Intellectual Property

  • June 21, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen JD Wetherspoon sue a Welsh pub over its name in the Intellectual Property Court, ex-professional boxer Amir Khan and his wife file libel action against an influencer, the Performing Right Society hit with a competition claim over music licensing, and Manolete Partners bring action against the directors of a bust investment firm. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • June 20, 2024

    Patent Owners, Challengers Spar Over PTAB Rule Proposal

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's scaled-back package of Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules has drawn a mixed reaction from legal and industry groups, which offered praise and concern about both the proposal and the topics it does not address.

  • June 20, 2024

    'Jetflicks' Piracy Trial Results In 5 Convictions In Las Vegas

    Following a trial that stretched on for half a month, a federal jury in Las Vegas convicted a group of people who were accused of making more than $1 million running an illegal streaming website called "Jetflicks."

  • June 20, 2024

    Eli Lilly Launches Round Of Diabetes Drug Suits

    Eli Lilly on Thursday hit various compounding pharmacies and medical spas in five states and the District of Columbia with suits saying that they trick consumers into thinking that they sell Eli Lilly medications that treat diabetes and obesity when actually they are copycats and are untested by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

  • June 20, 2024

    Judge Backs Virgin Over Boeing In Clash Over IP Injunction

    A Virginia federal judge on Thursday ruled that Virgin Galactic can share allegedly proprietary Boeing documents with partner companies to help develop a space plane carrier aircraft, amid Boeing's breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets suit against Virgin.

  • June 20, 2024

    Rockwell Wins Treble Damages After $4M Gray Market Verdict

    A Delaware federal judge agreed Tuesday to award treble damages to Rockwell Automation, which is behind the Allen-Bradley brand of factory equipment, bringing its total recovery to nearly $9 million after a jury found it was owed more than $4 million in August.

  • June 20, 2024

    Finance Co. Asks Fed. Circ. To Read Its 1.4K Pages Of Evidence

    A patent outfit connected to a man behind one of the world's first money market funds says that a Texas court's decision to throw out a patent case against online stockbroker TD Ameritrade went against the weight of some "1,400 pages of credible evidence," and is something that the full Federal Circuit should look into.

  • June 20, 2024

    Waffle Cone Cos. Settle TM War Over Chocolate-Filled Treats

    A maker of chocolate-filled waffle cone treats has resolved its claims against a rival over alleged trademark violations, according to a stipulation filed Thursday in New Jersey federal court.

  • June 20, 2024

    1st Circ. Says Song Royalties Go To Artists, Not Band Owners

    The First Circuit ruled that members of musical groups, not their owners or managers, are due royalties as featured "recording artists" under federal law.

  • June 20, 2024

    Theravance, Mylan Say Chinese Co. Copied COPD Drug

    Theravance Biopharma and Mylan Specialty have sued a Chinese drugmaker, alleging it copied Yupelri, one of its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drugs, and infringed several patents in the process.

  • June 20, 2024

    USPTO's AI-Assisted Inventions Guidance Irks ABA IP Section

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's guidance on when inventions developed using artificial intelligence can be patented generated criticism from the American Bar Association's Section of Intellectual Property Law, expressing concern that it could be detrimental as it "casts doubt on inventorship through general acts of human direction."

  • June 20, 2024

    First Amendment Bars Models' Likeness Suit, Strip Clubs Say

    Three Philadelphia-area strip clubs facing a suit by Carmen Electra and other models over using their likeness without permission told a federal judge the plaintiffs' complaint is barred by the First Amendment because they are public figures "or limited purpose public figures."

  • June 20, 2024

    Patent Office Elevates Acting Solicitor To Official Position

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday announced that its longtime litigator Farheena Y. Rasheed has been appointed solicitor and deputy general counsel for the agency.

  • June 18, 2024

    Qualcomm Investors Ink $75M Deal Over Licensing Practices

    Qualcomm Inc. investors asked a California federal judge to greenlight a $75 million settlement that would resolve their claims that the chipmaker misled the market by stating it kept its licensing and chip-supply businesses separate when it regularly bundled the two in negotiations and agreements.

  • June 18, 2024

    Microsoft Reaches Deal With Patent Biz After $242M Verdict

    Microsoft indicated on Tuesday that it has decided to settle a fight with a litigation outfit that won a $242 million verdict from a Delaware federal jury over patents bought from a company that developed Apple's Siri software.

  • June 18, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Philips Communication Patent Claims

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday sided with Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges who gutted claims in a Philips patent challenged by a Chinese chipmaker that is facing an infringement suit in Delaware.

  • June 18, 2024

    USPTO Hears Array Of Ideas For Altering Director Review

    Numerous groups have offered suggestions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the process where the agency's director reviews Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, from adjusting which cases are subject to review to barring the director from personally making decisions.

  • June 18, 2024

    11th Circ. Orders New Shrimp Secrets Trial Over Judge's Exit

    The Eleventh Circuit ordered a new trial in a trade secrets dispute involving breeders of disease-resistant shrimp, saying Tuesday that a magistrate judge who oversaw the trial's conclusion so that a federal judge could catch a flight exceeded his authority by answering jury questions and rejecting a defense counsel's request for clarification on damages awarded.

  • June 18, 2024

    Megan Thee Stallion Escapes IP Suit Over 'Savage' Song

    A Manhattan federal judge concluded Tuesday that rapper and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion did not rip off music from a hip-hop producer to create her hit song "Savage" in 2020, saying the plaintiff failed to show that she and the other defendants had access to his composition or that the two songs are substantially or strikingly similar.

  • June 18, 2024

    Starbucks Among Eateries Facing IP Suits Over Ordering Tech

    Starbucks, Denny's and three other restaurants are the latest to face a patent-licensing company's lawsuits in Texas for allegedly infringing a patent that lets customers place mobile orders on an app or website using a real-time menu that can make personalized suggestions.

  • June 18, 2024

    ITC To Eye Samsung Loss In LCD Patent Suit Against Rival

    The U.S. International Trade Commission decided Monday to review several issues in a judge's decision that cleared Manufacturing Resources International Inc. in a suit by Samsung accusing it of infringing LCD digital display patents.

  • June 18, 2024

    Rival Pool Supply Co. Looks To Duck Blueworks Ch. 11 Stay

    Pool supply company Hayward Industries Inc. has asked a bankruptcy court for a reprieve from the automatic stay protecting its bankrupt rival Blueworks Corp. as it seeks to secure final orders upholding a $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment.

  • June 18, 2024

    Justices Urged To Take Case On USPTO Home Address Rule

    Five organizations have expressed support for a small North Carolina law firm asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to require trademark applicants to disclose their home addresses — a decision that should have had public input, according to amicus briefs filed over the past week.

  • June 18, 2024

    Uber And Lyft Dodge Tracking Patent Litigation

    A California federal court has issued a pair of patent eligibility rulings that have ended an inventor's infringement litigation against ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft.

  • June 18, 2024

    Ex-Yukos Oil Investors Auction Russian Vodka TMs For €1.6M

    The former shareholders of Yukos Oil Co. said Monday they have auctioned the Benelux rights to trademarks for 18 Russian vodka brands, including Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya, as they continue their effort to enforce $50 billion in arbitral awards against Russia.

Expert Analysis

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.

  • ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports

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    While a recent U.S. International Trade Commission decision is a win for trade secret owners who can show injury to a U.S. domestic industry, the decision also means that companies operating in foreign jurisdictions will be subject to the requirements of U.S. trade secret law, say Paul Ainsworth and Cristen Corry at Sterne Kessler.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe

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    A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Measuring Early Impact Of Rule 702 Changes On Patent Cases

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    Since Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was amended to clarify the standards for admitting expert witness testimony five months ago, emerging trends in patent cases suggest that it may be easier to limit or exclude expert testimony, and hold key practice takeaways for attorneys, say Manuel Velez and Nan Zhang at Mayer Brown.

  • Protecting IP May Be Tricky Without Noncompetes

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    Contrary to the Federal Trade Commission's view, trade secret law cannot replace noncompetes' protection of proprietary information because intellectual property includes far more than just trade secrets, so businesses need to closely examine their IP protection options, say Aimee Fagan and Ching-Lee Fukuda at Sidley.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How Copyright Office AI Standards Depart From Precedent

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's recent departure from decades of precedent for technology-assisted works, and express refusal to grant protection to artificial intelligence-assisted works, may change as the dust settles around ancillary copyright issues for AI currently pending in litigation, says Kristine Craig at Hanson Bridgett.

  • IP Considerations For Companies In Carbon Capture Sector

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    As companies collaborate to commercialize carbon capture technologies amid massive government investment under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a coherent intellectual property strategy is more important than ever, including proactively addressing and resolving questions about ownership of the technology, say Ashley Kennedy and James De Vellis at Foley & Lardner.

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Rebuttal

    Double-Patenting Ruling Shows Terminal Disclaimers' Value

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    While a recent Law360 guest article seems to argue that the Federal Circuit’s Cellect decision last year robs patent owners of lawful patent term, the ruling actually identifies how terminal disclaimers are the solution to the problem of obviousness-type double patenting, say Jane Love and Robert Trenchard at Gibson Dunn.

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