Mealey's Intellectual Property : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Intellectual Property

January 08, 2026
Juul Reaches ‘Agreement’ With NJOY Over Disputed Docs In Vape Patent Case

PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Jan. 7 ordered Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), NJOY LLC, Altria Group Inc. and affiliates to file a joint statement under seal “that describes the resolution” of a discovery dispute in a patent lawsuit after JLI said the parties reached “an agreement” relating to allegedly privileged documents JLI “inadvertently” uploaded to a public database, which NJOY described as “evidence of the fraud [JLI] committed to obtain its patents from the Patent Office.”
January 08, 2026
PTAB’s Invalidation Of Memory Correction Patent Affirmed By Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Substantial evidence supported a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that certain claims in a patent describing a system for error correction in flash memory devices were invalid as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in a nonprecedential Jan. 7 opinion.
January 08, 2026
Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Obviousness For Parking Lot Camera Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 largely affirmed findings by a California federal judge and a federal jury that a patent-owning technology company failed to show that a defendant entity directly infringed a patent describing camera-assisted parking management technology; however, the panel ordered a new trial on the on-sale bar and a federal unfair competition claim.
January 08, 2026
Judge Grants Summary Judgment To Defendants In Sunroom Brochure IP Fight

WORCESTER, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal judge granted two sunroom construction entities’ motions for summary judgment, finding that a graphic designer’s copyright claims against one of the entities failed because of an implied license to use a brochure she designed; the judge also found the designer failed to establish that the other entity had successor liability.
January 07, 2026
Judge Orders Author Who Accused Netflix Of Copying Book To Pay Fees

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted a request for attorney fees from Netflix Inc. and related entities, calling an author’s claims that the 2021 disaster comedy “Don’t Look Up” copied elements of two of his novels “objectively unreasonable, if not frivolous.”
January 07, 2026
Citing Fraud On The Court, Federal Judge Tosses ‘Reverse Domain Hijacking’ Suit

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed with prejudice a suit against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Universal City Studios alleging breach of contract and “reverse domain hijacking in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (‘ACPA’)” related to the defendants’ purported efforts to divest an alleged former UMG intern of a domain name, finding that “[t]here is clear and convincing evidence” that the alleged former intern committed fraud upon the court.
January 07, 2026
Judge Rightly Found Data Patent Claims Abstract, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge was correct to find that two claims in a patent describing systems for decoding wireless transmissions are invalid as abstract, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 6, holding that the claims point only to abstract ideas without the necessary inventive element to make them patent eligible.
January 06, 2026
Judge Grants Summary Judgment To HDMI Licenser In IP Row With Component Maker

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc.’s (HDMI LA) motion for summary judgment on a breach of contract claim it brought against a technology company it said failed to pay royalties related to HDMI technology; the judge also held that the defendant entity failed to show that HDMI LA’s licensing agreement violated antitrust, patent or trademark law.
January 06, 2026
6th Circuit Affirms Fees To Morissette In Frivolous IP Claim Suit

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Michigan federal judge’s order that a pro se plaintiff-appellant must pay singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette and a related entity more than $3,000 in attorney fees and costs, finding that the appellant abandoned his challenge to attorney fees and failed to show that he should be allowed to amend his complaint accusing Morissette of stealing the songs on her record “Jagged Little Pill” from him.
January 06, 2026
OpenAI Can’t Escape Production Of 20M Chat Logs, Judge Affirms

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York affirmed two rulings by a magistrate judge requiring OpenAI entities to produce 20 million ChatGPT logs after finding that she didn’t ignore privacy concerns or potentially less burdensome production options.
January 06, 2026
Von D Wins On Davis Tattoo Infringement Appeal, Despite 9th Circuit Reticence

SAN FRANCISCO — In a lengthy per curiam opinion, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ultimately held that a California federal jury’s finding that celebrity tattoo artist Katherine Von Drachenberg did not infringe a photo of jazz musician Miles Davis in a tattoo under the circuit’s intrinsic test of substantial similarity, while two panel judges authored concurring opinions that criticized the intrinsic test standard.
January 05, 2026
9th Circuit: Paramount Didn’t Copy Original ‘Top Gun’ Article For 2022 Sequel

SAN FRANCISCO — Makers of the 2022 sequel film “Top Gun: Maverick” did not breach a 1983 agreement by not crediting the sequel to the author of an article on which the original 1986 film was based, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with a California federal judge in a Jan. 2 opinion.
January 05, 2026
Judge: Clothing Maker Can’t Show It Owns Copyrights To Photos Of Products

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge denied a clothing maker’s request to reconsider the judge’s decision to grant summary judgment of noninfringement to defendant clothing makers, holding that the plaintiff’s arguments about newly discovered evidence directly contradicted arguments it made in opposition to summary judgment.
January 05, 2026
9th Circuit Grants Appellate Attorney Fees In Supplement Counterfeiting Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a motion from a supplement maker and its founder for appellate attorney fees against defendant-appellant entities that were accused of counterfeiting the appellees’ registered trademark; in October, the panel affirmed a California federal judge’s entry of $4 million judgment and award of nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after the judge entered default judgment against the defendant-appellants.
January 05, 2026
Federal Circuit: No Error In Invalidation Of Internet Phone Patent Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no legal or factual errors in the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) affirmation of a patent examiner’s finding that all challenged claims in an internet telephone patent were unpatentable as obvious, seeing no error in how PTAB construed “telephone” or other elements.
January 05, 2026
‘Spout’ Construction Rightly Led To No Infringement Finding, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Illinois federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of SC Johnson & Son Inc. (SCJ), agreeing with the judge that SCJ’s accused Ziploc reusable silicone container products lacked a “spout” required by the plaintiff-appellant’s patent claims.
January 02, 2026
Judge Says Part Of Defamation Allegations Stemming From Lilly’s Complaint Survive

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge on Dec. 31 ruled that part of a counterclaim filed by a weight loss clinic alleging that Eli Lilly and Co., which manufactures diet drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, defamed the company in its complaint for trademark infringement can move forward.
January 02, 2026
Judge: FUTSA, Not Copyright Act, Preempts Delivery App Company’s Conversion Claim

TAMPA, Fla. — In a dispute over trade secrets and source code associated with a food delivery smartphone application, a Florida federal judge held Dec. 31 that while the plaintiff entity’s claim of conversion was not preempted by the Copyright Act, it was displaced by the Florida Uniform Trade Secrets Act (FUTSA).
January 02, 2026
5th Circuit: No New Fees In Fight Over Band’s Music Uploaded To YouTube

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in full a Texas federal judge’s decision in a dispute over copyrights associated with a band from Mexico, seeing no abuse of discretion in the judge’s decision to deny posttrial attorney fees beyond a jury’s $50,000 award for a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
December 30, 2025
Federal Circuit Says It Can’t Consider PTAB Decision To Reinstitute IPRs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed findings of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that all challenged claims in a series of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings concerning a fuel system aiming to reduce engine knocking were unpatentable as obvious.
December 30, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Reading Of ‘Decode’ In Flash Memory Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision to uphold some challenged claims in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings for a patent describing a system of error correction in flash memory; the panel held that PTAB correctly construed disputed claim phrases “decode” and “decoder.”
December 23, 2025
Authors Sue Top 6 AI Companies For Copyright Infringement

SAN FRANCISCO — Six authors deviated from the more traditional class action route and instead collectively sued the six major artificial intelligence companies alleging that they willfully and knowingly stole high quality copyrighted works from shadow libraries required to train AI products. The authors filed their complaint on Dec. 22 in California federal court.
December 19, 2025
Judge Says Amazon Policy Expert Admitted To Testify In Trademark Dispute

MIAMI — A retained expert can testify on Amazon policies, a Florida federal judge has ruled, rejecting pleas from a company that alleges that unauthorized products were sold online and that argued that the testimony was inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.
December 19, 2025
2nd Circuit: Hague Convention Bars Email Service To Accused ‘Baby Shark’ Copiers

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge rightly dismissed China-based defendants from an intellectual property suit brought by the company behind the children’s viral song “Baby Shark,” a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Dec. 18; the panel agreed with the judge on a matter of first impression for the appeals court that email service to entities in China is not permissible under the Hague Service Convention.
December 19, 2025
Federal Circuit Says It Lacks Jurisdiction To Consider Idaho Bad Faith Patent Bond

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 18 dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a challenge to an Idaho federal judge’s decisions denying semiconductor manufacturing appellant entities’ motions to dismiss and imposing an $8 million bond under a state law targeting bad faith patent infringement, finding that the decisions were not appealable interlocutory orders.