Mealey's Intellectual Property : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Intellectual Property

August 11, 2025
Federal Circuit Reverses Jury’s Finding That LG Infringed Display Unit Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 8 reversed a New Jersey federal jury’s finding of willful infringement, holding that LG Electronics Inc. and a related entity successfully showed that two claims of the patent at issue were invalid for lack of an adequate written description because the patent’s specification does not claim possession of a disputed claim limitation.
August 11, 2025
Split 5th Circuit Affirms Fee Denial To Game Makers In Wrestler’s Copyright Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A split Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel disagreed on whether a retired professional wrestler’s copyright infringement suit against several video game companies was objectively unreasonable, with the majority ultimately determining that a Texas federal judge did not abuse discretion in denying attorney fees to the gaming entities after a jury found no infringement of the wrestler’s comic book character by the game makers.
August 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB’s Reasoning Not Specific Enough In X-Ray Security IPR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 7 that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not adequately explain its finding that a patent related to an X-ray system for scanning cargo containers was rendered anticipated and obvious by prior art references, vacating and remanding for further proceedings.
August 08, 2025
Kanye West Says More Sanctions Not Needed In Copyright Infringement Suit

LOS ANGELES — Kanye West tells a California federal court that further sanctions are unnecessary in a copyright infringement suit involving accusations he lifted samples for songs on his album “Donda,” disagreeing with an artist revenue entity’s assertion that a deposition shows that West and business entities associated with him had made false statements about discovery to the court.
August 08, 2025
Federal Circuit: TTAB Should Have Found Drink Mark Similar To Sunkist’s Mark

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) incorrectly held that two marks for soft drinks that both involve the word “Kist” are unlikely to be confused, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, reversing in favor of Sunkist Growers Inc.
August 07, 2025
Judge Says Plaintiff Entity Can’t Show It Used Indian Political Mark First

DALLAS — A Texas federal judge held that a plaintiff organization based in Texas that supports a political party in India cannot show that it claims priority to its name, agreeing that the defendant entity used its “nearly identical” name before the plaintiff entity came into existence.
August 06, 2025
Federal Circuit Largely OKs Rejection Of Petitioner’s Arguments In Electrical IPRs

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 5 that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not fully consider an inter partes review (IPR) petitioner’s obviousness arguments due to an incorrect analysis of a prior art combination in a patent dispute involving an electrical safety device.
August 06, 2025
Federal Judge Reverses TTAB’s Finding That Apple AR Trademarks Are Descriptive

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge ordered the registration of Apple Inc.’s proposed trademarks “Reality Composer” and “Reality Converter” for augmented reality (AR) products, finding that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) incorrectly held that the proposed marks were merely descriptive and thus not trademark eligible.
August 05, 2025
PTAB’s Constructions Right In Network Speed IPRs, Federal Circuit Holds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed eight inter partes review (IPR) decisions made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), holding that substantial evidence supported the board’s constructions of disputed claim terms in its consideration of patents describing a system for improving network communication speed.
August 05, 2025
Federal Circuit: Wrong Construction Of ‘Composition’ Causes Erroneous Injunction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a Pennsylvania federal judge improperly imported a claim limitation into a term when considering a preliminary injunction in a patent infringement dispute over the active ingredients in pest control products.
August 04, 2025
Federal Circuit Won’t Rethink Groupon’s Estoppel Arguments, Despite Dissent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The full Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 1 denied Groupon Inc.’s petition for either en banc or panel rehearing, rejecting the company’s contention that an appeals court panel erred when it held that a patent owner’s infringement claims in a Delaware federal court were not estopped by a previous decision by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); in a dissenting opinion, two circuit judges said that the opinion cannot be squared with the circuit’s precedent.
August 04, 2025
9th Circuit: Reverse Confusion Analysis Correct In Peloton Infringement Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that factors “overwhelmingly” favored a finding that Peloton Interactive Inc.’s “Peloton Bike+” was not likely to be confused with a mobile app called “Bike+,” affirming a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in Peloton’s favor on a trademark infringement claim.
August 01, 2025
Wrong Claim Construction Led To Erroneous JMOL For Comcast, Federal Circuit Holds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a Florida federal judge’s judgment of noninfringement in favor of Comcast Cable Communications Inc. in a patent infringement dispute, agreeing with a patent holder that the finding was based on an erroneous claim construction in a dispute over a patent describing a digital program guide for televisions.
August 01, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidity Of Tech Company’s Lens Patent Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that all challenged claims in a company’s patent describing a lens for imaging for mobile devices were unpatentable as obvious, finding that substantial evidence supported the finding that a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSA) would be motivated to combine prior art references.
August 01, 2025
9th Circuit: Advertiser Failed To Show Infringement In Supplement Ad Row

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said it saw no errors in a Washington federal judge’s finding that a dietary supplement company did not infringe copyrights held by an advertising company with which it worked or violate the terms of their contract, affirming a grant of summary judgment in the supplement company’s favor.
August 01, 2025
Meta Stole, Distributed Porn To Train AI, Companies Allege

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc. torrented thousands of adult films that provide unique human interactions and facial expressions during the training of the large language models behind artificial intelligence that output video, two companies say in a copyright infringement suit filed in a federal court in California.
August 01, 2025
Microsoft, GitHub Respond To Coders’ AI Appeal; Amici Warn Of ‘Super-Copyright’

OAKLAND, Calif. — Coders have not shown that artificial intelligences produce code identical to their own, and interpreting federal law to cover works that merely resemble a copyrighted work would produce “staggering” results, Microsoft Corp. and online code platform GitHub told the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a response brief. Meanwhile, in a quartet of amicus curiae briefs, the court heard that reading the identicality requirement broadly would undermine the purpose of copyright law and threaten create a “super-copyright” and encourage dubious litigation.
July 31, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Obviousness In Processing Patent IPR Sought By Netflix

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed that Netflix Inc. successfully showed that multiple claims of a patent describing a distributed processing system were invalid as obvious during an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding, affirming the findings of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
July 31, 2025
Fired Copyrights Register Denied Preliminary Injunction For No Irreparable Harm

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office who was purportedly fired in May by President Donald J. Trump failed to show that she will be irreparably harmed without a preliminary injunction, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled July 30, denying a motion for that relief.
July 31, 2025
Judge Allows Briefing On Surviving Distribution Claim After AI Copyright Rulings

SAN FRANCISCO — A fair use ruling in an artificial intelligence copyright case left alive a “leeching and seeding” claim involving Meta Platforms Inc.’s alleged distribution of protected works through torrenting and the parties can work out a schedule for summary judgment briefing on the issue, a federal judge in California said.
July 31, 2025
2nd Circuit: Adapter’s ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Rights Fully Terminated By Author

NEW YORK — A panel in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a New York federal judge that a publishing company’s rights to develop a stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” were fully terminated when Lee served the company with a notice of termination in 2011, rejecting the argument that the company still had rights to stage an adaptation created under an agreement.
July 30, 2025
Judge Certifies AI Class; Plaintiffs Say No Reason For Immediate Fair Use Appeal

SAN FRANCISCO — After a judge certified a class in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, the plaintiffs pushed back on Anthropic PBC’s request for immediate appeal of a fair use ruling, saying an interlocutory appeal will prevent the company from having to go to trial.
July 30, 2025
9th Circuit: Use Of Drag Queen’s Image In Netflix Cartoon Not Infringing

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed that a “fleeting” use of a drag performer’s likeness in an animated show released by Netflix Inc. was not used to designate the show’s source, affirming a California federal judge’s dismissal of the performer’s infringement suit against the company and related film entities.
July 30, 2025
‘Shadow Library’ Allegations Suffice In AI Copyright Action, Authors Say

SAN FRANCISCO — Allegations of direct copyright infringement and artificial intelligence companies’ decision to hide the sources of their training data suffice at the motion to dismiss stage, authors in a pair of consolidated cases told a federal court in California.
July 30, 2025
Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Validity, Damages In Lighting Patent Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas wrongly prevented a defendant lighting company from presenting evidence of the invalidity of a plaintiff patent holder’s lighting patents, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, finding that the error makes a new trial on invalidity and damages necessary.