Intellectual Property

  • May 06, 2026

    Disney, James Cameron Sued Over Actress' 'Avatar' Likeness

    The Walt Disney Co. and director James Cameron used the likeness of indigenous actress Q'orianka Kilcher without her permission to create a main character in the blockbuster film "Avatar," a new California federal lawsuit claims.

  • May 06, 2026

    Ye Testifies In IP Suit That People 'Take Advantage' Of Him

    Ye took the stand on Wednesday to defend himself in a California copyright trial over whether early versions of his Grammy-winning hit "Hurricane" contained an unauthorized sound recording, saying that people try to "take advantage" of him despite him being "very generous" when it comes to giving artists their due.

  • May 06, 2026

    J&J, Tolmar Settle Patent Case Over Antipsychotic Drug

    A federal court Wednesday signed off on a consent judgment in a patent case brought by a Johnson & Johnson unit that prevents Tolmar Inc. from selling a generic version of the blockbuster schizophrenia drug Invega Sustenna.

  • May 06, 2026

    Trulieve Twists Patent Pleading Standard, Cannabis Co. Says

    A cannabis patent holder urged a Florida federal court to reject Trulieve Inc.'s effort to toss an infringement complaint, arguing that proof of its claims isn't needed when initially filing a lawsuit. 

  • May 06, 2026

    Igloo's Ads 'Uncool' But Not Unlawful, Split 9th Circ. Says

    It may have been "uncool" for ice chest company Igloo to wrongfully take credit for the first biodegradable cooler, but its claims are not unlawful under the Lanham Act, a split Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday.

  • May 06, 2026

    Battery Patent Award Has Fed. Circ. Perusing Remand Options

    A Federal Circuit panel wrestled Wednesday with a Chinese battery cell manufacturer's challenge to the damages model supporting a competitor's award in a patent infringement case, with one judge asking if alternative calculations would even be available if the appeals court ordered a do-over.

  • May 06, 2026

    OpenSky Appeal In VLSI Dispute Postponed At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit has rescheduled arguments in OpenSky's challenge to an attorney fee award that was part of a wide-ranging patent dispute with VLSI Technology after OpenSky's attorney asked for a delay because of the sudden onset of an illness and the death of a family member.

  • May 06, 2026

    'You're In The Weeds!' Fed. Circ. Grapples With Gun IP Decision

    A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared perplexed by a Wyoming judge's decisions finding a firearm patent invalid as indefinite and dissolving a preliminary injunction against an accused infringer, saying the invalidity holding seemed to be at odds with precedent.

  • May 06, 2026

    Amazon Smart Devices Accused Of Infringing AI Co.'s Patents

    Artificial intelligence company Cerence AI on Wednesday accused Amazon of importing smart devices into the U.S. that violate its voice technology patents, asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to look into banning the devices, while also bringing a similar suit in federal court.

  • May 06, 2026

    Mr. America Owner Claims Bodybuilder Ripped Off Brand

    The company behind the Mr. America bodybuilding competition has sued a former bodybuilder, claiming he abruptly rebranded his entire company this year to start using the "Mr. America" mark.

  • May 06, 2026

    EDTX Urged To Deny Samsung New Trial After $78.5M Verdict

    A patent owner that won a $78.5 million infringement verdict in the Eastern District of Texas against Samsung urged the court to reject the electronics giant's bid for a new trial, saying the South Korean company wants to turn the law "on its head."

  • May 06, 2026

    Judge Won't Certify Minn. Fraud Question In Cancer Drug MDL

    A New Jersey federal judge won't ask the Supreme Court of Minnesota to weigh in on whether an insurer can pursue claims using a state law typically reserved for the attorney general in litigation alleging drugmaker Celgene used charitable donations to manipulate the price of cancer drugs.

  • May 06, 2026

    PTAB's Fast-Track Appeals Program Extended 2 Years

    A Patent Trial and Appeal Board program to resolve appeals of rejected patent applications faster will be extended through 2028, the board announced Wednesday.

  • May 06, 2026

    Texas Co. Accused Of Stiffing Subcontractor On Navy Project

    A Wyoming company told a Texas federal judge that asset management company Shipcom Federal Solutions LLC owes it nearly $4.6 million for products and services delivered in support of a U.S. Navy contract and misappropriated its intellectual property.

  • May 06, 2026

    Joe Gibbs Racing Adding To Claims Rivals Stole Trade Secrets

    Joe Gibbs Racing LLC has asked a North Carolina federal court to let it add allegations to its suit against a rival NASCAR team, to prove that its employee was hired away specifically to bring its trade secrets with him.

  • May 06, 2026

    Nvidia Must Face Most Of Authors' AI Copyright Suit

    A California federal judge has tossed vicarious infringement claims in a proposed class action brought by authors accusing chipmaking giant Nvidia Corp. of using their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence, but let stand claims that Nvidia lifted books from online shadow libraries to develop various AI models.

  • May 06, 2026

    Curiam Capital Atty Launches New IP Litigation Funding Firm

    A former managing director at litigation funder Curiam Capital has launched his own boutique, focused on funding and underwriting for intellectual property litigation, he announced this week.

  • May 06, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs Atty Fees In Bicycle Design Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday agreed with a Massachusetts federal judge that a case related to a set of design patents for a bicycle warranted attorney fees being awarded to Hyper Bicycles Inc., saying the judge's finding that the case was weak and unnecessarily dragged out was supported by the evidence.

  • May 06, 2026

    Justices Asked To Review 'More Than An Athlete' TM Fight

    A Maryland youth nonprofit has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Federal Circuit decision that allowed a company affiliated with LeBron James to cancel its trademark registration for "I Am More Than An Athlete" based on common-law rights.

  • May 06, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Affirms DraftKings' PTAB Loss Wasn't 'Clerical Error'

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's decision to uphold one claim of an online gaming patent challenged by DraftKings, rejecting the company's argument about making a "clerical error."

  • May 06, 2026

    Womble Bond Adds Moore & Van Allen IP Trio in Charlotte

    Three Moore & Van Allen PLLC intellectual property attorneys have moved to Womble Bond Dickinson's growing Charlotte, North Carolina, office, it was announced Tuesday.

  • May 06, 2026

    AT&T Finds 'Thousands Of Use Cases' For AI In-House

    In-house counsel for AT&T said Wednesday that the company has found "thousands of use cases" for artificial intelligence models in intellectual property work, both in-house and for outside counsel.

  • May 05, 2026

    DJ Khalil Hit 'Dead End' With Ye Over Song Use, LA Jury Told

    DJ Khalil testified Tuesday in a California copyright infringement suit that he was initially excited Ye was using his instrumental track for what became the rapper's Grammy-winning song "Hurricane," but ultimately sought help from an artists rights company when he hit a "dead end" seeking payment from the rapper.

  • May 05, 2026

    Musk Sought Control Of OpenAI To Fund Mars City, Jury Told

    OpenAI President Greg Brockman defended OpenAI's for-profit conversion during a California federal jury trial Tuesday and accused Elon Musk of demanding "unilateral absolute control" over OpenAI to fund his plans for a city on Mars, while acknowledging under examination that Musk proposed his stake would "change quickly" with additional investors.

  • May 05, 2026

    Sanofi Unit Gets Backup In Fed. Circ. Double Patenting Appeal

    Canon, Sonos and several other tech and biopharma companies have thrown their weight behind a Sanofi subsidiary's appeal challenging how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board handles obviousness-type double patenting.

Expert Analysis

  • Rebuttal

    Pro Codes Act Does Not Pose Constitutional Concerns

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    A recent Law360 guest article that raises constitutional alarms concerning the proposed Pro Codes Act, under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives, overstates the potential harm to standards development organizations and mischaracterizes existing law, says James Gourley at Carstens Allen.

  • High Court's Cox Ruling Leaves ISP Copyright Rules Intact

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    Though some commentators predicted a cataclysmic impact from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cox v. Sony, in actuality the decision correctly maintains the status quo for internet providers' copyright infringement liability, says Courtney Sarnow at CM Law.

  • Building Codes Ruling May Inform AI Copyright Arguments

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in ASTM v. UpCodes, finding that republication of copyrighted building codes incorporated into binding law likely constitutes fair use, may help shape intellectual property strategy for standards organizations, rights holders and potentially even AI stakeholders, says Mitesh Patel at Reed Smith.

  • DOJ's Stance On Antitrust And Patent Law Reflects Balance

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    Recent statements of interest in patent litigation and a speech from a key U.S. Department of Justice official communicate the view that strong patent rights and competition policy are complementary, and offer important guidance for intellectual property practitioners and businesses navigating patent enforcement, standard‑setting and licensing, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • 2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

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    The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Repair USPTO's Inter Partes Review Process

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    To challenge recent changes to the inter partes review process issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Congress must establish clear statutory guardrails, transparency and meaningful judicial review so that questionable patents receive proper scrutiny, say Sean Tu at the University of Alabama, Arti Rai at Duke University and Aaron Kesselheim at Harvard.

  • Series

    Playing Magic: The Gathering Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The competitive card game Magic: The Gathering offers me a training ground for the strategic thinking skills crucial to litigation, challenging me to adapt to oft-updated rules, analyze text as complicated as any statute and anticipate my opponent’s next moves, says Christopher Smith at Lash Goldberg.

  • Fed. Circ. In March: IPR And The Limits Of Retroactivity

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    The Federal Circuit recently ruled in Implicit v. Sonos that even though the clever retroactive correction of two invalidated patents theoretically should have changed the outcome of the inter partes review, the patentee had forfeited the right to rely on the correction — which is interesting for several reasons, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

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    An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

  • Sizing Up The 3-Way Battle For 'Iceman' IP Rights

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    A complex intellectual property conflict is unfolding between athletes Caleb Williams, George Gervin and Chuck Liddell — each of whom has different, credible claims to the "Iceman" nickname and associated trademark rights, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Opinion

    Proposed Pro Codes Act Raises Constitutional Concerns

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    If passed, the Pro Codes Act being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives would fundamentally alter how technical standards are treated under U.S. law, and potentially conflict with the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, says Paul Taylor at George Mason University.

  • How The Coming Months Will Shape State Drug Price Boards

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    The future of state prescription drug affordability boards may be determined in the next few months, between an upcoming court decision in a challenge against state authority to set drug prices, and pending state decisions about whether to use federal Medicare maximum fair prices as reference, say Michael Kolber, Steven Chen and Kelechi Ezealaji at Manatt.

  • High Court 'Skinny Label' Case Will Matter To Tech Litigators

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    Hikma v. Amarin, set for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, has potential to affect not just generic drug label-based evidence in patent cases, but also how technology inducement cases are presented and proven, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Opinion

    New Legislation May Be Necessary To Fix Flawed Cox Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Cox v. Sony erroneously limited the doctrine of contributory copyright infringement and effectively eliminated such liability for internet service providers, and the most viable option to remedy the damage is to codify the pre-Cox common law of contributory copyright infringement, says Michael Cicero at Mavacy.

  • Reel Justice: 'No Other Choice' And Moral Rationalization

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    In the satirical thriller "No Other Choice," the main character rationalizes his decision to kill business competitors by creating a narrative of necessity, illustrating for attorneys the dangers of treating strategic litigation decisions as inevitabilities rather than choices, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

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