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Intellectual Property
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June 03, 2024
Design Patents May Be Harder To Get Under New Test
The Federal Circuit's decision discarding long-standing tests for proving that a design patent is invalid as obvious means the world has changed for patent examiners and applicants, attorneys said, and the new standard could lead to more design patent applications being turned down.
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June 01, 2024
Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide
As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.
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May 31, 2024
Samsung Strikes First With Smart Ring IP Suit Against Oura
Samsung has yet to announce a release date for its new Galaxy Ring brand of wearable, health-tracking devices, but it has filed an intellectual property suit in California federal court Thursday targeting a Finnish startup that makes its own line of smart rings.
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May 31, 2024
PTAB Upholds Medtronic Bladder Control Patents On Remand
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed Medtronic patents covering a sacral stimulation system after Federal Circuit judges ordered the board last year to give the maker of a rival bladder and bowel control device another shot at knocking those patents out.
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May 31, 2024
Vape Co. Can't Toss Breeze Smoke's Claims In IP Row
An Illinois federal judge has rejected vape pen maker Midwest Goods' bid to throw out counterclaims that it infringed competitor Breeze Smoke's trade dress and a design patent, while also denying a bid from Breeze Smoke for a preliminary injunction.
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May 31, 2024
DC Judge Takes Dim View Of Proposed 'Surfside' TM Deal
A D.C. federal judge has refused to enforce a scrapped settlement in a trademark dispute between a Mexican restaurant operator and a distilling company over the name "Surfside," saying there wasn't ever an enforceable deal.
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May 31, 2024
3rd Circ. Preview: Labor Battles Heat Up In June
Several cases are heating up the Third Circuit argument calendar in June, including a home care company's attempt to duck a $7 million payout to thousands of workers who claimed the company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not compensating them for travel time.
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May 31, 2024
NYT Opposes 'Worldle' TM Bid To Protect Its 'Wordle' Game
The New York Times Co. is trying to stop the trademark registration of a game called "Worldle," where players attempt to find landmarks and other things on Google Street View, arguing the name would cause confusion with the newspaper's popular "Wordle" game.
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May 31, 2024
COVID Test Contract Suit 'Cries Out' For Jury, NC Judge Says
A fight between two companies over a doomed distribution deal for COVID-19 tests has gone from "ships passing in the night" to not even "sailing in the same ocean," a North Carolina Business Court judge said, paring the case for trial.
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May 31, 2024
Netgear Wins Most Of Its ITC Case Against TP-Link
An administrative judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission largely ruled in favor of Netgear in its case that accused Hong Kong-based network equipment rival TP-Link of infringing its patents.
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May 31, 2024
Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right
In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.
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May 31, 2024
Polsinelli's Medical Device Team Gains Ex-Lerner David IP Trio
Polsinelli PC is continuing to grow its intellectual property bench, saying Thursday that it has brought on three attorneys from the boutique Lerner David LLP who focus on intellectual property strategy and protection.
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May 31, 2024
WDTX Chief Adds New Hurdle For Patent Attys Eyeing Albright
The Western District of Texas' chief judge has made it harder for parties to have their patent cases end up in U.S. District Judge Alan Albright's court by refusing to automatically connect related litigation.
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May 31, 2024
Greek IT Company Sues NY Law Firm Over Leaked Patent Info
A Greece-based technology company has sued Ladas & Parry LLP in New York federal court, alleging that the firm sent proprietary information to a third party while the company had an attorney-client agreement with the firm.
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May 31, 2024
New Antibody IP Ruling Still Needs To Be Tested In Courts
A May decision from top U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials is giving some attorneys renewed hope that they'll be able to secure antibody patents, but they say the agency's ruling may not be enough to overcome courts that have been hostile toward these patents.
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May 31, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen financier Crispin Odey file a defamation claim against the Financial Times, Ford hit with the latest "Dieselgate" claim and a human rights activist bring a privacy claim against Saudi Arabia. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 31, 2024
NJ Judge Says Mortgage Lender's Counterclaim Falls Flat
A New Jersey federal judge tossed an unfair competition counterclaim brought by Nationwide Mortgage Bankers Inc. in a trade secrets suit by its rival Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, ruling that Nationwide Mortgage's counterclaim allegations do not actually count as unfair competition under Garden State law.
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May 30, 2024
Warren Pushes To Clinch 'Popular' Drug Patent 'March-In' Plan
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, Thursday urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to finalize a proposal that would allow the government to take possession of "taxpayer-funded" patents on drugs and lease them to generic-drug makers, saying the "popular framework will help reduce exorbitant drug costs."
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May 30, 2024
Divided PTAB Sinks Wildseed Mobile IP In Wins For Google
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has issued a pair of rulings wiping out claims in two patents asserted by a litigation outfit targeting the way that ads work on YouTube, but the decisions included a rare dissent-in-part from an administrative judge who disagreed on how a 2005 Sony patent application fit into the dispute.
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May 30, 2024
Albright Urged To Up Flypsi's $12M Trial Win Against Google
A Texas jury verdict requiring Google to pay $12 million in damages to software developer Flypsi Inc. for patent infringement is insufficient, Flypsi has told U.S. District Judge Alan Albright, asking the court to order a damages retrial or award it ongoing royalties and require Google to pay attorney fees.
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May 30, 2024
Netflix Fails To Show Inventor, Funder Violated Injunction
A California federal judge has said Netflix couldn't prove a Finnish inventor violated an injunction tied to his concealment of certain legal funds, or that a litigation fund manager the inventor worked with needs to face claims tied to that concealment.
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May 30, 2024
Jury Awards Electric Jet Startup $72M In Boeing IP Case
A Washington federal jury said Thursday that The Boeing Co. should pay Zunum Aero Inc. $72 million for misappropriating the electric jet startup's trade secrets and souring a deal with a potential investor, in an award partially subject to trebling under state law.
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May 30, 2024
Apple Gets PTAB To Ax Patent Claims On Waking Up Phone
Apple has successfully challenged an inventor's patent covering a way for a mobile phone to show information by a user just looking at it, with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding several claims were invalid as obvious.
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May 30, 2024
Sorority, Ex-Affiliate End Trademark Suit After Mediation
A sorority and a former affiliate have agreed to scrap a trademark dispute alleging the affiliate continued to use the sorority's name and symbols after their relationship had been severed.
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May 30, 2024
ITC Judge Clears Amazon In Video Tech Co.'s Patent Case
A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has found that Amazon hasn't broken federal patent trade law by importing streaming products, dealing a setback to video technology company DivX LLC in its infringement case.
Expert Analysis
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A Rainbow Of Lessons From Fruity Pebbles' TTAB Loss
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s January decision to deny Post Foods' bid to register a trademark on its Fruity Pebbles cereal brand underscores the importance of the interplay among mark description, mark drawing and goods identification when seeking protection for trade dress, say Troy Viger and Jenevieve Maerker at Finnegan.
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Why Oncology Deal Making Continues To Fuel Biotech M&A
The biotech sector's potential for advancements in cancer care continues to attract deal-maker interest, and the keys to successful mergers and acquisitions include the ability to integrate innovative therapies, leverage technological advancements and respond to the dynamic needs of patients, say Bryan Luchs and Mike Weir at White & Case.
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TTAB Ruling May Broaden Alcohol Trademark Analysis
A February U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision that wine is inherently related to bars and cocktail lounges for trademark protection purposes appears to broaden the scope of exclusivity, highlighting that the more similar the marks, the less related the products must be for the TTAB to refuse registration, says William Borchard at Cowan Liebowitz.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Opinion
NIST March-In Framework Is As Problematic As 2021 Proposal
While the National Institute of Standards and Technology's proposed march-in framework on when the government can seize patents has been regarded as a radical departure that will support lowering prescription drug costs, the language at the heart of it is identical to a failed 2021 notice of proposed rulemaking, says attorney Kelly Morron.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference
Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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2 Issues For Venture-Backed Climate Tech Startups To Avoid
As climate tech startups become more common, poor equity dilution management and stacked seed financing are two common pitfalls that apply more acutely to climate tech startups than to the broader venture-backed startup space, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Cannabis Case Lights Up Benefits Of Creative IP Protection
A recently filed California federal court case, The Holding Company v. Pacific West Distributors, illustrates potential creative strategies cannabis companies can use to build intellectual property rights, such as combining federal and state registrations for copyrights and trademarks, say attorneys at Seyfarth.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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Uncertainty Surrounds Patent Eligibility Restoration Bill
A recent U.S. Senate hearing regarding the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act, a bill that aims to overhaul patent eligibility law and establish clearer statutory exclusions, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing patent eligibility debate, but the law’s fate remains uncertain as discussions continue, say attorneys at Marshall Gerstein.
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3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'
Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.
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Infringement Policy Lessons From 4th Circ. Sony Music Ruling
The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Sony Music v. Cox Communications, which in part held that the internet service provider was liable for contributing to music copyright infringement, highlights the importance of reasonable policies to terminate repeat infringers, and provides guidance for litigating claims of secondary liability, say Benjamin Marks and Alexandra Blankman at Weil.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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Tips On Numerical Range From Fed. Circ. Philip Morris Ruling
The Federal Circuit's recent RAI v. Philip Morris decision that a patent provided sufficient written description to support a claimed numerical range offers several takeaways for practitioners, including the need for a cautious approach to criticism of ranges, say attorneys at BCLP.