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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • September 12, 2025

    Google AI Copyright Case Proceeds As Court Preps For AI Metadata Discovery Issue

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge on Sept. 11 dismissed with prejudice claims involving certain Google LLC artificial intelligence models and vicarious liability claims against parent company Alphabet Inc. but otherwise denied a motion to dismiss.  Earlier a magistrate judge said she would not take up artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ request to appoint a special master but would hold a hearing on a motion to compel after plaintiffs complained that discovery lacked metadata critical to identifying copyrighted material.  Google LLC filed its response to the motion on Sept. 10, saying it had “gone above and beyond” what was required of it.

  • September 12, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Labels Waived Inducement Argument, But Opinion Slightly Amended

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly granted a group of record labels’ petition to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, agreeing to remove a footnote musing on whether the labels had preserved for U.S. Supreme Court review arguments that Vimeo could not be entitled to the safe harbor defined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

  • September 12, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Reinstate Invalidity Finding In Cherry Plant Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a short Sept. 11 order, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by cherry-growing entities requesting that a Washington federal judge be directed to reinstate a previous finding of patent invalidity against the Canadian government department covering agriculture in a dispute over U.S. plant patents.

  • September 12, 2025

    High Court Requests Response To Cert Petition In Entresto Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court requested a response from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. to generic drugmakers’ petition for a writ of certiorari in response to the petitioners’ argument that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly considered after-arising technology in a dispute over the patent for heart medication Entresto.

  • September 11, 2025

    Clothing Maker Seeks Fees After Federal Circuit Reverses Infringement Verdict

    PHOENIX — After the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed an Arizona federal jury’s more than $20 million award against a clothing maker in a design patent and trademark infringement dispute related to oversized sweatshirts, the company now tells the court that it is owed roughly $3.6 million in attorney fees and costs, arguing that the case was “exceptional.”

  • September 11, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Rehear Obviousness-Type Double Patenting Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 10 denied generic drugmakers’ petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel’s June opinion affirming a Delaware judge’s grant of summary judgment of no invalidity to a biopharmaceutical company that holds the patent for a medication used to treat hallucinations.

  • September 11, 2025

    Split Panel Enjoins Interference With Copyright Register’s Job Pending Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 10 enjoined various federal government parties from interfering with Shira Perlmutter’s service as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending appeal; Perlmutter appealed a trial court’s denial of her motion for preliminary injunction in a case challenging her purported firing in May by President Donald J. Trump.

  • September 11, 2025

    Designers, Shein Settle Claims Retailer Used AI To Misappropriate Works

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed a case after eight independent designers reported having reached a binding settlement with Shein Distribution Corp. and related entities over claims that the retailer used an artificial intelligence algorithm to identify popular styles and then misappropriated copyrighted works.

  • September 11, 2025

    No Special Master, But Judge Will Hear AI Metadata Discovery Issue

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge said she would not take up artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ request to appoint a special master but would hold a hearing on a motion to compel after plaintiffs complained that discovery lacked metadata critical to identifying copyrighted material.  Google LLC filed its response to the motion on Sept. 10, saying it had “gone above and beyond” what was required of it.

  • September 11, 2025

    8th Circuit: No Errors In Family Name HVAC Trademark Jury Instructions

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said it found no error in a Missouri federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on copyright claims or jury instructions on trademark claims in a dispute over the use of a family name between two heating and air conditioning entities after a founding member of the family business started a new company, affirming findings adverse to the plaintiff-appellant entity.

  • September 10, 2025

    Superman, Tweety Bird Owners Sue Midjourney Over AI’s Outputs

    LOS ANGELES — Midjourney Inc. knowingly trains its artificial intelligence on copyrighted works and allows users to generate unauthorized reproductions despite having the technological prowess to prevent it, the owners of characters such as Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird allege in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.

  • September 10, 2025

    9th Circuit: Judge Tossed Trader Joe’s Trademark Suit Against Union Too Soon

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel revived Trader Joe’s Co.’s trademark infringement suit against a labor union representing employees at the company’s grocery stores, finding that a California federal judge wrongly applied the likelihood-of-confusion test when evaluating if tote bags and other products sold by the union infringed the company’s marks and prematurely held that the Norris-LaGuardia Act (NLGA) barred injunctive relief.

  • September 10, 2025

    Judge Questions Completeness Of $1.5B Settlement Between Authors, Anthropic

    SAN FRANCISCO — The federal judge overseeing the artificial intelligence copyright class action against Anthropic PBC questioned the completeness of the $1.5 billion settlement, expressing concerns that important questions remained that could not be answered in the timeframe proposed by the parties.  The judge postponed preliminary approval of the agreement until the parties could submit clarifying information.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Applicants’ Vitamin Claims Anticipated By Own Prior Applications

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) rejection of a patent application based on previous applications from the appellants for a vitamin C and betaine product; the panel also dismissed arguments about patent term adjustment and abandonment for lack of jurisdiction.

  • September 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Fees Owed To Chipmaker In Tossed Infringement Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have granted attorney fees to Realtek Semiconductor Corp. because it was the “prevailing party” after the judge converted a patent owner’s voluntary dismissal of a pair of infringement suits to a dismissal with prejudice, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 9.

  • September 09, 2025

    Federal Circuit Orders New Trial In Oil Refining Patent Infringement Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have approved Magēmā Technology LLC’s request for a new trial in a patent infringement suit it brought against Phillips 66 and related entities, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Sept. 8; the panel said it could not be certain if an improperly introduced theory from Phillips informed a jury’s verdict in its favor.

  • September 09, 2025

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Wrong To Skip Alice Analysis For Patent Application

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) failed to fully consider the indefiniteness and abstractness of an inventor’s proposed patent describing a system for distributing content between online users, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in a nonprecedential judgment, vacating part of PTAB’s findings and reversing other aspects.

  • September 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit Won’t Disturb Sanctions In Floor Tape Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the fourth consideration of a dispute over a patent describing a floor-marking tape product,a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 5 summarily affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s entry of sanctions against an inventor and his company, holding that the mandate rule applied because the appeals court explicitly affirmed the entry of sanctions in its March 2025 opinion related to the third appeal.

  • September 08, 2025

    Authors, Anthropic Reach $1.5 Billion Settlement Of AI Copyright Class Action

    SAN FRANCISCO — Anthropic PBC has agreed to pay no less than $1.5 billion to resolve claims it improperly pirated nearly half a million books while obtaining data for use in training its Claude artificial intelligence, a class of authors says in a Sept. 5 motion for preliminary settlement approval.

  • September 08, 2025

    ISPs, U.S. To High Court: ISP Infringement Liability Ruling Could Stifle Web

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of trade organizations representing internet service providers (ISPs) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 5 amicus curiae brief that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that an ISP was liable for contributory infringement for piracy actions from internet users could “undermine decades of progress in getting Americans everywhere connected to the Internet.”

  • September 05, 2025

    11th Circuit: ‘Shotgun’ Copyright Case Against Sub Shot Rightfully Tossed

    ATLANTA — A Florida federal judge’s decision to dismiss a pro se plaintiff-appellant’s copyright infringement claims against the commercial entity behind the Firehouse Subs restaurant chain was affirmed by a panel in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found no abuse of discretion in the judge’s finding that the complaint was an impermissible shotgun pleading.

  • September 05, 2025

    Generic Med Amicus Echoes Calls For High Court Look At Entresto Patent Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus curiae brief in support of MSN Pharmaceuticals and related entities (MSN) that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals created a situation where medicine patent holders “will see a new strategy they can employ to fashion overbroad claims to delay generic competition” while skirting patent law requirements “that protect the public’s interests in ensuring that patents do not let inventors control more than they invented.”

  • September 05, 2025

    No Errors In TTAB’s Denial OF Applicant’s Logo Marks, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of nonprecedential opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) did not err in denying a pro se applicant’s request for registrations of two marks related to his sensor network product, leaving in place TTAB’s findings that the applications lacked a clear identification of the goods or services covered by the marks, among other issues.

  • September 05, 2025

    Judge: Tech Company Established Ownership In IP Fight With TikTok Before Trial

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a pair of orders, a California federal judge held that a China-based company adequately established that it owns the asserted copyrights and trade secrets in a “heavily litigated” dispute with TikTok Inc. and affiliated entities, including source code from an earlier video-editing app that preceded the plaintiff entity’s app.  The judge found that there is no triable issue of fact as to the ownership of the code.

  • September 05, 2025

    Union Sues Over Elimination Of Patents Office Workers’ Collective Bargaining Rights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August executive order (EO) that expanded on a March EO and nullified the collective bargaining rights of additional agencies, including the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, was “retaliatory and not based on the statutory criteria” contained in the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) argues in a complaint filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.