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Intellectual Property
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May 22, 2024
NFL Escapes Sanders Statue Spat As Getty Eyes Arbitration
The NFL has escaped a New York federal lawsuit filed by a professional photographer who claims his copyrighted photo was unlawfully used to create a statue of legendary running back Barry Sanders, while Getty Images Inc. hopes to settle through arbitration.
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May 22, 2024
PTAB Finds Inergy's Chip Patent Challenges 'Compelling'
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has decided to review Force Mos Technology chip patents, saying it won't rely on a 2020 precedent to discretionarily deny challenges by Inergy Technology Inc. in light of a looming district court trial because the petitions raise "compelling evidence of unpatentability."
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May 22, 2024
Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron
A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.
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May 22, 2024
Justices Urged To Undo 'Nonsensical' Double Patenting Ruling
Cellect LLC asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the "nonsensical" invalidation of its patents through so-called obviousness-type double patenting, alleging the Federal Circuit "punished" it for delays in the patent prosecution process that were outside of its control.
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May 22, 2024
Insurance Co. Says Ex-Underwriter 'Lured' Away Colleagues
An insurance brokerage and its affiliate have accused a former high-ranking company official of decamping for a competitor and encouraging colleagues to follow suit, according to a complaint designated Wednesday to North Carolina Business Court.
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May 22, 2024
Carmen Electra, Other Models' Likeness Suit Moves Forward
A Pennsylvania federal judge has rejected a bid from three Philadelphia-area strip clubs to throw out a suit claiming they wrongly used the likeness of models including Carmen Electra, saying the models' claims were plausible.
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May 22, 2024
Boeing Can't Use Belated Patent Defense In Startup's IP Trial
A Washington federal judge has rejected The Boeing Co.'s last-minute bid to tell a jury that its patents preempt claims it misappropriated an electric jet startup's intellectual property, saying it would be unfair to allow previously unpled affirmative defenses now that the trial is underway.
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May 22, 2024
Teva, Bristol-Myers Cite Bystolic Against Cancer Drug Case
Celgene and parent Bristol-Myers Squibb pointed a New Jersey federal judge to the dismissal, recently upheld by the Second Circuit, of an antitrust suit over delayed generic competition to AbbVie's hypertension treatment Bystolic to argue the same logic applies to their bid to duck antitrust claims over cancer therapies.
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May 22, 2024
Spencer Fane Lures In Big-Name 'Misfits' For Patent Group
Spencer Fane LLP has spent the past two years building up what it hopes to be a top-tier intellectual property group, pulling together a "band of misfits" from firms like Fish & Richardson PC and McKool Smith, according to the group's co-leader.
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May 22, 2024
Data Storage Co. Says Seagate Stole Info For New Product
New Jersey data storage company Access Optical Networks Inc. has sued competitor Seagate Technology LLC in California state court, alleging its rival stole trade secrets to advance development of a new storage product — all while pretending to want to develop a business relationship with AON.
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May 22, 2024
Dickinson Adds Ex-Sheppard Mullin IP Pro In Silicon Valley
Dickinson Wright PLLC said Wednesday that it has added a former Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP partner as the newest member of its Silicon Valley office.
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May 22, 2024
Womble Bond Adds IP Litigator In LA
A patent attorney specializing in software and technology innovations has moved his practice to Womble Bond Dickinson LLP's Los Angeles office after more than 12 years with Ladas & Parry LLP.
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May 22, 2024
Honeywell Rival Sues To Ward Off 'Meritless' Litigation Threat
A Japanese manufacturer is suing to put a stop to what it described as an "aggressive threat of litigation" by Honeywell International Inc. in the conglomerate's long-running crusade to protect its patents for barcode scanners, calling Honeywell's latest claim "unwarranted and meritless."
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May 21, 2024
Scarlett Johansson Taps Bird Marella Atty For OpenAI Fight
A prominent entertainment attorney who represented Scarlett Johansson in litigation over the release of "Black Widow" is teaming up with the actress again, this time to battle OpenAI and its new chatbot, which Johansson claims sounds "eerily" like her, though she says she never granted the artificial intelligence company permission.
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May 21, 2024
Questions Abound As Fed. Circ. Scraps Design Patent Tests
By discarding established tests for proving that design patents are invalid as obvious Tuesday, the full Federal Circuit has opened the door for new invalidity arguments and created uncertainty by not providing much guidance on how courts should evaluate them, attorneys said.
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May 21, 2024
Texas Panel Says Mallory Ruling Has No Home There
A Texas appellate court has upheld a ruling preventing a Dallas car repair services company from litigating a trade secrets case there against a Michigan rival over allegedly hiring away a former executive, holding that the U.S. Supreme Court's Mallory decision last year doesn't do much in Texas.
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May 21, 2024
Bungie's Code Copying Claims Questioned At Seattle Trial
A top product security engineer at Bungie told a Seattle federal jury on Tuesday that a hacker accused of exploiting a popular game to make cheat software likely never had access to the game's source code and acknowledged the game company hasn't seen the cheat code that it claims amounts to copyright infringement.
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May 21, 2024
Sens. Challenge Pharma Lobbyist Over Patent Abuse
U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle took turns at a Tuesday hearing questioning the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist over whether patent abuse plays a role in maintaining the high price of prescription drugs.
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May 21, 2024
Fla. Scientist Fights Contempt Ruling In Data Theft Suit
A Florida Everglades scientist urged a state appeals court Tuesday to reverse a contempt ruling against him over violating an injunction to preserve computer data from his prior job, saying that the order was ambiguous and that the lower court wrongly appointed opposing counsel to prosecute the violation.
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May 21, 2024
Fed. Circ. Sides With PTAB In Cloud Computing Fight
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a patent covering a cloud computing environment that was challenged by Microsoft wasn't patentable because it was obvious.
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May 21, 2024
Va. Judge Ships Splenda IP Suit Against Peet's To Calif.
A Virginia federal judge has agreed to ship a lawsuit accusing Peet's Coffee Inc. of breaching trademark laws across the country to California federal court, finding that the companies that brought the claims aren't connected enough to the Old Dominion.
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May 21, 2024
Copyright Claims Against Defense Agencies Go To Trial
A Court of Federal Claims judge has ruled that a geospatial technology firm's copyright infringement claims against defense agencies must go to trial, citing disputed facts about whether related software was effectively created on the government's time and dime.
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May 21, 2024
Split Fed. Circ. Revives IP Suit Against Nokia Over Standing
A split Federal Circuit on Tuesday threw out a lower court decision that found an inventor's company didn't have standing to sue Nokia, Cisco and ADVA over a fiber optic patent, saying it was unclear if the company had the rights to the patent.
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May 21, 2024
Earth, Wind & Fire Cover Band Owes $750K In TM Suit
A Florida federal judge has ordered a concert producer and promoter to pay $750,000 to the entity that owns the music of Earth, Wind & Fire after the band won a summary judgment ruling in March that found the defendants infringed the legendary group's trademarks by organizing concerts featuring their music and name.
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May 21, 2024
$93M Lipitor Antitrust Deal Sparks Dispute Over Fee Division
Attorneys representing a class of buyers in antitrust litigation against Pfizer over the cholesterol medication Lipitor are squabbling over how to divide up to $31 million in attorney fees before a New Jersey federal judge even approves the total, according to court documents.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.
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Considerations For Evaluating IP Risks In Cannabis M&A
Due to the patchwork of state cannabis laws in the U.S., investors and businesses acquiring intellectual property must assess whether a trademark portfolio possesses any vulnerabilities, such as marks that are considered attractive to children or third-party claims of trademark infringement, say Mary Shapiro and Nicole Katsin at Evoke Law.
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9th Circ. TM Ruling Expands Courts' Role In Application Cases
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in BBK Tobacco v. Central Coast Agriculture is the first time a federal appeals court has explicitly authorized district courts to adjudicate pending trademark applications, marking a potentially significant expansion of federal courts' power, says Saul Cohen at Kelly IP.
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For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill
A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.
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UK Amazon Ruling Spotlights TM Rights In International Sales
Highlighting the conflict between the territorial nature of trademark rights and the borderless nature of the internet, the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision — that Amazon's U.S. website could infringe EU and U.K. rights by targeting local buyers — offers guidance on navigating trademark rights in relation to online sales, say Emmy Hunt, Mark Kramer and Jordan Mitchell at Potter Clarkson.
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CORRECTED: Endoscope Patent Case Offers Guidance On Right To Repair
An Alabama federal court's decision in Karl Storz v. IMS reaffirmed that product owners have broad rights to repair or modify their property as they see fit, highlighting the parameters of the right to repair in the context of patent infringement, say Dustin Weeks and Dabney Carr at Troutman Pepper. Correction: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article and headline attributed the Karl Storz ruling to the wrong court. The error has been corrected.
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Timing Is Key For Noninfringing Alternatives In Patent Cases
A Texas district court’s recent ruling in Smart Path Connections v. Nokia may affect the timing of expert disclosures and opinion regarding noninfringing alternatives in patent infringement litigation, for both defendants and plaintiffs, says Alexander Clemons at Ocean Tomo.
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Opinion
Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.
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Film Plagiarism Claims May Foreshadow AI Copyright Issues
The contentious plagiarism dispute over the Oscar-nominated screenplay for "The Holdovers" may portend the challenges screenwriters will face when attempting to prove copyright infringement against scripts generated by artificial intelligence technology, says Craig Smith at Lando & Anastasi.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.
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The Tricky Implications Of New Calif. Noncompete Laws
Two new California noncompete laws that ban certain out-of-state agreements and require employers to notify certain workers raise novel issues related to mergers and acquisitions, and pose particular challenges for technology companies, says John Viola at Thompson Coburn.
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Patent Ownership Issues In Light Of USPTO AI Guidance
Recently published guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office establishes that inventions created using artificial intelligence may be patentable if a human also significantly contributes, but ownership and legal rights in these types of patents are different issues that require further assessment, says Karl Gross at Leydig Voit.
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Opinion
Why USPTO Should Issue Inherency Guidance Memo
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should issue a new guidance memo in regard to the standard for inherency during the examination process, as the standard is frequently misapplied during prosecution, and consistency of the standard in the USPTO should match that in the federal courts, says Irving Feit at Lucas & Mercanti.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fears About The End Of Chevron Deference Are Overblown
While some are concerned about repercussions if the U.S. Supreme Court brings an end to Chevron deference in the Loper and Relentless cases this term, agencies and attorneys would survive just fine under the doctrines that have already begun to replace it, say Daniel Wolff and Henry Leung at Crowell & Moring.