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Intellectual Property
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October 09, 2024
USPTO Won't Let Non-Patent Attys Take Lead At PTAB
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday announced it would not move forward with its proposal to allow attorneys who don't belong to the patent bar serve as lead counsel at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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October 09, 2024
Frost Brown Ducks Malpractice Suit Over League Trademarks
A Delaware Superior Court judge has tossed a malpractice suit alleging that Frost Brown Todd LLP failed to adequately investigate infringement issues with trademarks a football league sought to use in the relaunch of the United States Football League.
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October 09, 2024
Ousted AI Engineer Took Trade Secrets, Auto Service Co. Says
A software engineer who was fired from auto services company Agero after just three months took hundreds of confidential files and other materials, according to a suit filed on Wednesday in Massachusetts state court.
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October 09, 2024
'Ghost' Florida Atty Left Long Trail Of Irked Judges, Clients
A Florida lawyer accused in a state court suit of ignoring and defrauding dozens of clients who paid nonrefundable retainers has faced a series of similar allegations in federal court, drawing the ire of judges and opposing counsel.
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October 09, 2024
Final Treasury Rules Shut Off Inclusion For Repatriated IP
The U.S. Treasury Department adopted final rules Wednesday that shut off an annual income inclusion associated with intangibles for companies in certain situations that have transferred intellectual property back to the U.S. from overseas.
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October 08, 2024
Western Digital Owes $334M Over Data Security IP, Jury Told
Hard disk drive behemoth Western Digital owes up to $334 million for selling portable data security storage devices that infringe a SPEX Technologies patent, SPEX's attorney told California federal jurors during opening statements Tuesday, while defense counsel said the claimed invention has been in the public domain for years.
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October 08, 2024
Apple Loses Bid For Jury Trial In Masimo Trade Secrets Fight
A California federal judge on Monday granted Masimo's request for a bench trial to address its trade secrets claims against Apple, noting that bench trials are almost always granted in situations where the plaintiff is seeking only equitable relief, and Apple hasn't convinced the court to deviate from that norm.
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October 08, 2024
'Alarming' AI Might Aid Research In Patent Fights, Judge Says
A Federal Circuit judge on Tuesday told law school students at the University of California, Berkeley that while he finds artificial intelligence tools "a little alarming and frightening," he could see how they might be useful for finding prior art in patent disputes.
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October 08, 2024
Illumina Wants Unresponsive Plaintiff To Pay $200K, Atty Fees
Biotechnology company Illumina Inc. asked a New Jersey federal court Tuesday to order a former graduate student to pay $200,000 in liquidated damages for allegedly failing to respond to attempts to finalize a settlement to his claims that attorneys from Latham & Watkins LLP and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP manipulated a patent case to steal his intellectual property.
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October 08, 2024
ITC Erred With Oil Drilling Tech IP Ruling, Fed. Circ. Told
US Synthetic Corp. on Tuesday urged the Federal Circuit to reverse a U.S. International Trade Commission decision that allows rivals to import a diamond oil drilling tool material the Utah-based company says infringes its intellectual property, arguing the agency wrongly found its drilling technology invention is abstract and patent-ineligible.
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October 08, 2024
Jackson, Kagan Target Loper Bright In Ghost Gun Case
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was uncharacteristically quiet during initial arguments Tuesday over the federal government's authority to regulate ghost guns. While her colleagues debated whether kits of unassembled parts qualify as firearms, she waited patiently to post a different question: Can courts now toss agency interpretations they don't like?
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October 08, 2024
Fed. Circ. Mulls Trade Dress Fight Over Pink Hip Devices
A Federal Circuit panel wrestled Tuesday with arguments from a German medical supplier that "late-breaking research" shows why the appearance of the color pink in a part of hip joint implants is not as functional as the company used to claim in the marketplace.
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October 08, 2024
2nd Circ. Won't Revive 1-800 Contacts, Warby Parker Row
A Second Circuit panel affirmed a ruling Tuesday that found eyewear retailer Warby Parker did not infringe 1-800 Contacts Inc.'s trademarks by purchasing ads on search engines using its competitor's keywords.
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October 08, 2024
NY Is 'Fair Play' For Barry Sanders Statue IP Row, Judge Told
A professional photographer suing over the alleged unauthorized use of his copyrighted photo to create a statue of legendary Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders urged a New York federal judge Tuesday not to drop the sculpture company from his lawsuit, arguing its jurisdictional claim lacks merit.
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October 08, 2024
Limp Bizkit's $200M Suit Says UMG Hid Royalties
Rock band Limp Bizkit hit Universal Music Group Inc. on Tuesday with a suit seeking more than $200 million, alleging that the music company created and used technology that allows it to hide royalties from its artists and hoard profits.
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October 08, 2024
3rd Circ. Directs Court To Explain If Natera Ads 'Literally False'
A Third Circuit panel on Tuesday sent allegations of false advertising against medical test maker Natera back to district court, directing the judge to determine whether a jury had sufficient evidence last year to find that eight of the company's advertisements were "literally false."
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October 08, 2024
Ex-Clients Say BakerHostetler Can't Keep Suit In Fed. Court
Former clients of BakerHostetler strengthened their request to send to Georgia state court a suit alleging the firm mishandled their patent application for a smart wardrobe system, arguing that the case doesn't raise patent law questions and thus shouldn't remain in federal court.
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October 08, 2024
Judge Clarifies Licensing Curbs On Paul Newman Foundation
The foundation established by the actor Paul Newman cannot license his publicity and intellectual property rights to any university or other nonprofit, studio or publisher or any luxury brand for advertising, a Connecticut state court judge has said, responding to a request to clarify a preliminary injunction she issued.
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October 08, 2024
Fed. Circ. Restores Debit Card Patent Suit Against Aetna
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday revived patent litigation targeting Aetna's Visa- and Mastercard-branded debit cards, while holding that certain aspects of dismissal decisions should be reviewed from scratch on appeal.
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October 08, 2024
NC Judge Scolds Clinic And Hospital Over Bids To Seal TM Case
A North Carolina federal judge chastised a weight loss center, a hospital and a community health provider for their bids to seal a large swath of information in a trademark infringement lawsuit, invoking the secretive medieval court that gave rise to the phrase "star chamber."
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October 08, 2024
Exporting Chips To China Doesn't Merit 7 Years, 9th Circ. Told
Counsel for a former UCLA electrical engineering professor urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reduce his seven-year prison sentence for illegally exporting high-powered semiconductor chips to China, saying the conduct did not amount to an evasion of national security controls.
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October 08, 2024
Axinn Rebrands Ahead Of NYC Relocation
Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP announced Tuesday a new image rebrand in advance of the planned relocation of its New York office to Rockefeller Center at the end of the year.
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October 07, 2024
Apple Beats Masimo's Allegations Of Misleading USPTO
Apple did not deceive the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office when obtaining design patents, a Delaware federal judge ruled Monday, shooting down a key argument from Masimo Corp. as the parties continue to fight over the market for smartwatches.
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October 07, 2024
Skiplagged Cost American Airlines $18M, Jury Hears
American Airlines Inc. claims that airfare search engine Skiplagged Inc. cost it $18 million by masquerading as an authorized agent of the airline, but Skiplagged told a Texas jury Monday that American sued it to limit customers' "freedom of choice."
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October 07, 2024
PetSmart Can't Shear Down Dog Food Trademark Suit
A Kentucky federal judge declined PetSmart's bid to narrow a dog food company's intellectual property lawsuit against the pet products retailer, holding that the case qualifies for an exception that allows courts to intervene in pending matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Expert Analysis
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3 Surprising Deposition Dangers Attorneys Must Heed
Attorneys often do not think of discovery as a particularly risky phase of litigation, but counsel must closely heed some surprisingly strict and frequently overlooked requirements before, during and after depositions that can lead to draconian consequences, says Nate Sabri at Perkins Coie.
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Careful Data Governance Is A Must Amid Enforcement Focus
Federal and state regulators' heightened focus on privacy enforcement, including the Federal Trade Commission's recent guidance on consumer protection in the car industry, highlight the importance of proactive risk management, compliance and data governance, say Jason Priebe and Danny Riley at Seyfarth.
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The Unified Patent Court: What We Learned In Year 1
The Unified Patent Court celebrated its first anniversary this month, and while questions remain as we wait for the first decisions on the merits, a multitude of decisions and orders regarding provisional measures and procedural aspects have provided valuable insights already, says Antje Brambrink at Finnegan.
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Opinion
Paid Noncompetes Offer A Better Solution Than FTC's Ban
A better alternative to the Federal Trade Commission's recent and widely contested noncompete ban would be a nationwide bright-line rule requiring employers to pay employees during the noncompete period, says Steven Kayman at Rottenberg Lipman.
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Opinion
Flawed Fintiv Rule Should Be Deemed Overreach In Tech Suit
A pending federal lawsuit over the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's unilateral changes to key elements of the America Invents Act, Apple v. Vidal, could shift the balance of power between Congress and federal agencies, as it could justify future instances of unelected officials unilaterally changing laws, say Patrick Leahy and Bob Goodlatte.
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How Associates Can Build A Professional Image
As hybrid work arrangements become the norm in the legal industry, early-career attorneys must be proactive in building and maintaining a professional presence in both physical and digital settings, ensuring that their image aligns with their long-term career goals, say Lana Manganiello at Equinox Strategy Partners and Estelle Winsett at Estelle Winsett Professional Image Consulting.
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Determining Who Owns Content Created By Generative AI
Adobe's recent terms-of-service update and ensuing clarification regarding its AI-training practices highlights the unanswered legal questions regarding ownership of content created using artificial intelligence, says John Poulos at Norton Rose.
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Skip Versus File: The Patent Dilemma That Costs Millions
In the nearly 30 years since the inception of the provisional application, many have weighed the question of whether or not to file the provisional, and data shows that doing so may allow inventors more time to refine their ideas and potentially gain an extra year of protection, says Stanko Vuleta at Highlands Advisory.
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Orange Book Warnings Highlight FTC's Drug Price Focus
In light of heightened regulatory scrutiny surrounding drug pricing and the Federal Trade Commission's activity in the recent Teva v. Amneal case, branded drug manufacturers should expect the FTC's campaign against allegedly improper Orange Book listings to continue, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Firms Must Rethink How They Train New Lawyers In AI Age
As law firms begin to use generative artificial intelligence to complete lower-level legal tasks, they’ll need to consider new ways to train summer associates and early-career attorneys, keeping in mind the five stages of skill acquisition, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Always Be Closing
When a lawyer presents their case with the right propulsive structure throughout trial, there is little need for further argument after the close of evidence — and in fact, rehashing it all may test jurors’ patience — so attorneys should consider other strategies for closing arguments, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Tracking China's Push To Invalidate Foreign Patents
China’s increasing use of courts and administrative panels to nullify patents in strategically important industries, such as technology, pharmaceuticals and rare-earth minerals, raises serious concerns about the intellectual property rights of foreign businesses operating there, say Rajat Rana and Manuel Valderrama at Selendy Gay.
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3 Ways To Fight Alice Rejections Of Blockchain Patents
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
With blockchain-related patent application filings on the rise, Thomas Isaacson at Polsinelli offers strategies for responding to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office determinations that the blockchain network is just a generic computer and patent-ineligible under the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice v. CLS Bank decision.
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F1 Driver AI Case Sheds Light On Winning Tactics In IP Suits
A German court recently awarded damages to former F1 driver Michael Schumacher's family in an artificial intelligence dispute over the unlicensed use of his image, illustrating how athletes are using the law to protect their brands, and setting a precedent in other AI-generated image rights cases, William Bowyer at Lawrence Stephens.
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8th Circ. Insurance Ruling Spotlights Related-Claims Defenses
The Eighth Circuit’s recent Dexon v. Travelers ruling — that the insurer must provide a defense despite the policy’s related-acts provision — provides guidance for how policyholders can overcome related-acts defenses, say Geoffrey Fehling and Jae Lynn Huckaba at Hunton.