Intellectual Property

  • August 01, 2025

    USPTO Tightens Rules On Patent Challengers' Arguments

    Patent challengers at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board will no longer be able to skirt a requirement that they must identify where all the elements of the patent are found in prior art patents or printed publications, according to a notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • August 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Bugged By Injunction In Insecticide Patent Dispute

    The Federal Circuit on Friday scrubbed a preliminary injunction blocking a company from selling an insecticide product while a competitor's patent infringement case proceeded against it, faulting a lower court's claim construction and patent validity analysis. 

  • August 01, 2025

    Swimsuit Biz Sues Chris Brown Over 'Breezy Bowl' Tour Name

    Miami swimsuit company Breezy Swimwear Inc. has sued singer Chris Brown and several companies affiliated with his "Breezy Bowl XX" tour, claiming they used "copycat branding" that created a risk of confusion among consumers.

  • August 01, 2025

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Eye Effect Of PTAB Ax In Groupon Case

    The full Federal Circuit on Friday rejected Groupon's request for review of a decision that allowed a patent suit against it to proceed on some claims after similar ones were invalidated in an inter partes review, although two dissenting judges said the holding undermines the America Invents Act.

  • August 01, 2025

    Lamborghini Says Trade Secrets Case Best Heard In Italy

    Lamborghini has told a Texas federal court that a case brought by an Italian auto racing engineering firm alleging the sports carmaker stole steering wheel trade secrets is best left to Italian courts and is part of a long-running business dispute in that country.

  • August 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Move Fintiv, Apple Trial Date

    The Federal Circuit on Friday denied Fintiv Inc.'s request to delay its Monday trial against Apple over a patent for storing virtual credit cards on mobile devices for contactless payments.

  • August 01, 2025

    Chancery Rules Gallagher Owes $50M In 'Earnout' Suit

    An Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. subsidiary breached a contract by withholding $50 million owed to a patent insurance and underwriting venture under first-year terms of a three-year merger and earnout deal, a Delaware vice chancellor has found.

  • August 01, 2025

    Ex-Copyright Chief Appeals Denial Of Reinstatement Bid

    The former head of the U.S. Copyright Office will appeal a D.C. federal judge's denial of her request to be immediately reinstated to her former position after she was fired by President Donald Trump while her suit remains pending.

  • August 01, 2025

    NC Atty Says Ex-Wife Has No Claim To Firm's Future Earnings

    An intellectual property lawyer in North Carolina told the state's top court that his ex-wife isn't entitled to half the value of his law firm in their divorce, arguing that whatever he earns from the firm's goodwill in the future can't be divvied up as part of the marital estate.

  • August 01, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ax Of Claims In Network Speed Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a handful of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that found claims across four patents on increasing network communication speed owned by Israeli tech company Bright Data were invalid.

  • August 01, 2025

    Mintz Welcomes Longtime Fenwick & West IP Atty In NY

    Mintz said Wednesday that it has added a longtime Fenwick & West LLP lawyer who helped his former firm establish itself in New York to its intellectual property prosecution practice.

  • August 01, 2025

    Rising Star: Morrison Foerster's Timothy Chen Saulsbury

    Timothy Chen Saulsbury of Morrison Foerster LLP helped defeat a $900 million trade secrets suit over wearable medical device technologies and won a favorable jury verdict for Epic Games on a patent infringement claim, earning him a spot among the intellectual property lawyers under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 01, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen several telco giants hit with a trademark claim, a collapsed hotel company sue a property investor in an ongoing dispute over a decades-old hotel sale, and two litigation funders square off against each other.

  • August 01, 2025

    Disney Settles IP Dustup Over 'Pickles' Baseball Team

    Disney has quietly settled a trademark suit brought by the Portland Pickles, an Oregon summer league baseball team that has attained a kind of cult status within the game, over the depiction of a softball team named the Pickles in one of its animated series.

  • July 31, 2025

    Pandora Says IP Suit Should Be Axed, Backing Special Master

    Pandora Media told a California federal judge on Wednesday that a special master was right to recommend handing it a summary judgment win in high-stakes copyright infringement litigation by a group of comedians who allege that the streaming service lacked licenses for the underlying jokes in their comedy routines.

  • July 31, 2025

    'Abusive Behavior' Spurs $195M Add To Phillips 66 IP Verdict

    A California state judge added $195 million in exemplary damages to a $605 million trade secrets verdict against oil giant Phillips 66 following its "abusive behavior" toward startup and onetime acquisition target Propel Fuels.

  • July 31, 2025

    PTAB Takes Down Automotive USB Patent

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that the single claim of an automotive technology supplier's patent on USBs for automobiles was invalid, agreeing with Microchip Technologies that it was obvious.

  • July 31, 2025

    ITC Judge Recommends General Import Ban In Shoe IP Case

    A U.S. International Trade Commission judge recommended a complete block on imports of women's ballet flats that the maker of Tieks shoes proved infringed its design patents on its signature blue-soled footwear.

  • July 31, 2025

    Paramount Gets Partial Dismissal Of 'Top Gun' Credit Suit

    A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday dismissed part of a suit brought by the cousin of a "Top Gun: Maverick" screenwriter, tossing his claims to joint ownership and authorship of the film, but allowing his copyright infringement claim to survive.

  • July 31, 2025

    American Airlines Can't Stay Claims In Wi-Fi Patent Suit

    A Texas federal judge shot down American Airlines' bid to stay two claims in a suit accusing the airline of infringement for its use of hardware that allows for internet connection on flights, saying the airline failed to show it was merely a passive user of the technology.

  • July 31, 2025

    3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In August

    The Federal Circuit's argument calendar for August includes Brita's effort to revive a patent suit against water filter rivals that fell short at the U.S. International Trade Commission, and a prolific inventor's bid to undo a decision clearing Coca-Cola of infringing a beverage dispenser patent.

  • July 31, 2025

    Microsoft Fights Demand For AI Deal Data In Databricks Suit

    Third-party Microsoft Corp. urged a California magistrate judge Thursday to block a subpoena by a group of writers accusing San Francisco-based Databricks of using their copyrighted works to train its artificial intelligence tool MosaicML, arguing that Microsoft has already exceeded third-party obligations by providing certain data agreements and that the request is overbroad.

  • July 31, 2025

    18 GOP Sens. Urge Trump To Fill IP Negotiator Post

    Eighteen Republican U.S. senators urged President Donald Trump to appoint someone to the vacant role of chief innovation and intellectual property negotiator of the U.S. Trade Representative in order to work to remove what they called "market-distorting price controls" in the pharmaceutical industry.

  • July 31, 2025

    Rising Star: WilmerHale's Steven Horn

    WilmerHale's Steven Horn has been a strategic leader on the firm's work defending Intel Corp. from the sprawling, big-dollar patent infringement litigation brought by VLSI Technology LLC, earning him a spot among the intellectual property attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 31, 2025

    NC Judge Questions Barings' Bid For Ex-Employees' Emails

    A North Carolina business court judge seemed leery Thursday of forcing former Barings' employees to fork over their personal emails and text messages as part of a deposition notice, suggesting Barings was trying to bypass U.K. law to get information from a foreign witness in its suit alleging former executives conducted a "corporate raid" to start a competing credit platform.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Opinion

    Subject Matter Eligibility Test Should Return To Preemption

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    Subject matter eligibility has posed challenges for patentees due to courts' arbitrary and confusing reasoning, but adopting a two-part preemption test could align the applicant, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the courts, says Manav Das at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Google Damages Ruling Offers Lessons For Testifying Experts

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in EcoFactor v. Google represents a shift in how courts evaluate expert testimony in patent cases, offering a practical guide for how litigators and testifying experts can refine their work, says Adam Rhoten at Secretariat.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Breaking Down Part 3 Of The Copyright Office's AI Report

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    On May 9, the U.S. Copyright Office published a prepublication version of the third and final part of its three-part report on artificial intelligence, offering key insights on the unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

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    Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Discretionary Denial Rulings May Spur Calls For PTAB Reform

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent decision in iRhythm Technologies v. Welch Allyn, denying inter partes review based on the patent owner's settled expectations that the patent would not be challenged, could motivate patent holders to seek Patent Trial and Appeal Board reform to preserve patent quality without burdening owners, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Spinoff Transaction Considerations For Biotech M&A

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    Amid current market challenges, boards and management teams of biotech companies can consider several strategies for maximizing value should a spinoff opportunity arise, but not without significant advance planning and careful implementation, particularly in cases that might qualify as tax-free, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Fed. Circ. In May: Evaluating Opportunistic Trademark Filings

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in the "US Space Force" trademark case gives the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board additional clarity when working through opportunistic trademark filings, particularly when the mark's value is primarily due to the potential value of a false connection, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • 3 Juror Psychology Principles For Expert Witness Testimony

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    Expert witnesses can sometimes fall into traps when trying to teach juries complex topics by failing to consider the psychology of juror comprehension, but attorneys can help witnesses avoid these pitfalls with a deeper understanding of cognitive lag, chunking and learning styles, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • A Midyear Tuneup For Your Trade Secret Portfolio

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    Halfway through 2025, now is a good time for companies to thoroughly evaluate their trade secret portfolios and follow eight steps to reassess protection processes for confidential information, says Robert Jensen at Wolf Greenfield.

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