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Intellectual Property
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Featured
3 Takeaways From Revived Obviousness Case On J&J Patent
A Federal Circuit ruling earlier this month telling 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
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
Biden Says Tariffs On Chinese Steel Should Be Tripled
President Joe Biden promised Wednesday to seek significantly steeper tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports should the U.S. Trade Representative confirm that China is engaging in unfair trade practices that erode competition.
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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
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.
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April 17, 2024
Chinese Vape Maker Accuses UK Co. Of Bumming Designs
A Chinese vape maker has accused a rival of selling products that look identical to its SKE Crystal Bar, infringing its intellectual property by using the "Crystal" name and misrepresenting their vapes to British consumers.
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April 16, 2024
7th Circ. Finally Freezes Hytera's $1M-Per-Day Sanctions
The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday halted the daily $1 million fine and sales ban ordered against Hytera Communications for participating in Chinese litigation against a district judge's orders, after previously refusing to save the company from its "self inflicted wounds."
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April 16, 2024
Supreme Court Asked To Look At 'Original Patents'
A Texas patent outfit is back at the U.S. Supreme Court with an appeal over a loss in the lower courts, this time over a reading of legal precedent involving patent law's rarely invoked "original patent" requirements.
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April 16, 2024
Caitlin Clark's WNBA Leap Set To Pay Off, Lift Women's Sports
Although the first-year WNBA salary of Caitlin Clark will be relatively meager, she is in no financial straits because of dramatic changes to the laws and rules governing college athletes' ability to earn money in recent years, and experts say Clark's ascension is lifting up all of women's sports.
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April 16, 2024
Fed. Circ. Is Told To Undo Transfer Of Apple Patent Case
A Texas federal judge has shipped to California a suit accusing Apple of patent infringement, prompting patent-owning technology company Haptic Inc. to appeal the decision to the Federal Circuit.
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April 16, 2024
Tai Sidesteps As GOP Reps Try To Pin Down Trade Timeline
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee castigated U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Tuesday for the administration's vague agenda regarding future trade deals and a long-awaited tariff review that she described as "optimistic" and "coming soon."
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April 16, 2024
Cooler Co. Says License Revelation Guts Rival's Patent Claim
A Canadian cooler maker has urged a Colorado federal judge to toss a rival's patent infringement claims in a dispute over soft-sided coolers, arguing that the rival failed to disclose a licensing agreement that shows it never had the right to claim infringement in the first place.
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April 16, 2024
Winston & Strawn Settles Brief-Plagiarizing Allegations
A Tuesday filing indicated that Winston & Strawn LLP has managed to settle copyright infringement allegations coming from a boutique intellectual property firm that went to a federal court in Manhattan to accuse the BigLaw firm of copying a motion-to-dismiss filing "nearly verbatim."
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April 16, 2024
US Tequila Startup Defeats Older Mexican Rival's TM Case
A Texas federal judge has decided that the tequila marketplace is big enough for both a U.S. startup called "Casa Azul" and an older Mexican brand called "Clase Azul," whose lawyers unsuccessfully tried to persuade the judge of its fame by playing a music video by reggaeton rapper Ozuna.
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April 16, 2024
2nd Circ. Frees FDNY From TM Limits In Nonprofit's Suit
The Second Circuit on Tuesday threw out an injunction barring New York City and its fire department from using the allegedly infringing term "medical special operations," reasoning in the trademark suit that it's too general to be considered an infringement of a nonprofit's name for meetings.
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April 16, 2024
IBM Gained Most AI Patents By Far In 2023
IBM obtained more U.S. artificial intelligence patents in 2023 than any other company, with its closest competitors falling behind by more than 300 patents, according to a Harrity Patent Analytics report announced Tuesday.
Editor's Picks
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4 Takeaways From USPTO Guidance On AI And Patents
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's guidance on patents for inventions developed using artificial intelligence makes clear that help from the technology does not foreclose getting a patent, but sets standards that will spur litigation and create new obligations for attorneys, experts say.
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2023 Patent Litigation: A Year In Review
Attorneys filed fewer patent suits in district courts in 2023 than in any year for more than a decade, and the amount of America Invents Act petitions at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board fell to a 10-year low as well. The Western District of Texas also lost its place as the most popular patent litigation venue in the U.S. in 2023, with the Eastern District of Texas overtaking it.
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AI Models' Link To Nonprofit Data Raises Fair Use Question
Developers of generative artificial intelligence models are using vast datasets compiled by nonprofits to train large language models and text-to-art platforms, raising the question of whether AI companies can shield themselves from copyright liability because they did not compile or pay for the material.
Expert Analysis
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Patent Lessons From 8 Federal Circuit Reversals In March
A number of Federal Circuit patent decisions last month reversed or vacated underlying rulings, providing guidance regarding the definiteness of a claim that include multiple limitations of different scopes, the importance of adequate jury instruction, the proper scope of the precedent, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Tenn. Law Protecting Artists From AI Raises Novel Issues
Tennessee recently enacted a law that extends the right of publicity protection to individuals' voices in an attempt to control the proliferation of artificial intelligence in the music industry, presenting fascinating questions about the First Amendment, the fair use doctrine and more, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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A Look At Ex Parte Seizures 8 Years Post-DTSA
In the eight years since the Defend Trade Secrets Act was enacted, not much has changed for jurisprudence on ex parte seizures, but a few seminal rulings show that there still isn’t a bright line on what qualifies as extraordinary circumstances warranting a seizure, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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Series
Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.
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10 Years After Alice, Predictability Debate Lingers
A decade after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice ruling, critics continue to argue that the subject matter eligibility framework it established yields inconsistent results, but that contention is disproved by affirmance data from the Federal Circuit, district courts and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Dennis Abdelnour and David Thomas at Honigman.
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This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener
As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Circumstantial Evidence Requires A Pointillist Approach
Because complex cases with sophisticated defendants are unlikely to reveal much, if any, direct evidence, attorneys must aggregate many pieces of circumstantial evidence into a cohesive narrative — much like the painting technique of pointillism, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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How China's IP Proposal Could Affect US Brands' TM Strategy
Proposed amendments to China's Trademark Law aimed at improving the application and enforcement processes could make some common U.S. brand protection strategies moot, and may require brand owners to more carefully explain marks' use or nonuse, say attorneys at Neal Gerber.
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Exploring Patent Trends In Aerospace Electrification
As blue-chip companies lead the charge to power large-scale commercial airplanes with electricity, and startups advance the trend on a regional scale, patent applications directed at improving energy storage and electric motor efficiency are on the rise, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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3 Tech Sourcing Best Practices That Are Relevant For AI
It might be tempting to think that sourcing artificial intelligence tools requires a completely new set of skills, but the best practices that lead to a good deal are much the same as traditional technology procurement, says Mia Rendar at Pillsbury.
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The Pros And Cons Of NIST's Proposed March-In Framework
Recent comments for and against the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s proposed guidance on march-in rights — which permit the government to seize federally funded patents — highlight how the framework may promote competition, but could also pose a risk to contractors and universities, say Nick Lee and Paul Ragusa at Baker Botts.
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Why Fed. Circ. Should Resolve District Split On Patent Statute
A split exists among district courts in their analysis of when marking cannot be done on a patented article due to its character, and the Federal Circuit should consider clarifying the analysis of Section 287(a), a consequential statute with important implications for patent damages, say Nicholas Nowak and Jamie Dohopolski at Sterne Kessler.
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Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease
This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.
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When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge
The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Why Incorporating By Reference Is Rarely Good Practice
The Federal Circuit’s recent ruling in Promptu Systems v. Comcast serves as a reminder that while incorporating by reference may seem efficient, it is generally prohibited by courts and can lead to sanctions when used to bypass a word count limit, says Cullen Seltzer at Sands Anderson.