Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • February 05, 2025

    9th Circuit: Former Church Member Lost License To Share Teachings In 2021

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a Washington federal judge that a former member of a Seattle-based religious community did not breach a licensing agreement by uploading copyrighted church materials after the 1999 death of the organization’s founder but reversed the judge’s finding that the license was terminated in 2021.

  • February 05, 2025

    Judge Again Enters Injunction In Jack Daniel’s Dog Toy Trademark Fight

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona found that a dog toy maker did not infringe on marks held by Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. but that the spirits company was still entitled to a permanent injunction because the toy that parodies the Jack Daniel’s bottle can still tarnish the alcohol marks.

  • February 04, 2025

    Federal Circuit Again Affirms Obviousness In Check Depositing Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days after finding that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) should have gone further in its findings of obviousness regarding electronic check depositing patents held by United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 3 affirmed PTAB’s findings of unpatentability of related patents held by the company.

  • February 04, 2025

    PTAB Didn’t Follow Step Claims In Telecoms Patent Dispute, Federal Circuit Finds

    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.

  • February 04, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Obviousness Finding In Check Patent Row Should’ve Gone Further

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Largely affirming but partly reversing findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in two related opinions that PTAB should have found that more claims in electronic banking patents held by the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) were unpatentable as obvious.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judge: Microsoft Must Comply With Constitutional Notice Rule In AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal court rule governing notice for constitutional questions applies to Microsoft Corp.’s “as applied” challenge to New York’s trademark dilution statute in an artificial intelligence case, a federal judge in the state said in ordering Microsoft to comply with the rule .

  • February 03, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Fair Use Finding In Aerospace Testing Code Dispute

    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.

  • January 31, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Judge, Not PTAB, Correctly Construed Term In Patent Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas did not err during claim construction in a patent dispute between two imaging product makers, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying it agreed with the judge’s construction of the claim and that a construction of the same term by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was incorrect.

  • January 31, 2025

    Microsoft Denied Dismissal Of Patent Infringement Suit Over Network Software

    AUSTIN, Texas — Microsoft Corp. was unsuccessful in its bid for an early exit from a patent infringement lawsuit, when a Texas federal judge found that the plaintiff sufficiently alleged that accused products of Microsoft’s use a “network device” and achieve “secure communications” to survive the defendant's dismissal motion.

  • January 30, 2025

    Spotify’s Subscription Is A ‘Bundle’ For Royalty Purposes, Judge Finds

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 29 dismissed with prejudice a government-appointed music license administrator’s copyright lawsuit brought against music streamer Spotify USA Inc., holding that the license administrator failed to show how Spotify violated copyright law by reporting its “Premium” subscription product as a “bundled subscription offering” instead of simply a “subscription offering.”

  • January 30, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Preliminary Injunctions Against Two Biosimilar Makers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of Jan. 29 opinions, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a West Virginia federal judge’s decision to grant preliminary injunctions against two biosimilar manufacturers that barred them from marketing products that were biosimilars to an eye medication patented by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.; the panel rejected jurisdictional and validity arguments raised by the companies.

  • January 30, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Cancellation Of Japanese Candy Related Word Mark

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was right to cancel a company’s registration for the word mark TONOSAMA, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, agreeing with the board that the mark is confusingly similar to another company’s registered trademark for the same word.

  • January 30, 2025

    Judge Finds Campbell, Supermarkets Infringed Soup Can Display Patents

    CHICAGO — A retail display manufacturer provided “substantial evidence” that Campbell Soup Co. (now known as The Campbell’s Co.) and two supermarket chains directly infringed three soup can display racks, an Illinois federal judge ruled, granting summary judgment of direct infringement in the long-running case.

  • January 29, 2025

    Atari, State Farm Settle Infringement Claim Over Arcade Cabinet In Insurance Ads

    DALLAS — Atari Interactive Inc. and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and advertising companies that worked with it stipulated to the dismissal of all claims stemming from allegations that State Farm used an Atari arcade cabinet in an ad campaign without the company’s permission.

  • January 29, 2025

    Petitioners To High Court: Trademark Settlement ‘Fraud’ Must Be Fixed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court must grant a writ of certiorari in a trademark infringement case because the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly allowed to stand a New York federal judge’s denial of a request to vacate a 2011 settlement in the face of an allegedly fraudulent document submitted as evidence in the case, four companies tell the high court in a recently docketed petition.

  • January 29, 2025

    In 4 Opinions, Federal Circuit Affirms Obviousness Of Tech Company’s Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In four opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that all challenged claims in a tech company’s patents related to making gestures in front of a camera are unpatentable as obvious, affirming most findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued during inter partes review (IPR) and reversing one and affirming two decisions from PTAB issued during related ex parte examinations.

  • January 29, 2025

    Rejection Of Tire Sealant Patent As Indefinite Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pro se inventor whose patent application for a tire sealant apparatus was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as being indefinite was unsuccessful in his appeal to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where a panel found that the appellant failed to rebut an examiner’s finding that the proposed patent’s terms were indefinite.

  • January 29, 2025

    Federal Circuit Upholds IPR Decision In Samsung’s Favor On LED Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no error by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in its conclusion, after conducting inter partes review (IPR), that a patent related to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was invalid as obvious in light of prior art.

  • January 28, 2025

    No Error In PTAB Construction Of ‘Hardware Buffer,’ Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case appearing before the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for the second time, a panel said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on remand did not err in its construction of the phrase “hardware buffer” in a computer processor patent dispute between Qualcomm Inc. and Intel Corp.; the panel affirmed the PTAB’s holding that all claims in Qualcomm’s patent are unpatentable as obvious.

  • January 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB’s ‘Cache Memory’ Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not employ an unreasonable construction of the term “cache memory,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 27, affirming the board’s finding that a company’s patent was invalid as obvious in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings brought against it by streaming giant Netflix Inc.

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge Tosses Designer’s Copyright Claims For Use Of Character On Album Art

    LOS ANGELES — A designer who accused a hip-hop producer of copyright infringement for using a character he designed on multiple album covers since 1999 failed to show that the implied license granted to the producer had any kind of expiration date, a federal judge in California held, granting a motion from the producer and related entities for judgment on the pleadings.

  • January 27, 2025

    6th Circuit Agrees: No Royalties To Inventor After Patent’s Expiration

    CINCINATTI — A federal judge in Michigan was right to find that a health care company owed no further royalties to the inventor of eye-test machines after the expiration of his patent, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, saying that the parties agreed to a royalty rate based on use of the patent itself.

  • January 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit Reverses Most Noninfringement JMOLs In Packaging Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware provided no rationale to support a decision to conditionally grant a new trial on damages in a patent dispute between two makers of food packaging materials, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, vacating the new trial order.

  • January 27, 2025

    DISH To High Court: Federal Circuit Got Patent Act Fees Scope Wrong

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, DISH Network L.L.C. maintains its argument that a Delaware federal judge was wrong to find that it cannot recoup the attorney fees it incurred during a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that was “voluntary” and “parallel” to the district court proceedings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge Says First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To Software Keys

    SEATTLE — The first sale doctrine does not apply to software product keys, a federal judge in Washington held Jan. 23, because those keys are not themselves copyrightable works, granting partial summary judgment as to a single affirmative defense in favor of the Microsoft Corp. against a Canadian entity and several individuals Microsoft called “prolific distributors of black market access devices to Microsoft software that they unlawfully advertise to consumers as genuine software.”