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Intellectual Property
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April 18, 2024
Samsung Gets PTAB To Sink Netlist Patent Claim
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has sided with Samsung's arguments that a claim in a patent owned by chipmaker Netlist wasn't valid, after the board already found that an earlier decade-old suit against Google didn't block Samsung's petition.
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April 18, 2024
Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law
Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Ga. Cargo Co. Says Marks Are Generic In $15M IP Dispute
A Georgia-based cargo company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a $15 million judgment awarded to a competitor over trademark violations, saying the intellectual property that it's accused of using is generic.
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April 18, 2024
Oakland Airport Name Change Will Create A Mess, SF Says
Oakland, California, wants to change its airport's name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, but the city of San Francisco said in a California federal lawsuit Thursday that the name would not only befuddle travelers but also unlawfully incorporate San Francisco International Airport's name.
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April 18, 2024
Cybersecurity Startup Loses 2 Patents At PTAB
A small cybersecurity startup litigating in Virginia federal court against larger tech companies has failed to persuade the Patent Trial and Appeal Board not to invalidate the entirety of two patents covering ways of combating "evolving" online threats, among other things.
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April 18, 2024
Sale Offer Should Doom Jetaire IP Suit, Judge Says
A Florida federal magistrate judge has said aviation company AerSale should get a win on arguments that not only did it not infringe a trio of Jetaire patents, but also that the patents are invalid.
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April 18, 2024
Kimmel Atty Defends Airing 'Patently Ridiculous' Santos Clips
A lawyer for Jimmy Kimmel told a Manhattan federal judge Thursday that the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law allows the late-night host to air silly videos that he tricked indicted former congressman George Santos into making on the personalized messaging platform Cameo.
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April 18, 2024
Biotech Co. NanoString Lands $393M Bid At Ch. 11 Auction
Scientific instrument maker Bruker Corp. is set to acquire insolvent biotechnology company NanoString for roughly $393 million in cash that would be used to repay creditors under the debtor's recently proposed Chapter 11 plan, a notice filed in Delaware's bankruptcy court shows.
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April 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Get Stalking Injunction Against Influencer
A Florida state judge on Wednesday denied a former Greenberg Traurig LLP partner's request for a cyberstalking injunction against a social media influencer, saying the petitioner did not show enough evidence to justify it.
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April 18, 2024
Red Roof Franchise Co. Settles IP Fight With Motel Operator
Red Roof Inn's Ohio-based location franchising company and the Toledo motel operator it accused of still using the hospitality chain's branding almost two years after its franchise agreement was terminated have agreed to settle the intellectual property dispute between them, according to a new joint notice.
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April 18, 2024
Hipgnosis Agrees To $1.4B Takeover By US Rival Concord
Concord Chorus has agreed to buy its British music royalties rival Hipgnosis Songs Fund in an all-cash transaction worth $1.4 billion, as the U.S. company looks to add 1.2 million more songs to its portfolio, the companies said in joint statement Thursday.
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April 17, 2024
Mintz Sues Parking Meter Co. Over $4.3M IP Legal Bill
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC sued parking meter provider Duncan Parking Technologies Inc. and its parent company, CivicSmart Inc., in Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, accusing its former clients of owing $4.3 million in unpaid legal fees and interest for representing CivicSmart in a since-settled patent litigation.
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April 17, 2024
United Therapeutics Can't Bar Rival Lung Disease Drug
Repeating himself for the second time in the last several weeks, a federal judge in Delaware on Wednesday said he won't stop a biochemical startup from launching a drug that would compete directly with one of United Therapeutics' biggest pharmaceutical products.
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April 17, 2024
Tesla Gets PTAB To Wipe Out Vehicle Charging Patent
Tesla has persuaded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate all claims of a Charge Fusion Technologies electrical charging patent, the latest development in a larger legal battle between the parties.
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April 17, 2024
Clarify DMCA Carveout For AI Research, DOJ Says
The U.S. Department of Justice is showing some support for a proposal that could allow researchers looking into biases in artificial intelligence programming to bypass laws that limit access to copyright-protected AI models.
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April 17, 2024
3 Takeaways From Revived Obviousness Case On J&J Patent
A Federal Circuit ruling from earlier this month that told a judge to reconsider upholding a Johnson & Johnson schizophrenia drug patent emphasizes that analyzing whether a patent is invalid as obvious requires focusing on what it actually claims and an inventor's creativity, attorneys said.
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April 17, 2024
3rd Circ. Erases $10M Judgment In Car Charities' TM Dispute
The Third Circuit on Wednesday erased a $10 million judgment awarded to a charity that sells donated cars for children's education, saying a lower court made a series of errors in concluding that unreasonable delays did not bar claims from Texas-based America Can Cars for Kids in a trademark dispute with a similar charity.
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April 17, 2024
2nd Circ. Doubts Adidas Appeal In Thom Browne TM Case
A Second Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared skeptical of Adidas' arguments that a Manhattan district judge gave improper instructions to a jury that shot down its trademark infringement claims against fashion brand Thom Browne, suggesting the lower court had laid out the issues fairly.
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April 17, 2024
Sport Flooring Co. Says Ex-Owner Stole Info To Start Rival Biz
A former part-owner of a company that sells and installs performance flooring for college athletic facilities and health clubs has been sued by the prior company, which has claimed he stole proprietary information to jumpstart his own competing business.
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April 17, 2024
Texas Jury Hits Samsung With $142M Loss In IP Retrial
A Texas federal jury on Wednesday said Samsung owes G+ Communications LLC $142 million for infringing two 5G wireless network patents, a huge win on retrial for G+, which was originally awarded less than half of that.
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April 17, 2024
Alien Influencer, Ex-Partners Walk Away From IP Row
A Colorado federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a motivational speaker and self-described influencer who claims to have met with extraterrestrial beings known as the "Blue Avians," after the influencer and two former business partners agreed to drop dueling claims over movie projects and business ventures gone awry.
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April 17, 2024
Sirius XM Faces Patent Row Over Vehicle Kit Product
A Texas company that owns a patent on a high-bandwidth content distribution structure has filed a lawsuit in the Lone Star State accusing Sirius XM Holdings Inc. of infringing its intellectual property.
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April 17, 2024
Colo. Judge Slams Attys For Petty 'Squabbles' In Patent Fight
A Colorado federal judge on Wednesday roundly rebuked lawyers fighting over patents for oil and gas equipment for filing "needless" motions that seemed to reflect their "interpersonal squabbles" rather than the interests of their clients, and threatened to sanction the attorneys if they ever drag the court into another petty fight.
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April 17, 2024
Ogletree Expands Into Western NY With Ex-Goldberg Atty
Management-side employment firm Ogletree Deakins is expanding into western New York, announcing Tuesday that it is adding a shareholder in Buffalo from Goldberg Segalla.
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April 17, 2024
IBM Privacy Head Says AI Needs Transparency To Be Trusted
To combat artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes, disinformation and bias requires transparent, open-sourced AI models and swift regulations that protect elections, creators and the public, says IBM's Chief Privacy & Trust Officer Christina Montgomery.
Expert Analysis
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Direct Claims Ruling May Alter Gov't Ties To Software Firms
A recent Federal Circuit decision allowing a software developer to pursue legal action under the Contract Disputes Act could change the government's relationship with commercial software providers by permitting direct claims, even in third-party purchase situations, say Dan Ramish and Zach Prince at Haynes Boone.
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The Fed. Circ. In February: A Reminder On Procedure Rule 28
Because the Federal Circuit does not often issue a sua sponte precedential order emphasizing an important rule of practice, it is useful to look at how the court applied the restrictions of appellate procedure Rule 28 in Promptu v. Comcast last month, and in cases that preceded it, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe Martens.
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Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.
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A Defense Strategy For Addressing Copyright Fee-Shifting
Permissive fee-shifting under Section 505 of the Copyright Act poses unique challenges for copyright defendants, carrying an outsize impact on the economic incentive structure in copyright litigation, but relying on a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure may offer a potential solution by allowing defendants to recover attorney fees, say Hugh Marbury and Molly Shaffer at Cozen O'Connor.
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Design Rights Can Build IP Protection, EU Lego Ruling Shows
The EU General Court's recent ruling in Delta Sport v. EU Intellectual Property Office — that Lego's registered community design for a building block was valid — helps clarify when technically dictated designs can enjoy IP protection, and demonstrates how companies can strategically use design rights to protect and enhance their market position, says Christoph Moeller at Mewburn Ellis.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Facts Differ But Same Rules Apply
Zachary Jacobson and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine two decisions illustrating that reliance on a technicality may not save an otherwise untimely appeal, and that enforcement of commercial terms and conditions under a federal supply schedule contract may be possible.
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Untangling The Legal Complexities Of Trade Secrets And AI
With broad adoption of generative artificial intelligence, some have suggested trade secret law is the best means for protecting innovations, but while this protection may apply to all forms of information, the breadth of coverage may make identifying the information and later misappropriation difficult, say Joshua Lerner and Nora Passamaneck at WilmerHale.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse
The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial
Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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A Rainbow Of Lessons From Fruity Pebbles' TTAB Loss
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s January decision to deny Post Foods' bid to register a trademark on its Fruity Pebbles cereal brand underscores the importance of the interplay among mark description, mark drawing and goods identification when seeking protection for trade dress, say Troy Viger and Jenevieve Maerker at Finnegan.
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Why Oncology Deal Making Continues To Fuel Biotech M&A
The biotech sector's potential for advancements in cancer care continues to attract deal-maker interest, and the keys to successful mergers and acquisitions include the ability to integrate innovative therapies, leverage technological advancements and respond to the dynamic needs of patients, say Bryan Luchs and Mike Weir at White & Case.
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TTAB Ruling May Broaden Alcohol Trademark Analysis
A February U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision that wine is inherently related to bars and cocktail lounges for trademark protection purposes appears to broaden the scope of exclusivity, highlighting that the more similar the marks, the less related the products must be for the TTAB to refuse registration, says William Borchard at Cowan Liebowitz.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.