Intellectual Property

  • January 13, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB's Axing Of UV Disinfectant Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued a one-word order affirming a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision invalidating claims in a patent covering technology for using UV light for sanitation, declining to take on the inventor's challenge to the board's obviousness determinations.

  • January 13, 2026

    Senate Backs Bill Giving Deepfake Porn Victims Right To Sue

    The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that would allow individuals depicted in nonconsensual, artificial intelligence-generated, sexually explicit content to sue and recover damages, backing the bill once again after it stalled in the House in 2024.

  • January 13, 2026

    Comcast Decries Circuit Split After $177M IP Case Is Revived

    The Federal Circuit split from several other circuits when reviving WhereverTV Inc.'s $177 million infringement suit against Comcast based on waived arguments, the telecommunications giant has warned the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 13, 2026

    US Patent Applications Plunge After Years Of Growth

    The number of patent applications filed in the U.S. dropped 9% in 2025 to the lowest level since 2019 after seven years of growth, and the number of granted applications also declined slightly, according to a report released Tuesday.

  • January 13, 2026

    Squires Institutes 8 Patent Reviews, Rebuffs 47 Petitions

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has denied 47 requests for America Invents Act patent reviews and granted eight other petitions, continuing his practice of spurning most patent challenges that reach his desk since he took over the handling of institution decisions.

  • January 13, 2026

    Former USPTO Solicitor Joins Orrick's Supreme Court Group

    A veteran U.S. Patent and Trademark Office attorney has come aboard Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the firm's Supreme Court and appellate practice, Orrick announced Tuesday.

  • January 13, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Gives Apple New Shot At Axing Smart Mobile Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday revived Apple's challenge at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to a technology patent that Smart Mobile Technologies LLC accuses it of infringing.

  • January 13, 2026

    'Sazerac Stitches' TM Too Similar To Sazerac, Fed. Circ. Says

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a trademark tribunal's refusal to register "Sazerac Stitches" for a variety of home goods and decor items because of potential confusion with the distilled spirits and cocktail accessories sold by Sazerac Brands LLC.

  • January 12, 2026

    US Backs Tarnishment Provision Constitutionality At 9th Circ.

    Jack Daniel's has urged the Ninth Circuit to affirm a district court's ruling that a company's poop-themed "Bad Spaniels" dog toy tarnished the whiskey maker's trademark, while the federal government separately opposed the toy maker's contention that the Lanham Act's tarnishment provision violates the First Amendment.

  • January 12, 2026

    Aristocrat Inks $127.5M Deal In Slot Machine Trade Secret Suit

    Gambling game company Light & Wonder Inc. has agreed to pay competitor Aristocrat Technologies Inc. $127.5 million to put to rest allegations Light & Wonder misappropriated Aristocrat's trade secrets in developing its Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon slot machine games, according to an announcement made Monday.

  • January 12, 2026

    Calif. Judge Trims Antitrust Suit Over High School Athlete NIL

    A California federal magistrate judge on Friday trimmed a high school athlete's proposed antitrust class action against California high school sports regulators and media companies, dismissing for good allegations over amateurism and transfer rules but allowing the plaintiff to amend claims over name, image and likeness tied to athletes' home schools.

  • January 12, 2026

    CareFirst Opposes J&J's Bid To Revisit Stelara Antitrust Case

    Insurer CareFirst urged a Virginia federal court to reject Johnson & Johnson's bid for reconsideration of a ruling that refused to toss antitrust and patent fraud claims over the immunosuppressive drug Stelara.

  • January 12, 2026

    How New Judges Can Smartly Manage Patent Cases

    The hefty damages at risk in patent litigation have led companies to invest significant resources into these fights, which judges tell Law360 means they’re facing more work than usual at every step of the case. In the second of a two-part series, several judges who regularly oversee patent cases provide tips on how new judges can best run their courts and keep their docket moving.

  • January 12, 2026

    Attorneys Chastened By Fed. Circ.'s ITC Mixed Deadline Ruling

    A Federal Circuit decision concluding that certain mixed rulings from the U.S. International Trade Commission can generate different appeal deadlines, even when issued in the same document, is a reminder of just how strict courts can be when handling unclear appeal due dates, attorneys told Law360.

  • January 12, 2026

    8th Circ. Lifts Injunction On Advisory Firm's Rival, Ex-Staff

    Investment advisory firm Choreo LLC improperly got a preliminary injunction after claiming that former employees and a competitor stole trade secrets, the Eighth Circuit found Monday, ruling that the injunction was unwarranted because relevant losses to Choreo are calculable and associated damage has already been done.

  • January 12, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Preserves Google, Keysight, Instacart Patent Wins

    The Federal Circuit on Monday summarily affirmed decisions from three patent appeals that panels heard at the end of last week, shooting down bids from WSOU Investments LLC, Centripetal Networks LLC and Consumeron LLC.

  • January 12, 2026

    Ex-Google Engineer Stole AI Secrets To Help China, Jury Told

    Driven by greed, ex-Google engineer Linwei Ding stole thousands of confidential documents from the tech giant, launched his own startup and then offered Google's artificial intelligence trade secrets to China, a federal prosecutor told a California jury Monday at the start of Ding's high-profile economic espionage trial.

  • January 12, 2026

    Scented Products TM Row Ends In Trial Lunchtime Settlement

    Luxury scented products company Aroma360 LLC agreed Monday to settle its trademark infringement claims against competitor Scentiment LLC, in a deal negotiated right after the parties finished presenting their opening statements to a jury.

  • January 12, 2026

    Squires Sets More Cases As Precedential And Informative

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires on Monday declared one new patent review decision, which deals with multiple petitions on the same patent claims, to be precedential, and labeled another decision, which addresses design patents, as informative.

  • January 12, 2026

    Del. Court Blocks Presuit Damages On Agilent Patent

    A Delaware federal court ruled that laboratory equipment company Agilent Technologies couldn't collect damages for any alleged infringement of one of its patents prior to the filing of its intellectual property lawsuit against biotechnology business Axion BioSystems.

  • January 12, 2026

    TTAB Cancels 'Reefer Madness' TM Over Prior Apparel Sales

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has canceled a Colorado cannabis company's "Reefer Madness" registration for use on mugs and apparel, after a challenge from a business that argued it had priority over the mark for merchandise sales following a musical theater production of the same name.

  • January 12, 2026

    Acer Says T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon Infringe 6 Wireless Patents

    Acer Inc. is going after AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in Texas federal court over allegations that the American telecommunications companies are infringing six of the Taiwanese technology giant's patents related to 4G, LTE and 5G wireless standards, while refusing to negotiate licensing terms.

  • January 12, 2026

    American Airlines Can't Dodge Discovery Bid In Patent Suit

    A Texas federal judge has told American Airlines to hand over presuit discovery that could be used to determine whether it owes patent owners any past damages in an infringement suit over in-flight Wi-Fi.

  • January 12, 2026

    Musician Accusing Mellencamp Of Theft Denies Faking Report

    A musician alleging that John Mellencamp's 1996 hit song "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" stole from his own noncharting track denied to a California federal judge Monday that he wrote a report attributed to his music expert and then failed to make him available for a meaningful deposition.

  • January 12, 2026

    Fastener Co. Wants To Undo Jury Verdict, TM Injunction

    Industrial fastener company Peninsula Components has asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to upend a jury verdict holding it liable for trademark infringement for using the PEM name in Google Ads, arguing that Penn Engineering & Manufacturing Corp., the competitor suing it, did not own the trademark.

Expert Analysis

  • Top Takeaways From Trump's AI Action Plan

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    President Donald Trump's AI Action Plan represents some notable evolution in U.S. policy, including affirmation of the administration's trend toward prioritizing artificial intelligence innovation over guardrails and toward supporting greater U.S. private sector reach overseas, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Rebuttal

    BigLaw Settlements Should Not Spur Ethics Deregulation

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    A recent Law360 op-ed argued that loosening law firm funding restrictions would make BigLaw firms less inclined to settle with the Trump administration, but deregulating legal financing ethics may well prove to be not merely ineffective, but counterproductive, says Laurel Kilgour at the American Economic Liberties Project.

  • How Big Pharma Has Responded To FTC Delisting Demands

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    Looking at some statistics concerning how pharmaceutical companies have responded to the Federal Trade Commission's recent challenges to Orange Book listings raises several possible hypotheses about the FTC's strategy and effectiveness, say Ratib Ali and Celia Lu at Competition Dynamics.

  • 5 Ways Lawyers Can Earn Back The Public's Trust

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    Amid salacious headlines about lawyers behaving badly and recent polls showing the public’s increasingly unfavorable view of attorneys, we must make meaningful changes to our culture to rebuild trust in the legal system, says Carl Taylor at Carl Taylor Law.

  • How To Successfully Challenge Jurors For Cause In 5 Steps

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    To effectively challenge a potential juror for cause, attorneys should follow a multistep framework rather than skipping straight to the final qualification question, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • USPTO's AI Tool Redefines Design Patent Landscape

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's newly introduced DesignVision tool for artificial intelligence-powered image searching represents a dramatic shift in how design patent applications are examined, necessitating new strategies for patent practitioners, says Matthew Epstein at Dinsmore.

  • Series

    Hiking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    On the trail, I have thought often about the parallels between hiking and high-stakes patent litigation, and why strategizing, preparation, perseverance and joy are important skills for success in both endeavors, says Barbara Fiacco at Foley Hoag.

  • 6 Tips On Drafting Machine Learning Patents Post-Recentive

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    While the Federal Circuit's decision in Recentive v. Fox narrows the scope of patent-eligible machine learning applications, there are several drafting and prosecution strategies that may help practitioners navigate Section 101 challenges, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • What US-India Trade Deal Will Mean For Indian Pharma

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    Complicated by newly imposed tariffs from the U.S., the outcome of the U.S.-India trade talks is poised to reshape not just trade policy, but also the strategic alignment of the two countries' pharmaceutical ecosystems, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Negotiation Skills

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    I took one negotiation course in law school, but most of the techniques I rely on today I learned in practice, where I've discovered that the process is less about tricks or tactics, and more about clarity, preparation and communication, says Grant Schrantz at Haug Barron.

  • Opinion

    Bar Exam Reform Must Expand Beyond A Single Updated Test

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    Recently released information about the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam highlights why a single test is not ideal for measuring newly licensed lawyers’ competency, demonstrating the need for collaborative development, implementation and reform processes, says Gregory Bordelon at Suffolk University.

  • The Patent Eligibility Eras Tour: 11 Years Of Post-Alice Tumult

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    A survey of recent twists and turns in patent eligibility law highlights the confusion created by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice decision and reveals that the continually shifting standards have begun to diverge in fundamental ways between the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.

  • Export Misconduct Resolutions Emphasize BIS, DOJ Priorities

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's and Bureau of Industry and Security's recently resolved parallel enforcement actions against semiconductor technology company Cadence Design demonstrate the agencies' prioritization of penalties for export control violations involving China, as well as the importance of voluntary self-disclosure, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Disney Art Suit Will Test Recent AI Fair Use Boundaries

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    While the first U.S. rulings to address the issue recently held that it's fair use for generative artificial intelligence models to train on certain copyrighted books without permission, Disney v. Midjourney, filed in June, will test the limits of the fair use framework in a visual art context, says Rob Rosenberg at Moses & Singer.

  • A Simple Way Courts Can Help Attys Avoid AI Hallucinations

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    As attorneys increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence for legal research, courts should consider expanding online quality control programs to flag potential hallucinations — permitting counsel to correct mistakes and sparing judges the burden of imposing sanctions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl and Connors.

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