Stewart Says New Patent Policies Aim To Bring Stability

By Ryan Davis

Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart said Sunday that new patent review policies the office has implemented are aimed at making the patent system more stable, saying that in her view, repeated patent challenges can result in "the antithesis of stability."

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Anthropic Agrees To Pay $1.5B To Settle AI Copyright Fight

By Theresa Schliep

Leading artificial intelligence developer Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a case brought by a group of authors who accused the company of illegally using their works to train its flagship large language model, the authors told a California federal court on Friday.

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Stewart Tackles Markets, Injunctions In Newest PTAB Reviews

By Dani Kass

Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart released 14 institution decisions in the last week, providing more insight on the scope of settled expectations and the impact of a district court preliminary injunction.

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DOJ, Others Push High Court To Undo Cox Copyright Ruling

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. solicitor general and a host of groups and businesses have thrown their support behind Cox Communications' U.S. Supreme Court appeal of a finding that telecom companies can be liable for copyright infringement for providing an internet connection that leads to music piracy online.

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Analysis

How A 'Risky' Move Fueled Kobre & Kim's Win Over Phillips 66

By Cara Salvatore

In the trial over Propel Fuels' claims that Phillips 66 stole trade secrets during due diligence for an acquisition, Kobre & Kim switched up standard witness order and convinced a jury to award $605 million.

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Harper Lee Estate, Publisher Settle 'Mockingbird' Play IP Case

By Lauraann Wood

Harper Lee's estate and a publishing company have settled their dispute over a "To Kill a Mockingbird" play adaptation the estate allegedly licensed without authority, wiping an appeal off the books the day before their scheduled arguments at the Seventh Circuit. 

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Fed. Circ. Sinks Inventor's Bid To Escape $214K In Sanctions

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Friday denied efforts by the inventor of a patent covering a type of marking tape to escape a nearly $214,000 sanctions order from a lower court, saying it had previously upheld the award for bad faith litigation and won't alter it now.

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Judge Awards Over $6M In Atty Fees In Bluetooth Co.'s IP Suit

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado federal judge has awarded the attorneys representing a Bluetooth technology company more than $6 million after the company won on the bulk of its claims at trial last year in its trade secrets and breach of confidentiality case against a Massachusetts display technology company.

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Fla. Bar Moves To Suspend Atty Accused Of Widespread Scam

By Phillip Bantz

The Florida Bar filed a petition Friday seeking the emergency suspension of a lawyer accused of scamming dozens of clients, failing to pay associates and paralegals who worked at his firm and repeatedly violating court orders.

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Apple Using Pirated Books To Train AI Models, Authors Allege

By Rae Ann Varona

Apple is using unlicensed copyrighted works, including books from a controversial data set, in building its artificial intelligence models, two authors alleged in a proposed class action filed Friday in California federal court, warning that Apple's AI system will inevitably begin competing with real writers.

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Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Axing CAO Lighting Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday signed off on Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that invalidated various claims in a pair of LED patents, mostly handing a win to challengers like General Electric Co. and semiconductor company Wolfspeed Inc.

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Fed. Circ. Revives Pro Se Inventor's Social Media Patent Bid

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday breathed new life into a Florida man's attempt to patent a way of facilitating the flow of information on social media networks, finding the Patent Trial and Appeal Board needs to take another look.

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Merck Shakes Off Some Claims From Cholesterol Drugs Suit

By Elliot Weld

A New Jersey federal judge has partly granted a request from Merck & Co. to dismiss claims brought by Humana over an alleged anticompetitive scheme to control distribution of cholesterol drugs Zetia and Vytorin, tossing several proposed theories of monopolization but allowing unjust enrichment claims and state law antitrust claims to survive.

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Federal Agencies Push To Toss Masimo's Apple Watch Suit

By Ryan Davis

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. International Trade Commission have again urged a federal judge to throw out Masimo's suit seeking to block a decision allowing imports of redesigned Apple Watches, saying Congress barred court review of such findings.

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Conn. Biotech Hits Ch. 11 With $2.7M Debt After Patent Suit

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut biotech company has filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition claiming at least $2.7 million in liabilities, mostly debts to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Verrill Dana LLP, after both law firms represented it in a since-settled Massachusetts stem cell patent lawsuit.

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Apple Hit With Suit Over Voice And Text Recognition Patents

By Elliot Weld

Apple Inc. is facing a suit by software and artificial intelligence firm Cerence AI over several patents that Cerence said allow voice and text recognition on Apple products.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen professional boxing promoter Boxxer take action against the former head of boxing at Matchroom Sport, Aegis Motor Insurance and Chubb European Group clash over a reinsurance claim, and a transgender pool player sue the English Blackball Pool Federation over its decision to ban her competing in women's teams and tournaments. 

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Ramones TM Fight With Johnny's Widow Heads To Arbitration

By Katherine Smith

A New York federal judge tossed trademark infringement claims lodged against the widow of punk rocker Johnny Ramone by the brother of his bandmate Joey Ramone, finding that the fight must be arbitrated under the band's shareholder agreement.

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Temu Hit With $2M Penalty In FTC's 1st INFORM Act Case

By Allison Grande

The operator of Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's inaugural enforcement action under the INFORM Consumers Act, which requires online marketplaces to provide customers with certain information and tools to combat counterfeit goods offered by high-volume third-party sellers. 

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Warner Bros. Sues AI Image Biz Over Character Outputs

By Elliot Weld

Warner Bros. has sued artificial intelligence image and video company Midjourney over alleged copyright infringement, saying it "thinks it is above the law" by allowing users to create images of copyrighted household-name characters.

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Instagrammer's IP, Likeness Suit Tossed With Prejudice

By Jonathan Capriel

Social media influencer Dan Bilzerian can't proceed in Nevada federal court with his lawsuits against his father and others over claims they hijacked his vape and lifestyle brand even after being pushed out of the company, a federal judge ruled, saying there just isn't any connection to the state.

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Enablement Standard Insights From Fed. Circ. Agilent Ruling

The Federal Circuit's recent enablement standard decision in Agilent v. Synthego underscores three critical takeaways for patent practitioners, including reaffirmation that the enablement inquiry under Section 102 of the Patent Act is distinct from the inquiry under Section 112, say attorneys at MoFo.

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Parenting Skills That Can Help Lawyers Thrive Professionally

As kids head back to school, the time is ripe for lawyers who are parents to consider how they can incorporate their parenting skills to build a deep, meaningful and sustainable legal practice, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

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Analysis

Class Actions May Be The New Injunction Bid, And Next Target

By Cara Bayles

In the two months since the Supreme Court hobbled universal injunctions, lawyers and trial judges have pivoted to adjust to a new litigation landscape, with class actions playing a larger role in lawsuits seeking to stop presidential policies. That, in turn, could put the tactic in the administration's crosshairs.

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GOP Sens. OK Fla. Judge Who Dems Claim Courted Trump

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Republicans voted on Monday evening to confirm to the Southern District of Florida bench Judge Edward L. Artau, a state appellate judge who ruled in favor of President Donald Trump in a defamation lawsuit when Democrats say he was simultaneously being vetted for the federal judgeship.

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Calif. Judge Convicted Of Murdering Wife Seeks Trial Do-Over

By Gina Kim

A California judge convicted of murdering his wife earlier this year moved for a new trial, arguing the court's denial of his request to postpone the retrial was a "miscarriage of justice" because it limited his expert witness testimony and violated his right to present his defense that the shooting was accidental.

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Barrett Talks Dobbs, Court's Role In New Book

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett defends her vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and declare there's no constitutional right to abortion in her new memoir, which also provides unique insight into her view of the judiciary's role in American democracy and her approach to interpreting law.

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Dems Again Ask NY Ethics Body To Investigate Bove

By Jack Karp

Two Democratic senators filed an updated ethics complaint with the New York State Courts' attorney ethics body against recently confirmed Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove, citing what they called his "quid pro quo deal" to drop criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other alleged ethical violations.

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Litigation Funder Says Ex-GC Stole Secrets To Launch Rival

By Rae Ann Varona

A Houston-based litigation funding company has hauled its former general counsel into Texas state court, accusing him of diverting its business opportunities and using confidential business information when secretly forming a new rival litigation funder.

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Atty In Judge Newman Suspension Feud Moves To DOJ

By Adam Lidgett

An attorney who has been representing Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman in the legal battle over her suspension has jumped from the New Civil Liberties Alliance to work at the U.S. Department of Justice.

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FisherBroyles Can't Nix Stem Cell Patent Malpractice Claim

By Craig Clough

A California judge on Monday denied FisherBroyles LLP's motion to toss a claim in a $10 million malpractice suit brought against it by a stem cell treatment center, ruling the firm missed a deadline to file the motion. 

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Grassley Blocked On Quick US Attorney Confirmations

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tried Monday to quickly confirm 10 nominees for U.S. attorneys, but was blocked by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

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Analysis

Immigration Board's Undoing Of Bond Practice Stuns Attys

By Britain Eakin

A Board of Immigration Appeals decision to deny bond and require mandatory detention for anyone entering the U.S. unlawfully has stunned immigration attorneys, who say the upending of decades of precedent will leave few options beyond leaving the country.

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Analysis

Tracking The Copyright Fights Between Creators And AI Cos.

By Theresa Schliep

In the three years since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, artificial intelligence developers like OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic have faced dozens of lawsuits accusing them of infringing the intellectual property of authors, artists, news organizations and the like.

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Appeal Limited To NJ US Atty DQ Ruling, 3rd Circ. Told

By Madison Arnold

The federal government and defense counsel have agreed that the scope of a Third Circuit appeal is limited to the disqualification of New Jersey Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from overseeing two cases.

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Mass. Justices Asked To Find Atty Had Duty To Seek Plea Deal

By Julie Manganis

A man who has spent more than four decades in prison for a 1983 murder asked Massachusetts' high court Monday to find that his defense attorney's failure to pursue a plea bargain with prosecutors entitles him to a new trial, in a case that could alter the standard for finding a lawyer's work was ineffective.

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Securities Class Actions Had A Late Summer Appellate Bloom

By Jessica Corso

While the later summer months are often a quiet time for the nation's courts, the federal appellate courts were hard at work this past July and August issuing important rulings on class certification standards for shareholder lawsuits and handing down split-panel decisions over the future of disclosure litigation.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Sydney Price and Jeff Montgomery

Last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery, a bankruptcy administrator for a generic drugmaker formerly known as Teligent was told he can proceed with duty of oversight claims against most former officers and directors of the company, who the administrator said was complicit in the company's collapse. In an opinion, the Court of Chancery cites its 1996 decision In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation, which refined director duties of care and oversight.

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