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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • December 12, 2025

    Judge Says Expert Can Opine On Damages In Dispute Over Michael Jordan Trademarks

    SAN DIEGO — A California federal judge ruled that an expert retained by a manufacturer of trading cards and other sports memorabilia can opine on the fair market value of a company’s alleged unauthorized use of Michael Jordan’s distinctive and valuable trademarks.

  • December 12, 2025

    Co-Sponsor Of AIA Calls On High Court To Take Up Challenge Of IPR Scope

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the co-sponsors of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), a former director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and a former Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals chief judge urge the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a technology company’s contention that the Federal Circuit expanded the scope of inter partes review (IPR) to include consideration of an “abandoned patent application” when affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

  • December 12, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB’s Cancellation Of ‘More Than An Athlete’ Marks

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the Trademark  Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) decision to cancel a sports-based nonprofit organization’s trademarks containing the phrase “more than an athlete,” agreeing that a LeBron James-founded company had shown that it acquired common-law rights to a similar phrase earlier than the nonprofit’s registration.

  • December 11, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Figures In Lego IP Row Fall Under Earlier Injunction

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel again held Dec. 10 that it lacked appellate jurisdiction to consider a Connecticut federal judge’s ruling that a toy company’s redesigned figurines still ran afoul of a preliminary injunction previously ordered in an intellectual property dispute with Lego A/S and affiliated Lego entities (collectively, Lego).

  • December 11, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Arguments From IBM, Zillow In Dueling IPR Appeals

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a dispute over a patent held by the International Business Machines Corp. related to single-sign-on (SSO) technology with Zillow Group Inc. and a related entity, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Panel affirmed U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) findings that some claims in the patent were invalid while others were not, rejecting arguments from both parties.

  • December 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit Denies Mandamus Over Rejected IPR Petition In Web Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A company that unsuccessfully challenged website-building patents owned by another entity before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw its petition for a writ of mandamus denied by a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 9; the panel held that the petitioner failed to show any justifiable reason to order the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to institute inter partes review (IPR).

  • December 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit Reverses TTAB Rejection Of Tea-Based Mark For Coffee Shop Name

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 9 reversed a decision from the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) rejecting a coffee company’s application for a trademark on the name “Kahwa” as the name of coffee shops; the panel said there was no evidence in the record that the word for a type of tea would be understood by customers as a generic term for coffee shops.

  • December 10, 2025

    JMOL Grant To Shopify In Patent Row Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware did not err in granting judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of noninfringement in a declaratory judgment patent case brought by Shopify Inc. against a patent holder, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing that the patent holder failed to show that an element of Shopify’s user interface (UI) met certain claim limitations.

  • December 09, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms JMOL On Patent, Trade Secret Claims Against Goodyear

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Ohio correctly granted judgment as a matter of law to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. because no reasonable jury could have found that the plaintiffs/appellants should have been added as inventors to one of Goodyear’s patents on a self-inflating tire, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Dec. 8.

  • December 09, 2025

    U.S. Government Tells High Court To Hear Fight Over ‘Skinny Label’ Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an amicus curiae brief, the U.S. government tells the U.S. Supreme Court that it should take up a bioequivalent drug manufacturer’s petition for a writ of certiorari because the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the petitioner’s “skinny label” generic version of a prescription cardiovascular medication constituted reverse infringement is at odds with the intention behind carve-outs under the Hatch-Waxman Act.

  • December 09, 2025

    Recap Of Some Major Rulings And Developments In AI-Copyright Cases In 2025

    It has been more than five years since a news organization filed the first lawsuit challenging the training of artificial intelligence using copyrighted material.  Since that time, there have been dozens of similar suits filed, the creation of multidistrict litigation, certification of a class action, several ground-breaking rulings and one potentially precedent-setting settlement.  This story looks at some of the biggest developments in the litigation in 2025 and where those cases stand now.

  • December 08, 2025

    High Court Rejects Bid To Consider Federal Circuit 1st Impression AI Patent Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 rejected a machine learning patent holder’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company contended that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling on a matter of first impression that affirmed the invalidation of the patents for describing the abstract concept of machine learning without pointing to specific improvements was erroneous; the company told the high court that the Federal Circuit’s approach to patent eligibility “flouts this Court’s instruction to consider preemption.”

  • December 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Meta Patent Row Without Claim Construction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 5 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a Texas federal judge’s dismissal of an advertising technology company’s patent infringement suit against Meta Platforms Inc., finding that the dismissal hinged on a premature resolution of a disputed claim construction in Meta’s favor and a failure to credit the plaintiff-appellant’s factual allegations.

  • December 08, 2025

    Fla. Federal Judge Rules That Dueling Experts Can Testify In Trademark Row

    MIAMI — All opposing experts in a trademark dispute pending in a Florida federal court can testify, a judge ruled, finding that the arguments for exclusion under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. can best be resolved through cross-examination.

  • December 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Wrongly Found Apple Failed To Explain Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel largely affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) findings of unpatentability of some computer file organization patent claims and patentability of other claims all challenged by Apple Inc.; however, the panel found in its Dec. 5 nonprecedential opinion that PTAB abused its discretion in finding that one of Apple’s petitions was not adequately explained.

  • December 08, 2025

    Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Final Judgment For Lilly In Trademark Dispute

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge recommended that a Florida federal court grant Eli Lilly & Co.’s motion for a default final judgment after finding that a cosmetic weight loss center likely infringed on trademarks held by the company while selling a compounded version of tirzepatide.

  • December 05, 2025

    Judge Rebukes AI Use By Plaintiff In Counterfeiting Suit Against New Balance

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An “experienced” pro se litigant’s response to New Balance Athletics Inc.’s motion to dismiss his trademark infringement suit was riddled with factual errors, thanks to his use of a generative artificial intelligence (AI) program in drafting the response, an Arkansas federal judge held; the judge struck the response to the motion but also denied the motion itself.

  • December 05, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms TRO Enjoining OpenAI From Use Of ‘IO’ Mark

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) that bars a company recently purchased by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI LLC from using marks that could potentially cause confusion with another technology company with a similarly pronounced name.

  • December 05, 2025

    John R. Cash Trust Sues Coca-Cola Over ‘Infringing Ad’ In NCAA Marketing Campaign

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The John R. Cash Revocable Trust sued The Coca-Cola Co. in a Tennessee federal court, alleging violation of state laws and the Lanham Act over Coca-Cola’s “Infringing Ad” allegedly using a singing voice that is “identifiable and attributable to Johnny Cash” without permission in a 2025 NCAA college football advertising campaign on television networks and across social media platforms.

  • December 04, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Affirms OpenAI Must Produce 20 Million ChatGPT Chat Logs

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. defendants must produce 20 million ChatGPT outputs in a consolidated copyright action against it, a magistrate judge in New York affirmed in denying a motion for reconsideration after finding the evidence relevant and proportionate.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circuit: Judge Right To Toss ‘Diva Lawyer’ Mark Suit For Lack Of Jurisdiction

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 3 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss a California-based club’s trademark infringement suit against a Kentucky-based attorney over the use of the name “Diva Attorney,” agreeing with the judge that the club failed to show that the attorney had sufficient contacts with California to establish specific personal jurisdiction.

  • December 04, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Cancer Treatment Patent Not Properly Enabled Or Disclosed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A biopharmaceutical company’s patent on a cancer therapy called antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) is invalid for lack of written description and lack of enablement, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in two opinions that reversed a Texas federal judge’s refusal to grant judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) to defendant biopharmaceutical entities and dismissed as moot a related appeal of a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling.

  • December 04, 2025

    Bloomberg Must Face Book Copyright Owners’ Suit, Judge Says

    NEW YORK — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and others successfully allege copyright ownership and that two Bloomberg companies used their protected works as training material for their artificial intelligence, a federal judge in New York said in denying a motion to dismiss.

  • December 04, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Orders OpenAI To Produce Dataset-Deletion Communications

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. entities waived any attorney-client privilege protecting communications by offering shifting positions that resulted in the disclosure of some of the purportedly privileged reasons for the deletions and by putting their state of mind at issue, a federal magistrate judge in New York said in ordering production of the evidence.

  • December 04, 2025

    Google Accuses AI Copyright Plaintiffs Of ‘Litigation-By-Ambush’

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Google LLC opposed a motion to certify a class action and asked a federal judge in California to strike the allegations with prejudice as a sanction for artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ “midnight switch” of proposed classes and subclasses.