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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

August 27, 2024
Federal Circuit: Trial Court Wrongly Analyzed Attorney Fees Motion In Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal district court erred in analyzing whether several telecommunications companies that prevailed against patent infringement claims were entitled to attorney fees because it erroneously gave weight to several “red flags” that supposedly made the case exceptional, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in vacating the trial court’s order granting the companies’ motion for attorney fees.
August 26, 2024
3rd Circuit: No Fees Due In Trade Dress Dispute Over Whiteboards

PHILADELPHIA — A panel of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 23 upheld a Pennsylvania federal judge’s denial of attorney fees to the defendant company in a trade dress dispute between two school material manufacturers, agreeing that the case did not reach the level of exceptionality required by the Lanham Act for attorney fees to be recoverable.
August 26, 2024
Federal Judge: Rap Group Owed Royalties In Contract, Copyright Dispute Over Song

NEW YORK — A music publisher must pay royalties to a hip-hop group that created a 1986 hit single despite the label’s concern that the song infringed the theme song of the long-running television show “Dragnet,” a federal judge in New York ruled, granting a motion for summary judgment from the musical group and denying a motion for summary judgment from the label.
August 26, 2024
Federal Judge: Artist’s Trademark, Copyright Claims Against Amazon Largely Survive

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge in California partly denied a motion from Amazon.com Inc. to dismiss a complaint brought against it by an artist, holding that the artist adequately established that the defendant infringed upon his trademarks by selling counterfeited works, but noted that the artist conceded that he failed to establish other elements of his claims.
August 23, 2024
In Exercise Device Patent Row, Federal Circuit Affirms Claim Construction Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court correctly found that a claim within a patent for a personal athletic performance monitor device was indefinite for lack of corresponding structure because the patent’s specification failed to disclose an algorithm for computing athletic performance feedback data, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the lower court’s judgment in part.
August 23, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Office Depot Owed Some Fees In Copyright, Contract Dispute

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida said that Office Depot Inc. should recover just under $1 million in attorney fees from a software development company that accused the retailer of copyright misappropriation through its use of a database created by the developer after a federal judge previously held that a licensing agreement between the two companies allowed Office Depot’s use of the database.
August 23, 2024
Federal Judge: No Preliminary Injunction In Trademark Row Between Film Fests

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied the second motion for preliminary injunction in a trademark dispute brought by the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York against the owner of another South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, holding that the plaintiff owner failed to adequately establish a substantial likelihood that he would prevail on his claims.
August 22, 2024
Record Labels, ISP Both Complain Of 4th Circuit’s Copyright Holding To High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In dueling petitions for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of record labels and music publishers say the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a $1 billion award for vicarious copyright infringement by an internet service provider (ISP), while the ISP argues the Fourth Circuit erred in finding it is liable for contributory infringement.
August 22, 2024
In High Court, PTO Director Says Patent Term Adjustment Does Not Affect Validity

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In her Aug. 21 brief in response to a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a tech firm in the U.S. Supreme Court, the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) argues that a patent that had its expiration date extended under patent term adjustment (PTA) due to application delays caused by the PTO is still susceptible to findings of obviousness and invalidity.
August 22, 2024
Mobile User Interface Patent Claim Is Not Indefinite, Federal Circuit Holds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court erred in finding that the representative claim of a mobile user interface patent was indefinite because the language of the claim and its prosecution history show that the claim can be properly constructed in a way that fits the patent, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in reversing and remanding the trial court’s judgment.
August 22, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Declines To Vacate $525M Jury Award In Tech Patent Dispute

CHICAGO — A jury’s award of $525 million for patent infringement claims involving information storage and retrieval patents was supported by sufficient evidence and should not be vacated, an Illinois federal judge found in denying Amazon’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and its motion for a new trial.
August 22, 2024
Enactment Of AIA Did Not Change The On-Sale Bar, Federal Circuit Holds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congress did not intend to change the long-established interpretation of the on-sale bar by enacting the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) because textual changes brought on with the enactment of the AIA text did not materially affect the provision, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a decision from the U.S. International Trade Commission concerning artificial sweetener patents.
August 21, 2024
Federal Judge Holds Most Counterclaims Survive In Trademark Infringement Suit

MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on Aug. 20 allowed to stand most counterclaims brought by a defendant company in against a plaintiff company that accused it of trademark infringement through allegedly unauthorized sales of computers through Amazon; the judge dismissed a false advertising counterclaim, finding that the defendant company failed to show how take-down requests made to Amazon amounted to false advertising statements made to customers.
August 21, 2024
Anthropic Faces 1st AI Copyright Suit From Authors

SAN FRANCISCO — Three authors filed a class action against Anthropic PBC in a California federal court claiming that the company’s business model consists of “largescale theft” of “hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books” so that it can train its artificial intelligence.
August 20, 2024
7th Circuit: Extortionist Failed To Show Ownership Over Celebrity Photos

CHICAGO — A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed an Illinois federal judge’s dismissal of a copyright claim brought by a former actor and convicted extortionist against multiple news outlets, agreeing that the man failed to show that he had copyright ownership of photographs of him appearing with multiple celebrities published by the outlets after his arrest.
August 20, 2024
2nd Circuit: No Exception To Copyright Act Limitations Statute’s Discovery Rule

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a New York federal judge’s finding that a photography studio’s copyright claims were time-barred, saying the judge incorrectly held that an exception to the “discovery rule” precludes “sophisticated plaintiffs” from bringing a copyright claim three years after the discovery of the alleged infringement.
August 20, 2024
Federal Circuit Dismisses Hydrogenated Silicon Patent Appeal For Lack Of Standing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is no live case or controversy regarding hydrogenated silicon patent infringement claims because the patent owner dismissed its claims with prejudice, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in dismissing an appeal of a final written inter partes review decision issued by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
August 20, 2024
Nike’s Shoe Patent Claims Against New Balance Will Continue In Mass. Federal Court

BOSTON — New Balance failed to show that Nike’s factual allegations contradicted New Balance’s interpretation of three shoe patents it allegedly infringed by manufacturing and selling its own shoes, a Massachusetts federal judge found in denying New Balance’s partial motion to dismiss.
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.