Intellectual Property

  • April 26, 2024

    TTAB Says Expired 'Zima' TM Ends Cancellation Bid

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has found that a petition to cancel a trademark for the drink Zima was no longer an issue since its owner, Molson Coors, let the registration on the product expire.

  • April 26, 2024

    Off The Bench: Nassar Victims, Bush V. NCAA, New ACC Suit

    In this week's Off The Bench, the U.S. Department of Justice cuts a nine-figure deal for botching its sexual abuse investigation of disgraced USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, college football legend Reggie Bush plows ahead with an NCAA defamation suit despite reclaiming his Heisman trophy, and Florida sues the ACC to detail its lucrative media rights contracts.

  • April 26, 2024

    JPMorgan Says Ex-Adviser Is Pilfering Clients For Wells Fargo

    J.P. Morgan has accused a former investment management adviser of trying to poach clients for her new job at a competing Wells Fargo unit, saying she's been making unsolicited phone calls and sending emails to convince clients to leave in breach of her employment contract.

  • April 26, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen budget airline Ryanair file a claim against NATS PLC after the air traffic controller's system collapsed, Mastercard and Visa Europe face group claims from Christian Dior and dozens of other beauty retailers, an intellectual property clash between the publisher of The Sun and ITV, and ISC Europe sue a former director for alleged money laundering. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 25, 2024

    AI-Created Rant Tied To Principal Leads To Ex-Staffer's Arrest

    Baltimore County police on Thursday arrested a former high school athletic director who is accused of using artificial intelligence to generate a racist and antisemitic audio recording falsely attributed to the school's principal, allegedly in retaliation for an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds.

  • April 25, 2024

    Astellas Can't Block Generic Myrbetriq Amid Patent Suit

    A Delaware federal judge has shot down Astellas Pharma's request to issue an injunction blocking rival pharmaceutical companies from selling generic copies of the overactive bladder medication Myrbetriq as they hash out a patent infringement suit, agreeing with a magistrate judge that Astellas isn't likely to win its case.

  • April 25, 2024

    CureVac, Acuitas Reach Deal In COVID Vax Patent Dispute

    CureVac SE told a Virginia federal judge Thursday that it has reached a settlement to resolve Acuitas Therapeutics Inc.'s lawsuit inventorship credit on patents related to lipid nanoparticle technology used to develop the blockbuster Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

  • April 25, 2024

    Meta Can't Get TTAB To Dismiss Software Biz's TM Challenge

    An administrative tribunal has dealt a setback to the tech giant formerly known as Facebook in its legal efforts to register a trademark covering its new moniker, allowing an Italian software company called myMeta to proceed with arguments that it was first.

  • April 25, 2024

    GSK Hits Pfizer And BioNTech With COVID Vaccine Patent Suit

    GlaxoSmithKline alleged in a suit filed Thursday in Delaware federal court that the COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and BioNTech infringe five of its patents on mRNA technology, the latest in a series of lawsuits over the vaccines that have generated tens of billions of dollars in revenue.

  • April 25, 2024

    Judge Reopens Allstate Trade Secrets Case Against Ex-Agent

    A Colorado federal judge has partially reopened a case alleging that a former Allstate exclusive agent poached customers for another agency, directing the ex-agent to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt in the lawsuit.

  • April 25, 2024

    7th Circ. OKs Pausing Nail Polish IP Suit For Ownership Fight

    A company registered in New Jersey that sells nail polish has failed to persuade a federal appeals court to let it move ahead with its trade secrets case in a Chicago federal court against its former business partners in China until first resolving an ownership dispute "lurking just beneath the surface."

  • April 25, 2024

    Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan No Longer On IP Watch List

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced Thursday it has removed the Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan from its watch list of countries with poor track records on intellectual property protection, keeping close trade partners Mexico and Canada on the roster.

  • April 25, 2024

    Patent Holder Settles Transfer Fraud Case Tied To $17M Win

    The holder of a patent on a device that prevents New York City subways from flooding on Thursday settled a case adjacent to a $17.8 million infringement feud by agreeing to accept $850,000 from an individual and two companies accused of helping siphon money away from the infringers.

  • April 25, 2024

    TikTok Wins Partial Toss Of Chinese Co.'s IP Suit

    A California federal judge has granted TikTok's motion to dismiss many intellectual property claims against it by Chinese software company Beijing Meishe Network Technology but gave the plaintiff a chance to amend some of the claims.

  • April 25, 2024

    Atty Slams Mogul's Fight For Bank Records As Waste Of Time

    An attorney struck back against an airline mogul's attempt to acquire his bank records as part of a hacking lawsuit, telling a federal court that a subpoena was invalid because it was sent under an improper bank name.

  • April 25, 2024

    Ex-Burns & Levinson Life Sciences Chair Joins Polsinelli

    Polsinelli PC announced that the former life sciences co-chair at New England firm Burns & Levinson LLP has joined its Boston office as a shareholder. 

  • April 25, 2024

    Class Counsel Seeks $31M From $93M Lipitor Settlement

    Attorneys representing a class of buyers in antitrust litigation against Pfizer over the cholesterol medication Lipitor have asked a New Jersey federal judge to approve their request for $31 million in fees after the two sides agreed to a $93 million settlement in February.

  • April 25, 2024

    Digital Health Co.'s Former GC Joins Perkins Coie In NY

    Perkins Coie LLP is bolstering its intellectual property practice, announcing Thursday that it has brought on the former general counsel and chief compliance officer of digital healthcare company Cleerly.

  • April 25, 2024

    Ohio Deer Repellent Co. Hit With Trade Secrets Suit In NJ

    A New Jersey deer repellent company claims that an Ohio company, which was formerly a licensee, is stealing trade secrets by continuing to use its proprietary techniques and procedures after the licensing agreement lapsed.

  • April 25, 2024

    Sheppard Mullin Hires Perkins Coie IP Partner In DC

    Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP has hired an intellectual property attorney from Perkins Coie LLP, who is the third patent-focused litigator to leave that firm this week.

  • April 24, 2024

    Lyft Denied $1M Fees In Patent Suit Because Of Previous Deal

    A California federal judge on Tuesday denied Lyft Inc.'s request for $1 million in attorney fees in its patent dispute against Quartz Auto Technologies LLC, saying the parties' agreement to dismiss certain claims clearly stated that each party would "bear its own costs and attorneys' fees."

  • April 24, 2024

    'Black-ish' Actress Beats Suit Alleging She Stole Spinoff Idea

    A California appeals court permanently ended on Monday a suit alleging actress Tracee Ellis Ross and producers of "Mixed-ish" stole a writer's ideas for a sitcom based on a mixed-race character growing up in the suburbs, finding there are no substantial similarities between the two shows.

  • April 24, 2024

    NC Biz Court Trims School Food Servicer's Noncompete Suit

    The North Carolina Business Court on Wednesday pared a cafeteria food provider's lawsuit alleging a former sales director absconded with confidential information to a rival business, reasoning the Tar Heel State's laws aren't applicable over alleged out-of-state conduct.

  • April 24, 2024

    Feds Want Disbarred Atty's FOIA Suit Over USPTO Docs Axed

    The federal government urged a North Carolina federal court Wednesday to toss a disbarred attorney's sprawling Freedom of Information Act lawsuit over U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents, arguing the case is one of a dozen duplicative, meritless suits the plaintiff has filed.

  • April 24, 2024

    3 Takeaways On How AI Is Forcing Publicity Rights To Evolve

    As digital replicas of someone's voice, image or likeness become easier to create with the help of artificial intelligence, this new era of deepfakes is shining a spotlight on the nation's patchwork of right-of-publicity laws and raising questions over when Congress may act to pass a national framework.  

Expert Analysis

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • What To Know About WDTX Standing Order For Patent Cases

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    Patent litigators should review and ensure compliance with the standing order recently issued by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas — a popular patent litigation venue — which encompasses new deadlines, seeks to streamline discovery disputes, and further reflects the court's existing practices, says Archibald Cruz at Patterson + Sheridan.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

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    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

  • Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation

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    There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The EU, UK, Australia

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    Accelerated pathways for regulatory approvals for psychedelic drugs in the European Union, U.K. and Australia is indispensable to facilitate a seamless advancement of treatments from the research environment to the consumer, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Opinion

    Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability

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    A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.

  • Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury

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    Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

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