterclaims Against Rival

    Biotech company Zymo Research Corp. is defending its claims that German diagnostic competitor Qiagen GmbH's infringement suit is nothing more than an attempt to discredit a competitor, saying Zymo offered to prove it wasn't ripping off Qiagen's tech, only to have Qiagen bury "its head in the sand" and file suit.

  • January 24, 2025

    Dow Argues Tech Firm's IP Suit Over Software Is Time-Barred

    The Dow Chemical Co. has urged an Ohio federal judge to rule in its favor in a dispute over proprietary polyethylene manufacturing software, arguing that ControlSoft Inc.'s suit ignores their more than 20-year business relationship and that the technology firm waited too long to bring trade secrets and copyright infringement claims.

Expert Analysis

  • Private-Bidding Compliance Lessons From Siemens Plea Deal

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    Siemens Energy’s recent wire fraud conspiracy guilty plea shows that U.S. prosecutors are willing and able to police the private, domestic bidding market to protect the integrity of the competitive marketplace, and companies will need a robust compliance program to mitigate these risks, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Lessons From The Pharma Industry On Patent Cliffs

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    In the next five years, patents for drugs that have generated billions in global sales are set to expire, and companies that view this imminent patent cliff as an opportunity for strategic renewal rather than a challenge will be best positioned to maintain market leadership, says Keegan Caldwell at Caldwell Law.

  • FTC Report On AI Sector Illuminates Future Enforcement

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    The Federal Trade Commission's report on cloud service providers and their partnerships with developers of artificial intelligence's large language models suggests that the agency will move to rein in Big Tech with antitrust enforcement to protect startups, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Artfully Conceding Liability Can Offer Defendants 3 Benefits

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    In the rare case that a company makes the strategic decision to admit liability, it’s important to do so clearly and consistently in order to benefit from the various forms of armor that come from an honest acknowledgment, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Mentorship Resolutions For The New Year

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    Attorneys tend to focus on personal achievements or career milestones when they set yearly goals, but one important area often gets overlooked in this process — mentoring relationships, which are some of the most effective tools for professional growth, say Kelly Galligan at Rutan & Tucker and Andra Greene at Phillips ADR.

  • What Nearshoring Growth In Americas Means For Patents

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    With the new U.S. administration potentially focused on implementing draconian trade restrictions, nearshoring in the Americas is expected to grow, and patent prosecution attorneys will be kept on their toes as the patent landscape from country to country continues to evolve, says Ernest Huang at Procopio.

  • Series

    Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • Influencer IP Case Risks Judges Becoming Arbiters Of 'Vibes'

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    The case of Gifford v. Sheil, pending in Texas federal court, involves an influencer alleging that distinctive social media aesthetics constitute protectable property, and reflects a troubling trend: the overreach of intellectual property law in areas better left for creative freedom, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2025

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    Lawyers and their clients must be prepared to navigate an evolving litigation funding market in 2025, made more complicated by a new administration and the increasing overall cost of litigation, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • A Look At FDA's Plans To Establish New OTC Drug Category

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    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized rule, creating a new over-the-counter pathway for drugs when patients satisfy certain conditions, may be useful for off-patent drugs with established safety records, though switching to OTC comes with additional costs and considerations, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • The Fed. Circ. In 2024: 5 Major Rulings To Know

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    In 2024, the Federal Circuit provided a number of important clarifications to distinct areas of patent law – including design patent obviousness, expert testimony admissions and patent term adjustments – all of which are poised to have an influence going forward, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Rethinking Litigation Risk And What It Really Means To Win

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    Attorneys have a tendency to overestimate litigation risk before summary judgment and underestimate risk after it, but an eight-stage litigation framework can clarify risk at different points and help litigators reassess what true success looks like in any particular case, says Joshua Libling at Arcadia Finance.

  • Patent Ruling Sheds Light On Printed Matter Doctrine

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    Patent attorneys should pay attention to the claim language highlighted in Ioengine v. Ingenico, where the Federal Circuit held that program code was not printed matter, but essentially instructions or content, and therefore not subject to the printed matter doctrine for patent challenges, says Irah Donner at Manatt.

  • How DOGE's Bite Can Live Up To Its Bark

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    All signs suggest that the Department of Government Efficiency will be an important part of the new Trump administration, with ample tools at its disposal to effectuate change, particularly with an attentive Republican-controlled Congress, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • US-China Deal Considerations Amid Cross-Border Uncertainty

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    With China seemingly set to respond to the incoming U.S. administration's call for strategic decoupling and tariffs, companies on both sides of the Pacific should explore deals and internal changes to mitigate risks and overcome hurdles to their strategic plans, say attorneys at Covington.

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