Analysis

Universities May Want To Put NPE Clauses In IP Licenses

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's holding on Monday that a patent license between Texas A&M University and a failed startup remained active after the company became a patent assertion entity will require universities to determine early on how they want their patents used, attorneys say.

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'Bad Middle School Art' Tests Penn State's Counterfeit Bid

By Ivan Moreno

A Third Circuit panel appeared reluctant Thursday to treat all of Vintage Brand's retro Penn State merchandise as counterfeit, even as the judges expressed skepticism about the print-on-demand retailer's broader bid to overturn a jury verdict finding that its unlicensed use of university marks infringed Penn State's trademarks.

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'Astonishing Theft': Microsoft, OpenAI Staff Reckoned With AI

By Dorothy Atkins

Microsoft and OpenAI employees internally acknowledged for years that AI tools trained on news articles would likely replace publishers, leading to a "doom loop," with a Microsoft director calling it "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions" and potentially the "largest theft of labor in human history," documents unsealed Thursday show.

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Justices Told Fed. Circ. Erred In Veterinary Software Feud

By Adam Lidgett

A healthcare consulting services company wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Federal Circuit's refusal to revive its copyright and contract claims in a fight over rights to healthcare software for a U.S. Army veterinary records system.

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Industry Groups, IP Attys Back High Court PTAB Denials Case

By Theresa Schliep

The bar association for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a group of intellectual property law attorneys and others have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to scrutinize the discretionary denial policies of current U.S. Patent and Trademark Office leadership.

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Fed. Circ. Approves $3.2M In Atty Fees In Diamond IP Case

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Thursday affirmed a $3.2 million award of attorney fees to Fenix Diamonds LLC from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and its bankrupt former patent licensee M7D Corp., agreeing with a district judge that the asserted patent infringement claims were objectively baseless.

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DC Judge Scolds Feds Over Delays In VLSI's FOIA Fight

By Craig Clough

A D.C. federal judge on Thursday granted the government a second extension to respond to VLSI's summary judgment motion in litigation over redactions to a "whistleblower" report, but chastised the feds over a "lack of prioritization and commitment" to the court's deadlines.

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LinkedIn Secures Ban On Sweeping Data Scraping Operations

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge finalized an agreement that permanently bars a pair of software companies accused of running "industrial-scale" data scraping mills that extracted information from millions of LinkedIn profiles from accessing the professional networking platform and requires them to destroy any data they've obtained. 

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Skycom Engineer Says Huawei Was His Real Boss In Iran

By Stewart Bishop

A Tehran-born engineer who has since become a U.S. citizen on Thursday testified that he worked for Huawei on projects for the Iranian government, despite technically being employed by what prosecutors say was a thinly veiled subsidiary that the Chinese telecommunications company used to evade U.S. sanctions.

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Fed. Circ. Reverses Denial Of Catheter Patent Claim

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that refused to give patent protection to the first claim in an Incept LLC medical catheter patent, saying the board needs to take another look.

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Brief

Full Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Pfizer's Paxlovid IP Win

By Adam Lidgett

The full Federal Circuit on Thursday won't disturb a panel's refusal to revive a patent that Enanta Pharmaceuticals had accused Pfizer of infringing through its blockbuster Paxlovid COVID-19 treatment.

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Texas Judge Suggests Moving Toilet Parts False Ad Suit To Trial

By Mike Curley

A Texas federal magistrate judge has recommended denying a motion by toilet parts maker Danco Inc. to throw out a rival's false advertising suit, saying there are questions of fact about whether Danco misled consumers on the water-saving qualities of its products.

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Local Publishers Say OpenAI, Microsoft Stole Their News

By Craig Clough

More than two dozen regional, local, trade and specialty publishers have sued OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in New York federal court, alleging the companies copied hundreds of thousands of copyrighted articles without permission to train products including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.

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Amazon Sued For Use Of 'Drunk Shakespeare' In 'Off Campus'

By Gina Kim

Producers of the live comedy theatrical productions "Drunk Shakespeare" sued Amazon in Florida federal court Thursday, alleging that an episode of Amazon's streaming college romantic drama "Off Campus" infringed their trademark by copying aspects of the productions and using the "Drunk Shakespeare" name.  

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'Fart Proof' Underwear Reeks Of TM Infringement, Suit Says

By Rae Ann Varona

The maker of Little Trees car air fresheners has hauled underwear company Shinesty Inc. into New York federal court, accusing it of infringing the fresheners' iconic evergreen tree design by using "confusingly similar" tree designs on "fart proof" underwear.

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Joe Gibbs Racing Demands Sanctions For Deleted Texts

By Hayley Fowler

Joe Gibbs Racing LLC wants its former competition director sanctioned for allegedly failing to preserve key evidence after he deleted text messages with the owner of a rival NASCAR team where he is now employed as chief motorsports officer.

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Fla. Tech Co. Says Ex-Execs Stole Web Browser Code

By David Minsky

A technology company has brought a Florida federal lawsuit accusing its former executives of quitting and running off with its trade secrets, alleging they went on to form a business that builds a competing web browser with stolen computer code. 

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NC Sports Agency Aims To Sink Rival's Poaching Suit

By Alex Lawson

A North Carolina sports agency has urged a Michigan federal judge to throw out a lawsuit from a rival company over the alleged poaching of a sought-after college athlete, saying the claims are too thin to proceed.

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Greenberg Traurig Lands Jones Day Life Science Pro In Calif.

By Madison Arnold

A longtime Jones Day patent attorney and former medicinal chemist has brought his practice to Greenberg Traurig LLP in San Diego.

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Opinion

Fed. Circ. Should Redefine Functionality In Design Patents

The Federal Circuit should establish a framework for identifying the relevant article of manufacture to which functionality analysis applies, in order to enhance doctrinal clarity and better reflect the statutory foundations of design patent law, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

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Senior Lawyers Survey: Tell Us About Your Career

How are senior lawyers adapting to evolving career paths and emerging technologies? Share your perspective in this five-minute survey.

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Analysis

Attys 'Itching' To Join Congressional Probes Of Trump Admin

By Phillip Bantz

Efforts to recruit high-powered lawyers to Capitol Hill to potentially lead congressional committee probes into the various dealings of President Donald Trump's administration are gaining momentum as Democrats push to retake control of Congress in the quickly approaching midterm elections.

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Ex-DOJ Chief Lambastes 'Abuses Of Power' In Goldstein Case

By Jeff Overley

The U.S. Department of Justice constantly made false statements in its criminal case against famed appellate advocate Tom Goldstein, and his convictions must be erased because "prosecutorial misconduct pervaded every stage of the proceedings," a former DOJ prosecutor told the Fourth Circuit.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Davis Polk, Latham, Sullivan

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, a group backed by Michael Dell's family office and Sequence Holdings acquires a majority interest in The Baldwin Group, May Mobility merges with a blank check company, and Infineon Technologies sells its memory chip business to Winbond Electronics.

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Ex-Wis. Judge Keeps License Amid ICE Conviction Appeal

By Ryan Boysen

The ex-Wisconsin judge convicted of obstructing an ICE arrest will remain an attorney in good standing while she appeals, after the Supreme Court of Wisconsin declined to suspend her law license.

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Richards Layton Litigator Selected For Chancery Seat In Del.

By Rose Krebs

A Richards Layton & Finger PA attorney has been nominated by Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer to serve on the bench of the nationally important Chancery Court, a venue that adjudicates some of the biggest corporate law cases.

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Judge Questions Whether 'Lawfare' Fund Fight Is Really Moot

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge seemed unlikely to toss a challenge to the Trump administration's nixed "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and tax audit immunity for the Trump family Friday, saying she worries the fund could be revived in a different form down the road.

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Chief US District Judge In SC To Take Senior Status Oct. 1

By Courtney Bublé

Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Cain of the District of South Carolina has informed the president that he will be taking semiretired status on Oct. 1, according to an update posted Friday by the federal judiciary.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Starbucks settled a high-profile discrimination suit with Florida over its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, agreeing not to use race- or sex-based goals in hiring and promoting. And the SEC floated changing how publicly traded companies seek shareholder input, including promising to end one pathway for shareholders to place their proposals on corporate ballots. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Reed Smith Defends Docs Production In Ex-Atty's Bias Suit

By Jake Maher

Reed Smith LLP urged a New Jersey court on Thursday to reject an "impulsive" motion from a former attorney suing it for gender discrimination seeking to strike its answer and affirmative defenses.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schemery Zicolello leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Third Circuit panel ruled that police cannot conduct warrantless strip searches outside of jails or prisons absent consent or an emergency.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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