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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • April 04, 2025

    Magistrate Judge: OpenAI’s Definition Of Competitor ‘Wildly Overboard’

    NEW YORK — OpenAI entities’ portrayal of a small Chilean company working on artificial intelligence language bias as a competitor is “wildly overbroad” and would render anyone working in the field of AI a competitor, a federal magistrate judge in New York said in denying a protective order seeking to shield certain documents from an expert witness.

  • April 04, 2025

    Judge Denies Dismissal Of Copyright Suit Against Trump For Song Use

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied a bid from President Donald J. Trump and associated entities to dismiss the second amended complaint brought by parties charged with overseeing the works of late soul musician Isaac Hayes for alleged infringement of the song “Hold On, I’m Comin.’”

  • April 03, 2025

    AI Copyright Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Confirm Extension After Discovery Breach

    SAN FRANCISCO — Artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs on April 2 asked a federal judge in California to enforce a recent ruling granting more time to respond to a summary judgment motion as result of the violation of a discovery agreement, saying the failure to turn over what the court already recognized as relevant evidence and its broad privilege claims are making responding “burdensome.”

  • April 02, 2025

    COMMENTARY: CJEU Expands Cross-Border Patent Infringement Jurisdiction In BSH Hausgeräte v. Electrolux

    By Tim Powell, Hiroshi Sheraton and Alexander Ritter

  • April 03, 2025

    Web Patent Claim Error Leads To Summary Judgment Reversal, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware too narrowly construed a claim phrase regarding a “runtime engine” described in patents owned by web developer Express Mobile Inc. in a patent infringement dispute with GoDaddy.com LLC, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 2; the panel said the error made the reversal of a grant of summary judgment in GoDaddy’s favor necessary.

  • April 03, 2025

    Judge Tosses Cannabis IP Suit Against Meta And NYC’s Intervenor Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed with prejudice a complaint against Meta Platforms Inc. by a “serial IP litigant” who accused the social media company of infringing copyrights associated with marijuana products, holding that the man failed to show Meta infringed the copyrights by allowing the posting of photos with the products’ logos.

  • April 02, 2025

    Thomson Reuters Rebuts Need For Immediate Review Of AI Copyright Ruling

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Interlocutory review in an artificial intelligence training copyright presents complicated issues of the type not permissible in immediate appeals and the resolution of any such appeal would not materially advance the case, Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH tells a federal judge in Delaware on April 1 in opposing Ross Intelligence Inc.’s attempt at quickly reversing a summary judgment ruling.

  • April 02, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB’s Construction Error Meant It Wrongly Found Validity

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) should have gone further with a finding of invalidity for claims within patents related to interactive display screens, considering arguments connected to inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and an affiliated entity for the second time in recent weeks.

  • April 02, 2025

    Judge: Chicago, Former Top Cop Infringed On Reporter’s Protest Video

    CHICAGO — Chicago’s use of a freelance photojournalist’s footage from protests that turned violent in summer 2020 during a police press conference did not constitute a fair use, a federal judge in Illinois held.

  • April 01, 2025

    Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Damages In Drum Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a Florida federal judge’s denial of a new trial on damages and remanded for a new trial on damages in a dispute between instrument makers over patents related to electronic drumheads and cymbals, but the panel left in place a jury’s findings of liability and infringement, along with the judge’s decision to exclude expert testimony.

  • April 01, 2025

    Federal Judge: No Jurisdiction To Consider Kennedy Assassination Tape Copyrights

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas on March 31 dismissed a complaint brought by a group that focuses on access to public records against a Texas historical society that owns the copyrights associated with footage showing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, holding that the group failed to establish that the court has subject matter jurisdiction.

  • April 01, 2025

    Judge Right To Find Induced Infringement For Generic Drug, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said a New Jersey federal judge was right to conclude after a bench trial that a biopharmaceutical company’s antipsychotic medication product would induce health care providers to infringe on another company’s patented injectable medication used to treat schizophrenia.

  • March 28, 2025

    Judge Dismisses AI Infringement Claims In Music Lyric Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Contributory infringement and vicarious infringement claims in a case alleging that a company’s artificial intelligence outputs copyrighted music lyrics fail to establish requisite acts by a third party, and contradictory allegations about the removal of copyright management information doom that claim, a federal judge in California said in granting a motion to dismiss while allowing leave to amend.

  • March 28, 2025

    Some Claims Survive Dismissal In News Outlets’ AI Copyright Suit, Judge Says

    NEW YORK — Direct and contributory infringement claims survive a motion to dismiss but Digital Millennium Copyright Act, unfair competition by misappropriation and abridgment claims largely do not, a federal judge in New York said in an order allowing amendment and promising release of a forthcoming opinion “expeditiously.”

  • March 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Costs Incurred In Hatch-Waxman Litigation Are Deductible

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims did not err when it held that a generic drugmaker could deduct costs it incurred while defending itself from patent claims under the Hatch-Waxman Act as ordinary business expenses, rejecting arguments made on appeal by the federal government.

  • March 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Patent Holder’s Claims Against U.S. Precluded By Earlier Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the decision of a judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissing patent infringement claims against the federal government; the panel agreed that a pro se plaintiff-appellant failed to show infringement of patents involving the detection of chemical and other hazards.

  • March 27, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Meta Showed Obviousness Of Xerox Messaging Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rightly held that all challenged claims in a patent held by Xerox Corp. related to messaging are unpatentable as obvious, affirming the results of an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding brought by Meta Platforms Inc.

  • March 27, 2025

    Invalidity Of Imaging Device Patents Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said it saw no error in a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that held all challenged claims in a series of patents related to medical imaging unpatentable, holding that the appellant patent holder failed to show that the board erred in construing relevant patent claims during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the board.

  • March 27, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Judge Missed Confusion Analysis In Lego Figure Injunction Order

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 26 that it cannot determine whether a Connecticut federal judge was right to rule that a toy company’s redesigned figurines still ran afoul of a preliminary injunction previously ordered in an intellectual property dispute with Lego A/S and affiliated Lego entities (collectively, Lego).

  • March 26, 2025

    7th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Reject Profits Disgorgement In Counterfeit Dyson Case

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois was wrong to deny a request by Dyson Technology Ltd. for damages based on e-commerce profits from sales of counterfeited goods, a panel in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held March 25, saying the judge’s order conflicts with the statutory guidelines under the Lanham Act.

  • March 26, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Patent, False Ad Claims In Tape Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s finding that a patent describing a floor-marking tape product was anticipated by a prior art reference and the judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of defendant entities on false advertising claims.

  • March 26, 2025

    Plaintiffs Drop 1 YouTube AI Training Suit, Let State Law Claims Be Dismissed

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a voluntarily motion to dismiss California unfair competition law (UCL) and other state law claims from a pair of cases involving the use of YouTube videos in the training of artificial intelligence while the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed a third case in the wake of a motion to dismiss their amended complaint.

  • March 25, 2025

    Supreme Court: No Certiorari In Dispute Over Amazon’s Patent Evaluation Process

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on March 24 a patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a finding from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the initiation of an evaluation under the Amazon Patent Evaluation Express (APEX) system — which triggers the potential removal of an allegedly infringing product listing from Amazon.com if a seller fails to respond — constitutes a purposeful direction of activities at the seller’s forum state sufficient to confer specific personal jurisdiction.

  • March 25, 2025

    Copyright Plaintiffs: Microsoft Has Relevant Evidence In OpenAI Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A magistrate judge imposed the wrong standard in concluding that Microsoft Corp. has to produce records related to OpenAI entities’ alleged copyright infringement because Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in the entities and their close relationship with the tech giant means Microsoft almost certainly possesses evidence relevant to the case, plaintiffs told a federal judge in California in seeking relief from the ruling.

  • March 25, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects Another Challenge To Federal Circuit’s Rule 36

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court won’t consider whether a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals practice of affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in one-word affirmations violates a section of the Patent Act requiring the issuance of an opinion; the court on March 24 rejected a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari.