Intellectual Property

  • May 22, 2024

    NFL Escapes Sanders Statue Spat As Getty Eyes Arbitration

    The NFL has escaped a New York federal lawsuit filed by a professional photographer who claims his copyrighted photo was unlawfully used to create a statue of legendary running back Barry Sanders, while Getty Images Inc. hopes to settle through arbitration.

  • May 22, 2024

    PTAB Finds Inergy's Chip Patent Challenges 'Compelling'

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has decided to review Force Mos Technology chip patents, saying it won't rely on a 2020 precedent to discretionarily deny challenges by Inergy Technology Inc. in light of a looming district court trial because the petitions raise "compelling evidence of unpatentability."

  • May 22, 2024

    Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron

    A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.

  • May 22, 2024

    Justices Urged To Undo 'Nonsensical' Double Patenting Ruling

    Cellect LLC asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the "nonsensical" invalidation of its patents through so-called obviousness-type double patenting, alleging the Federal Circuit "punished" it for delays in the patent prosecution process that were outside of its control.

  • May 22, 2024

    Insurance Co. Says Ex-Underwriter 'Lured' Away Colleagues

    An insurance brokerage and its affiliate have accused a former high-ranking company official of decamping for a competitor and encouraging colleagues to follow suit, according to a complaint designated Wednesday to North Carolina Business Court.

  • May 22, 2024

    Carmen Electra, Other Models' Likeness Suit Moves Forward

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has rejected a bid from three Philadelphia-area strip clubs to throw out a suit claiming they wrongly used the likeness of models including Carmen Electra, saying the models' claims were plausible.

  • May 22, 2024

    Boeing Can't Use Belated Patent Defense In Startup's IP Trial

    A Washington federal judge has rejected The Boeing Co.'s last-minute bid to tell a jury that its patents preempt claims it misappropriated an electric jet startup's intellectual property, saying it would be unfair to allow previously unpled affirmative defenses now that the trial is underway.

  • May 22, 2024

    Teva, Bristol-Myers Cite Bystolic Against Cancer Drug Case

    Celgene and parent Bristol-Myers Squibb pointed a New Jersey federal judge to the dismissal, recently upheld by the Second Circuit, of an antitrust suit over delayed generic competition to AbbVie's hypertension treatment Bystolic to argue the same logic applies to their bid to duck antitrust claims over cancer therapies.

  • May 22, 2024

    Spencer Fane Lures In Big-Name 'Misfits' For Patent Group

    Spencer Fane LLP has spent the past two years building up what it hopes to be a top-tier intellectual property group, pulling together a "band of misfits" from firms like Fish & Richardson PC and McKool Smith, according to the group's co-leader.

  • May 22, 2024

    Data Storage Co. Says Seagate Stole Info For New Product

    New Jersey data storage company Access Optical Networks Inc. has sued competitor Seagate Technology LLC in California state court, alleging its rival stole trade secrets to advance development of a new storage product — all while pretending to want to develop a business relationship with AON.

  • May 22, 2024

    Dickinson Adds Ex-Sheppard Mullin IP Pro In Silicon Valley

    Dickinson Wright PLLC said Wednesday that it has added a former Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP partner as the newest member of its Silicon Valley office.

  • May 22, 2024

    Womble Bond Adds IP Litigator In LA

    A patent attorney specializing in software and technology innovations has moved his practice to Womble Bond Dickinson LLP's Los Angeles office after more than 12 years with Ladas & Parry LLP.

  • May 22, 2024

    Honeywell Rival Sues To Ward Off 'Meritless' Litigation Threat

    A Japanese manufacturer is suing to put a stop to what it described as an "aggressive threat of litigation" by Honeywell International Inc. in the conglomerate's long-running crusade to protect its patents for barcode scanners, calling Honeywell's latest claim "unwarranted and meritless."

  • May 21, 2024

    Scarlett Johansson Taps Bird Marella Atty For OpenAI Fight

    A prominent entertainment attorney who represented Scarlett Johansson in litigation over the release of "Black Widow" is teaming up with the actress again, this time to battle OpenAI and its new chatbot, which Johansson claims sounds "eerily" like her, though she says she never granted the artificial intelligence company permission.

  • May 21, 2024

    Questions Abound As Fed. Circ. Scraps Design Patent Tests

    By discarding established tests for proving that design patents are invalid as obvious Tuesday, the full Federal Circuit has opened the door for new invalidity arguments and created uncertainty by not providing much guidance on how courts should evaluate them, attorneys said.

  • May 21, 2024

    Texas Panel Says Mallory Ruling Has No Home There

    A Texas appellate court has upheld a ruling preventing a Dallas car repair services company from litigating a trade secrets case there against a Michigan rival over allegedly hiring away a former executive, holding that the U.S. Supreme Court's Mallory decision last year doesn't do much in Texas.

  • May 21, 2024

    Bungie's Code Copying Claims Questioned At Seattle Trial

    A top product security engineer at Bungie told a Seattle federal jury on Tuesday that a hacker accused of exploiting a popular game to make cheat software likely never had access to the game's source code and acknowledged the game company hasn't seen the cheat code that it claims amounts to copyright infringement.

  • May 21, 2024

    Sens. Challenge Pharma Lobbyist Over Patent Abuse

    U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle took turns at a Tuesday hearing questioning the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist over whether patent abuse plays a role in maintaining the high price of prescription drugs.

  • May 21, 2024

    Fla. Scientist Fights Contempt Ruling In Data Theft Suit

    A Florida Everglades scientist urged a state appeals court Tuesday to reverse a contempt ruling against him over violating an injunction to preserve computer data from his prior job, saying that the order was ambiguous and that the lower court wrongly appointed opposing counsel to prosecute the violation.

  • May 21, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Sides With PTAB In Cloud Computing Fight

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a patent covering a cloud computing environment that was challenged by Microsoft wasn't patentable because it was obvious.

  • May 21, 2024

    Va. Judge Ships Splenda IP Suit Against Peet's To Calif.

    A Virginia federal judge has agreed to ship a lawsuit accusing Peet's Coffee Inc. of breaching trademark laws across the country to California federal court, finding that the companies that brought the claims aren't connected enough to the Old Dominion.

  • May 21, 2024

    Copyright Claims Against Defense Agencies Go To Trial

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has ruled that a geospatial technology firm's copyright infringement claims against defense agencies must go to trial, citing disputed facts about whether related software was effectively created on the government's time and dime.

  • May 21, 2024

    Split Fed. Circ. Revives IP Suit Against Nokia Over Standing

    A split Federal Circuit on Tuesday threw out a lower court decision that found an inventor's company didn't have standing to sue Nokia, Cisco and ADVA over a fiber optic patent, saying it was unclear if the company had the rights to the patent.

  • May 21, 2024

    Earth, Wind & Fire Cover Band Owes $750K In TM Suit

    A Florida federal judge has ordered a concert producer and promoter to pay $750,000 to the entity that owns the music of Earth, Wind & Fire after the band won a summary judgment ruling in March that found the defendants infringed the legendary group's trademarks by organizing concerts featuring their music and name.

  • May 21, 2024

    $93M Lipitor Antitrust Deal Sparks Dispute Over Fee Division

    Attorneys representing a class of buyers in antitrust litigation against Pfizer over the cholesterol medication Lipitor are squabbling over how to divide up to $31 million in attorney fees before a New Jersey federal judge even approves the total, according to court documents.

Expert Analysis

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Is Compulsory Copyright Licensing Needed For AI Tech?

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's inquiry into whether Congress should establish a compulsory licensing regime for artificial intelligence technologies that are trained on copyrighted works has received relatively little attention — but commenters recently opposed the regime under three key themes, say Michael Kientzle and Ryan White at Arnold & Porter.

  • EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • What To Know About WDTX Standing Order For Patent Cases

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    Patent litigators should review and ensure compliance with the standing order recently issued by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas — a popular patent litigation venue — which encompasses new deadlines, seeks to streamline discovery disputes, and further reflects the court's existing practices, says Archibald Cruz at Patterson + Sheridan.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

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    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

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