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Mealey's Intellectual Property

August 19, 2024
11th Circuit Rejects Artist’s Copyright Claims For Banana Piece

ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 16 affirmed a Florida federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of an artist who saw online virality after duct taping a banana to a wall at a Miami art fair, agreeing with the judge that another artist failed to show how the work infringed on his own art piece also involving a banana duct taped to a wall from nearly two decades earlier.
August 19, 2024
Sale Of Invention Was Not ‘Public Disclosure,’ Federal Circuit Says In Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The private sale of a product that contained the subject matter of a patent application that was filed several days later does not mean the application itself cannot be considered prior art because the sale did not result in the public disclosure of the inventive subject matter, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that a patent for a port apparatus used with electronic devices was obvious in light of the application.
August 16, 2024
Federal Circuit Vacates Preliminary Injunction In E-Cigarette Trademark Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to issue a preliminary injunction against a Chinese e-cigarette manufacturer and its American wholesalers in a trademark and patent dispute brought by an American e-cigarette maker, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the judge did not adequately consider the Chinese company’s argument that the American manufacturer did not have a valid claim to the contested mark because it did not seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its product.
August 16, 2024
9th Circuit Reverses Finding Of No Jurisdiction In Sumo Wrestling Copyright Fight

SAN FRANCISCO — A partially split panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss a copyright infringement dispute between two broadcasting companies over a sumo wrestling competition because the alleged infringement occurred entirely in Japan; the panel majority held that the plaintiff company could conceivably show the circumvention of copyright law occurred domestically.
August 16, 2024
Fla. Federal Judge: Patent Commission Case Belongs In Courts Of England And Wales

MIAMI — A dispute over whether a consulting firm is entitled to an anticipated judgment allegedly arising from the firm’s efforts to monetize two service control technology permits must be heard in the courts of England and Wales because the brokerage agreement between the firm and the patent owners contains a forum-selection clause selecting that forum, a Florida federal judge found in granting the owner’s motion to dismiss.
August 15, 2024
News Outlets Say Stable Diffusion AI Ruling Supports Copyright Case

NEW YORK — A ruling allowing induced copyright infringement claims and finding Stable Diffusion artificial intelligence itself an infringing work applies to contributory infringement claims alleging that ChatGPT memorized works and will output “near-verbatim” replicas, news outlets argue in an Aug. 14 notice of supplemental authority.
August 15, 2024
Guitar Seller Says 1st Circuit Wrongly Ordered New Trial In Copyright Case

BOSTON — A guitar seller who was accused of copyright infringement by a guitar manufacturer that said it used a copyrighted photo of guitar headstocks on its website filed a petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc after a First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ordered a new trial in a New Hampshire federal court, arguing that the panel widened a circuit split over what standard a court can use to determine the relationship between alleged infringement and subsequent revenue.
August 15, 2024
Judge Says Some AI Copyright Claims Survive In Visual Arts Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — An amended complaint permissibly adds claims and defendants, and while some of those claims are unsuccessful, copyright claims against DeviantArt, Stability AI Ltd. and others survive, thanks in part to new allegations of improper copying of works to train artificial intelligence, a federal judge in California said in partially granting motions to dismiss.
August 15, 2024
4th Circuit: Wireless Carrier Shows It Intended To Begin Reusing Trademark

RICHMOND, Va. — A panel of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in a trademark dispute in favor of defendant wireless communications company T-Mobile US Inc., holding that plaintiff company Simply Wireless Inc. had raised a genuine question of material fact as to whether it had abandoned its use of the contested “SIMPLY PREPAID” mark.
August 15, 2024
Owner Of Charging Bag Patent Fails To Secure Default Judgment In N.Y. Federal Court

BUFFALO — The owner of a patent that describes a bag or luggage that has a USB charging connector is not entitled to default judgment on the claim of patent infringement it brought against a competitor because the owner failed to attach a copy of its patent to its motion for default judgment, a New York federal judge found in denying the motion without prejudice.
August 14, 2024
Patent Attorney Urges High Court To Decline Review Of 9th Circuit FCA Reversal

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent attorney who was a district court’s qui tam plaintiff in a suit accusing pharmaceutical companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices urges the U.S. Supreme Court to decline review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling reversing the district court’s dismissal, arguing that the Ninth Circuit correctly “held that the public disclosures did not collectively disclose the fraud.”
August 14, 2024
5th Circuit Issues Updated Opinion In Copyright Row Over Canadian Legal Codes

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued a new version of a July opinion in which it reversed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment against a publisher accused by a Canadian developer of legal codes and standards of illegally republishing complete versions of the code because the code is effectively uncopyrightable “law” in Canada, removing a reference to the developer referring to itself as a government agency.
August 14, 2024
Federal Judge Adopts Recommendation, Says Ignition Mitigation Patents Are Invalid

MIAMI — In adopting a federal magistrate judge’s report and recommendation, a Florida federal judge agreed that three patents that form a method and system of fuel tank mitigation were invalid under the on-sale bar because the inventor made three commercial offers for sale of the patented method before applying for patent protection.
August 13, 2024
After Dismissing UCL Claim, Judge Relieves Plaintiffs Of ChatGPT Discovery

SAN FRANCISCO — Attorney-created prompts and testing of ChatGPT constitute protected opinion work product, and copyright infringement plaintiffs did not waive work product protections by including some results in their complaint, and the protections are not overcome simply because production would shed light on the case, a federal judge in California said in granting relief from a magistrate judge’s ruling.
August 13, 2024
5th Circuit Revives Chef’s Trademark Claims Against Purchasers Of His Restaurant

NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 12 partly revived a trademark infringement suit brought by a Texas chef against a group of entities he claimed infringed upon his trademarks after the end of a licensing agreement, finding that a federal judge in Texas erred by determining that the chef had failed to state a claim.
August 13, 2024
PTO Director’s Former Role In Case Didn’t Affect Due Process Rights, Panel Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of three computer data patents was not deprived of its due process rights when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted inter partes review after opposing counsel in a dispute over the patents was nominated and appointed as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) because the director properly recused herself from the case and the administrative law judges of the PTAB had no pecuniary interest in agreeing with the arguments she formerly presented before them, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming three final written decisions from the PTAB.
August 13, 2024
In COVID-19 Vaccine Case, Federal Judge Says Patent Preambles Must Be Considered

WILMINGTON, Del. — The term “vaccine” within the preamble of a patent that was allegedly infringed upon by the manufacturing of various COVID-19 vaccines is a limitation of the patent’s claims because the term describes the intended use of the patent itself, a Delaware federal judge found in issuing a claim construction order interpreting the patent at issue.
August 13, 2024
Patent Trial And Appeal Board Panel Says Blood Pooling Method Was Not Obvious

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in finding that a method of separating blood components by pooling blood samples together from multiple donors was obvious because none of the prior art mentions pooling blood together, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel found Aug. 12 in rejecting the examiner’s findings.
August 13, 2024
2nd Circuit: Judge Correct To Deny Vacatur Of 2011 Trademark Dispute Settlement

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York correctly denied a request from a series of companies to vacate a 2011 issuance of judgment in a trademark infringement case because a settlement in the case was allegedly built upon a fraudulent document, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the lower court judge that the companies had ample opportunity to discover the alleged fraud when it occurred.
August 12, 2024
New York Times Says Judge Nixed Ruling OpenAI Cites Ordering Discovery Of Prompts

NEW YORK — A judge recently overruled a magistrate judge’s order that was cited by OpenAI Inc. and related entities in their effort to obtain prompts and other material related to presuit testing of ChatGPT, the New York Times Co. (NYT) told a federal judge in New York on Aug. 9 in its copyright infringement action against the creators of the artificial intelligence.
August 12, 2024
Judge: No Deadline Extension In AI Company’s Battle Over Sci Fi-Based Name

NEW YORK — A 10-day delay in the holding of a settlement conference does not warrant a months-long extension of several case deadlines, and any failure to conduct discovery and settlement negotiations simultaneously as requested by the court lies with the parties, a federal judge in New York said in a trademark infringement case involving a dispute between an artificial intelligence chipmaker and a health care company it accuses of poaching its science fiction-based moniker.
August 12, 2024
11th Circuit: No Fees In Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Florida’s Outline In Logos

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 9 affirmed a Florida federal magistrate judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a company that prevailed in a trademark infringement case over a restaurant it said infringed its trademarked logo designs, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the case does not reach the “exceptional” level required for attorney fees under the Lanham Act.
August 12, 2024
Animal Drug Patent Owners Had No Notice Of Methodology Change, Federal Judge Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by changing, without notice, the methodology it uses to calculate regulatory review periods for new animal drug patents that are later used to extend the terms of such patents, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting a patent owner’s motion for summary judgment.
August 12, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Singer’s Copyright Claim Against Rolling Stones

NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam opinion, a panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Louisiana federal judge was correct to dismiss a Spanish singer’s copyright infringement complaint against The Rolling Stones, its members and associated record labels because the singer failed to establish that the court had personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
August 12, 2024
Panel: Knowing Violation Of Rights Exclusion Relieves Insurers Of Duty To Defend

BOSTON — A Massachusetts appeals court affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of insurers in a coverage dispute arising from underlying trademark infringement and other claims brought against insureds, finding that the policy’s knowing violation of the rights of another relieved the insurers of their duty to defend.