WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a patent dispute among multiple telecommunications companies, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erred by failing to require that steps in a listed method be performed in order, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 3.

GALVESTON, Texas — Briefly adopting memorandum and recommendations issued in 2023, a Texas federal judge on Feb. 3 overruled all objections, denying motions for summary judgment and partial summary judgment and granting certification of two classes in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute over alleged retirement plan mismanagement.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A nationwide trade association for internet companies filed an opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking the court to reverse the portions of a lower court ruling denying a preliminary injunction to prevent the enforcement of a California law requiring parental consent for minors to access personalized feeds on social media after the trial court held that certain portions of the law do not violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge correctly found that an aerospace company’s use of replacement parts with copyrighted code from an aircraft testing software company constituted a fair use, a panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in a per curiam memorandum disposition.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal court clerk on Jan. 31 filed a judgment reflecting a judge’s orders awarding $3.75 million in treble damages, $289,616.63 in attorney fees and costs of $7,625.72 to an insurer after a South Carolina jury returned a $1.25 million verdict in favor of the insurer in its suit seeking a declaration that it is entitled to recover the $3.8 million it paid to settle a claim brought by the estate of Alex Murdaugh’s former housekeeper.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — ChatGPT appears to have authored eight incorrect legal citations in plaintiffs’ motion in limine seeking to exclude evidence and expert testimony, the defendants told a federal judge in Wyoming in opposition to the motion in a suit in which the plaintiffs say a hoverboard exploded and set fire to their home.

GRETNA, La. — A Louisiana appeals court affirmed a lower court’s denial of a condominium unit owner’s motion to intervene in a class action lawsuit arising from Hurricane Ida property damage, concluding that the movant failed to satisfy the required elements to intervene pursuant to Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 1091.

SAN FRANCISCO — A state transit agency on Jan. 30 moved a California federal court for stay of enforcement of judgment pending appeal after seeking review by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of the lower court’s decision denying its motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial in the wake of a California federal jury’s award to six former employees of more than $1 million each for failing to accommodate their religious objections to being vaccinated for COVID-19.