Mealey's Intellectual Property
-
June 24, 2024
Panel: Mobile Gambling Patents Abstract And Fail To Contain Inventive Concept
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge did not err in dismissing patent infringement claims regarding a series of patents that disclose a method for placing gambling bets from a remote location because the patents are based on an abstract idea and do not contain an inventive concept, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming June 21.
-
June 24, 2024
High Court Again Extends Response Deadline In Review Of 9th Circuit FCA Reversal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 21 granted a district court qui tam plaintiff’s second request for additional time to respond to pharmaceutical companies’ petition that seeks review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling reversing the district court’s dismissal of a suit accusing the companies of violating the False Claims Act (FCA) by artificially inflating drug prices.
-
June 24, 2024
5th Circuit: Store Infringed ‘Appliance Liquidation Outlet’ Mark, But No Fees Owed
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on June 21 partly reversed a Texas federal judge’s finding in a trademark infringement case, finding that the judge correctly held that a company’s trademark on “Appliance Liquidation Outlet” was infringed but incorrectly held that “Appliance Liquidation” is a valid mark in a dispute between competing stores.
-
June 24, 2024
High Court To Decide If Lanham Act Allows Disgorgement Of Nonparty Profits
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 24 granted a real estate firm’s petition for a writ of certiorari, agreeing to consider whether courts under the Lanham Act “can include an order for the defendant to disgorge the distinct profits of legally separate non-party corporate affiliates” and if the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals improperly upheld a $43 million disgorgement award against it.
-
June 21, 2024
German Companies Claim Microsoft Infringed Patents Through Its AI Infrastructure
MARSHALL, Texas — Microsoft Corp. infringed three patents by using certain computing systems that allow for artificial intelligence (AI) computer programs to run more efficiently, two German companies allege in a complaint filed in Texas federal court.
-
June 20, 2024
Claim Construction In Communications Patent Case Was Proper, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) claim construction in a dispute over certain methods for controlling transmission power in communication systems and found that the PTAB correctly gave the claim language its plain meaning.
-
June 19, 2024
Federal Circuit: Injunction Over Trade Secrets Was Not Given Proper Analysis
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction to a company that alleges that one of its competitors used trade secrets in developing an insulin patch because the trial court did not properly consider relevant factors such as the applicable statute of limitations and the proper definition of a trade secret, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found in reversing the trial court’s judgment.
-
June 19, 2024
Microsoft Joins OpenAI’s Call For Consolidation Of Media AI Suits
NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp. joined in various OpenAI entities’ motion to consolidate a suit brought by eight news organizations challenging outputs from the ChatGPT artificial intelligence and its associated programs with a similar suit filed by The New York Times Co., saying in its joinder brief filed in a federal court in New York that doing so will combine suits that challenge similar technologies.
-
June 19, 2024
Judge Rules ‘Florida Man’ Not Famous Enough For Dilution In Trademark Dispute
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida granted in part a Florida company and its principal’s motion to dismiss a complaint alleging that the company violated another company’s “FLORIDA MAN” trademark, finding that the mark is not “famous” under federal or Florida law.
-
June 19, 2024
Federal Circuit: PTAB Used Wrong Construction In Dispute Over Control Devices
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) used an erroneous claim construction in rejecting an obviousness challenge filed by television manufacturer Roku Inc., which was sued for allegedly infringing upon a patent for enhanced appliance control methods, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found June 18 in vacating PTAB’s final written decision (FWD).
-
June 18, 2024
Judgment Requiring Inhaler Patents To Be Delisted Stayed For 30 Days
TRENTON, N.J. — While stopping short of granting a request to stay his recent order that a drugmaker must delist five patents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “Orange Book” pending resolution of an appeal, a federal judge in New Jersey has agreed to put the judgment on hold for 30 days.
-
June 18, 2024
Federal Circuit Judge Stands By Nonobviousness Holding In Drug Dispute
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge, visiting in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, said that a recent decision by a panel of his court that reversed and remanded findings that a patented schizophrenia drug is nonobvious won’t prompt him to revisit his own findings in a separate case that confirmed the same formulation as patentable.
-
June 18, 2024
Counterclaims Tossed In California Patent Row Over Chipmaking Robots
SAN FRANCISCO — An automation company accused of infringing five reissue patents for chipmaking robots saw its counterclaim for inequitable conduct dismissed, with a federal judge in California rejecting arguments that during patent prosecution an industry standard was purposely withheld from the examiner when the same standard is identified in the specification of the parent patent.
-
June 18, 2024
Claims Over Hotel’s Use Of Minors’ Photo On Instagram, Website Dismissed
LOS ANGELES — Citing issues of preemption and shotgun pleadings, a California federal judge dismissed claims of copyright infringement, unfair competition and misappropriation, among others, that were brought against a hotel for its online use of an Instagram picture of two minors that purportedly exceeded any consent granted by the copyright holder.
-
June 18, 2024
Federal Circuit Denies 2 Petitions For Rehearing In Antibiotic Patent Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied two petitions for rehearing of its decision affirming a Delaware federal judge’s final judgment directing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to delay approval of generic rifaximin until three patents covering the antibiotic Xifaxan expire.
-
June 17, 2024
Patent Covering Above-Ground Pool Frame Joint Singled Out For Review
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a June 15 request for post-grant review (PGR), a petitioner says that a patentee’s own above-ground-pool (AGP), sold since 2007, renders various claims of a recently-issued pool frame joint patent obvious, as well as that other claims of the same patent are cancellable as indefinite.
-
June 17, 2024
4th Circuit: Lanham Act Does Not Preclude Judicial Review In Dispute Over Rum Mark
RICHMOND, Va. — A panel of judges in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that the Lanham Act does not preclude judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), remanding to a Virginia federal judge a rum manufacturer’s claim that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office inappropriately allowed a rival brand to renew a trademark a decade after its expiration.
-
June 17, 2024
Judge Affirms Jury Verdict, Award Against Creators Of Video Game Cheat
SEATTLE — Affirming a jury’s finding that five defendants infringed copyrights in the popular Destiny 2 video game series by creating a cheat for it that they sold online, a Washington federal judge also entered a permanent injunction and a monetary judgment of $63,210 in favor of the video game developer, per the jury’s recommendation.
-
June 17, 2024
Plaintiffs Won’t Amend Privacy Action Involving ChatGPT After Dismissal
SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs confronted with a court ruling finding their privacy and California unfair competition law (UCL) action involving artificial intelligence raises policy concerns more appropriate in a town hall than a courtroom told a federal judge in California on June 14 that they will not amend their complaint and asked the court to close the case.
-
June 17, 2024
Media Company May Update AI Suit With More Specificity, Federal Judge Says
NEW YORK — The Intercept Media Inc. may amend its artificial intelligence copyright complaint to address “seeming lack of specificity” in the action, a federal judge in New York said, noting that he will consider existing briefing on a motion to dismiss as targeted to the amended filing and will rule quickly after the filing of supplemental briefing.
-
June 14, 2024
New York City Can Intervene In Cannabis Cruise Copyright, Trademark Litigation
NEW YORK — Citing the “undeniable interest” the city of New York has in a trademark and copyright infringement action involving the “NYC NEW YORK CANNABIS” logo, a federal judge in New York has granted the city’s motion to intervene.
-
June 13, 2024
Magistrate Judge Denies Bid To Seal Financial Data In Patent, Trademark Row
NEW YORK — A letter request to redact “the factual basis” for a request for damages by a patent and trademark infringement plaintiff against defaulting infringement defendants has been rejected by a federal magistrate judge in New York.
-
June 13, 2024
In Win For PTO, High Court Declares ‘Names’ Clause Constitutional
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The full U.S. Supreme Court on June 13 reversed a ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a provision of federal trademark law barring registrations that “falsely suggest a connection with persons, living or dead” violates free speech rights, but the justices, in several concurrences, offered vastly different reasons why.
-
June 13, 2024
Amazon Did Not Infringe Upon Mermaid Sleeping Bag Patents, Magistrate Judge Says
SEATTLE — Amazon did not infringe upon three design patents for a mermaid sleeping bag by selling 37 different mermaid-shaped blankets and sleeping bags because an ordinary observer would not believe that the products were the same, a Washington federal magistrate judge found in granting Amazon’s motion to dismiss patent infringement claims brought against it by the patent holder.
-
June 13, 2024
Proctor & Gamble Tells 2nd Circuit Febreze Jingle Did Not Infringe Song
NEW YORK — A five-note melodic hook that is part of a copyrighted song is not separately protectable, Proctor & Gamble Corp. (P&G) and others argue in an appellee brief, asking the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s dismissal of a musician’s complaint in which he alleged that the Febreze advertising jingle infringed the hook.