Intellectual Property

  • December 16, 2025

    USPTO To Stay Director Reviews For Fed. Circ. Appeals

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires announced Tuesday that he will pause director review proceedings when the petitioner is also asking the Federal Circuit for relief. 

  • December 16, 2025

    Ultrahuman Loses Bids To Halt ITC Order In Oura Patent Case

    The U.S. International Trade Commission and the Federal Circuit have both denied requests by Ultrahuman to stay ITC orders barring imports of its smart rings found to infringe an Ouraring patent, turning aside Ultrahuman's arguments that the orders are too broad.

  • December 16, 2025

    The Top Copyright Decisions Of 2025

    In watershed moments for copyright law and artificial intelligence, two California federal judges delivered the first rulings on whether AI developers' reliance on copyrighted works to train their models qualifies as fair use, providing initial guidance on contentious battles between content creators and tech companies. Here are Law360's picks for the top copyright rulings of 2025.

  • December 16, 2025

    BMW Seeks Block On 'Unprecedented' German Patent Case

    Carmaker BMW has asked a Texas federal court to block what it called an "unprecedented" attempt to adjudicate U.S. patents in German court by a patent company asserting infringement claims.

  • December 16, 2025

    NCAA Escapes Former Villanova Star's Antitrust Suit

    A Villanova University basketball player who sank a buzzer-beating shot to win the 2016 championship missed the window to bring an antitrust lawsuit accusing the NCAA of unlawfully limiting his ability to earn money, a New York federal judge has ruled.

  • December 16, 2025

    USPTO Tells Fed. Circ. That Inventor 'Abused' Patent System

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is urging the Federal Circuit to ignore an inventor's call to end doctrine that can render a patent unenforceable based on delays by the owner during prosecution, saying his actions were "a textbook example of unreasonable examination delays."

  • December 16, 2025

    Disney, Cameron Face Copyright Suit Over 1st 'Avatar' Sequel

    Film director James Cameron, his production company and Disney were hit with another copyright infringement lawsuit on Monday from the writer who previously alleged the first "Avatar" movie ripped off his idea, who says in California federal court that the second one is a "blatant" ripoff of his work.

  • December 16, 2025

    DOD Contractor Says Engineer Stole 2K Files On Last Day

    Defense contractor Competitive Range Solutions LLC is suing a field engineer in Virginia federal court, accusing him of violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act by downloading thousands of confidential documents at the end of his last day of work and after accepting a job with a competitor.

  • December 16, 2025

    PTAB Cuts X-Ray Patent Claims After Fed. Circ. Remand

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that three claims that Sigray Inc. challenged in a Carl Zeiss X-Ray Microscopy Inc. X-ray imaging patent were invalid after the Federal Circuit told it to take another look at the claims.

  • December 16, 2025

    Va. Judge Advances Most Claims In Stelara Antitrust Case

    A Virginia federal judge has allowed health insurer CareFirst's anticompetition and patent fraud claims against Johnson & Johnson to move forward in a case alleging anticompetitive behavior in relation to the immunosuppressive drug Stelara, while letting the pharmaceutical giant escape some claims of misrepresentation.

  • December 16, 2025

    Judge Trims Ziff Davis Copyright Claims In OpenAI MDL

    A Manhattan federal judge has dismissed part of a suit from digital media publisher Ziff Davis Inc. against OpenAI alleging that its chatbot ChatGPT was trained on copyrighted content scraped from the internet and gives re-creations of those works when prompted.

  • December 16, 2025

    NC Cardboard Box Salesman Freed From Trade Secrets Suit

    A corrugated packing manufacturer can't hold on to its lawsuit alleging a former star salesman defected to a close competitor with its trade secrets after a North Carolina Business Court judge ruled the complaint is too vague.

  • December 16, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Stunned By 'Numerous' Flaws In Patent Appeal

    The Federal Circuit refused Tuesday to revive a patent licensing company's infringement lawsuit over a software patent, finding there were so many issues with the appeal that they "are almost too numerous to count."

  • December 16, 2025

    Jury Says Magnolia Medical Is Owed $1.6M After Patent Trial

    A Delaware federal jury on Tuesday morning found that Magnolia Medical Technologies Inc. is entitled to nearly $1.6 million after Kurin Inc. infringed its patents tied to devices meant for drawing blood.

  • December 16, 2025

    Another Dechert IP Atty Leaves, This Time For Morgan Lewis

    Morgan Lewis LLP has added another departing member of the Dechert LLP intellectual property team, who joins the firm in Boston after Dechert's global intellectual property practice co-chair, two partners, and a total of 30 professionals moved to Cooley LLP last week.

  • December 15, 2025

    2nd Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Basketball Players' NIL Claims

    The Second Circuit on Monday refused to revive a putative class action filed by former college basketball players claiming the NCAA unjustly profited from use of their names and images years after their careers ended, saying the "continuing violation doctrine" doesn't apply and the suit was filed too late.

  • December 15, 2025

    Smartwatch Giants Sued Over Fall Detection Patents

    A company that makes medical alert watches for the elderly has sued Apple, Samsung, Google and Garmin in federal court and the U.S. International Trade Commission, alleging that the fall detection features in their smartwatches infringe two patents.

  • December 15, 2025

    Starbucks' 'Patent Troll' Suit Is Unwarranted, Irish Cos. Say

    Two Irish companies that hold and license technology patents on Monday asked a federal court in Seattle to throw out Starbucks' lawsuit accusing them of bringing bad-faith intellectual property claims in violation of Washington state law, arguing that they never actually threatened to bring litigation against the coffee giant.

  • December 15, 2025

    USPTO Says 'Settled Expectations' Denials Sink Google Case

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has told the Federal Circuit that the court's recent rejection of other petitions challenging the office's policy of denying patent reviews based on the owner's "settled expectations" means a case by Google on the same issue must also fail.

  • December 15, 2025

    USPTO Replaces Denver Office With Center In Montana

    Montana has been picked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to be the first state to oversee community outreach in the area formerly serviced by the now-shuttered Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office in Denver.

  • December 15, 2025

    E-Cig Makers Want Court To Block ITC Patent Probe

    The proper avenue for patent owners to hold would-be infringers accountable is in the federal courts, not before the U.S. International Trade Commission, Altria Group and its NJOY vaping subsidiary said in a bid to stop an infringement action against them at the ITC.

  • December 15, 2025

    Lady Gaga Can Keep Using 'Mayhem' Mark For Now, Judge Says

    A California federal judge on Monday refused to grant a surfing brand a preliminary injunction against Lady Gaga from using the "Mayhem" mark on the clothing she sells, saying the brand had not shown that it was likely to succeed on its trademark infringement claims.

  • December 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Bard Patents In AngioDynamics Row

    The Federal Circuit on Monday refused to revive claims in C.R. Bard patents on implanted catheter receptacles that were challenged by AngioDynamics, backing a Delaware federal court's finding that the claims were anticipated.

  • December 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Backs Denial Of 'Basin' Beverage Mark

    The Federal Circuit held Monday that a man's attempt to secure a trademark for his company "Basin Beverage Co." should be denied due to the likelihood of causing confusion with at least three registered marks with "Basin" in their name.

  • December 15, 2025

    Texas, Toronto Stock Exchanges End Trademark Dispute

    The Texas Stock Exchange has buried the hatchet with the Toronto Stock Exchange and ended its suit seeking a court finding that the two exchanges' logos are dissimilar. 

Expert Analysis

  • Reddit v. Anthropic Is A Defining Moment In The AI Data Race

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    The recent lawsuit filed by Reddit against Anthropic in California state court marks a pivotal moment in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence by sidestepping a typical copyright dispute, focusing instead on the enforceability of online terms of service and ownership of the digital commons, says William Galkin at Galkin Law.

  • Opinion

    The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable

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    As underscored by the fallout from California’s February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.

  • Opinion

    Calif. Must Amend Trade Secret Civil Procedure

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    A California procedural law that effectively shields trade secret defendants from having to return company materials until the plaintiff can craft detailed requests must be amended to recognize that property recovery and trade secret analysis are distinct issues, says Matthew Miller at Hanson Bridgett.

  • 2nd Circ. Reinforces Consensus On Vacating Foreign Awards

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    In Molecular Dynamics v. Spectrum Dynamics Medical, the Second Circuit recently affirmed that federal district courts do not possess subject matter jurisdiction to vacate foreign arbitral awards, strengthening this consensus across the circuits most active in recognition and enforcement actions, says Ed Mullins at Reed Smith.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Patent Ambiguity Persists After Justices Nix Eligibility Appeal

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    The Supreme Court recently declined to revisit the contentious framework governing patent eligibility by denying certiorari in Audio Evolution Diagnostics v. U.S., suggesting a necessary recalibration of both patent application and litigation strategies, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • What To Know About NCAA Deal's Arbitration Provisions

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    Kathryn Hester at Jones Walker discusses the key dispute resolution provisions of the NCAA's recently approved class action settlement that allows for complex revenue sharing with college athletes, breaking down the arbitration stipulations and explaining how the Northern District of California will handle certain enforcement, administration, implementation and interpretation disputes.

  • Fed. Circ. In June: Transitional Phrases In Patent Claims

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Eye Therapies v. Slayback Pharma takes on the rarely addressed topic of transitional phrases in patent claims, providing some useful lessons regarding restating claim language and broadly distinguishing prior art, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • Expect Unprecedented Delays In USPTO Patent Examination

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    With data from the first half of this year indicating that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is on pace to have a record backlog of unexamined patent applications at the end of the fiscal year, applicants and patent prosecutors should consider strategies to mitigate delays, say Matt Kamps and Emily Miller at Husch Blackwell.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: Back In Action

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    A lack of new petitions at the May hearing session of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation caught many observers' attention — but a rapid uptick in petitions scheduled to be heard at this week's session illustrates how panel activity always ebbs and flows, says Alan Rothman at Sidley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • Eye Drop Ruling Clarifies Importance Of Patent Phrasing

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    The Federal Circuit's recent ruling in Eye Therapies v. Slayback, rejecting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of "consisting essentially of," highlights the importance of using clear and consistent terms throughout a patent's filing history to shield it against future challenges, says Liliana Di Nola-Baron at Panitch Schwarze.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

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