Intellectual Property

  • April 19, 2024

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

    This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 18, 2024

    Amazon Ignored Labor, IP Laws In AI 'Panic,' Ex-Worker Says

    An artificial intelligence researcher suing Amazon for labor law violations says it disregarded numerous laws in a frantic attempt to catch up to its AI rivals, directing her to ignore copyright laws in developing its large language models and retaliating when her pregnancy leave coincided with a rival's product launch.

  • April 18, 2024

    USPTO Reveals Scaled-Back Plan For New Patent Board Rules

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled proposed Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules Thursday that would codify current policies on when multiple challenges to one patent are permitted and set a new briefing process about discretionary denials, which attorneys say should add clarity.

  • April 18, 2024

    BofA Keeps Win Against Movie Website's TM Suit At 10th Circ.

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's ruling that Bank of America's virtual assistant "Erica" did not infringe on the trademark of an online movie database, saying the plaintiff failed to establish that the service mark "E.R.I.C.A" was directly associated with the search services offered on the website.

  • April 18, 2024

    You Can't Get Fees Without Asking First, Judge Tells Dell

    U.S. District Judge Alan Albright on Thursday declined to order a patent litigation plaintiff to pay attorney fees after bringing a failed patent suit, finding that Dell failed to file any motion requesting fees despite claiming the case was "frivolous" and "meritless" from the start.

  • April 18, 2024

    Trump Wants Cut Of Fundraising That Uses His Name, Image

    Former President Donald Trump is asking for help from Republicans to boost his reelection campaign coffers, with his staffers saying in a letter that GOP fundraisers should split off a portion of the money they collect when using Trump's name, image and likeness in their solicitations for cash.

  • April 18, 2024

    Samsung Gets PTAB To Sink Netlist Patent Claim

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has sided with Samsung's arguments that a claim in a patent owned by chipmaker Netlist wasn't valid, after the board already found that an earlier decade-old suit against Google didn't block Samsung's petition.

  • April 18, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law

    Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ga. Cargo Co. Says Marks Are Generic In $15M IP Dispute

    A Georgia-based cargo company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a $15 million judgment awarded to a competitor over trademark violations, saying the intellectual property that it's accused of using is generic.

  • April 18, 2024

    Oakland Airport Name Change Will Create A Mess, SF Says

    Oakland, California, wants to change its airport's name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, but the city of San Francisco said in a California federal lawsuit Thursday that the name would not only befuddle travelers but also unlawfully incorporate San Francisco International Airport's name.

  • April 18, 2024

    Cybersecurity Startup Loses 2 Patents At PTAB

    A small cybersecurity startup litigating in Virginia federal court against larger tech companies has failed to persuade the Patent Trial and Appeal Board not to invalidate the entirety of two patents covering ways of combating "evolving" online threats, among other things.

  • April 18, 2024

    Sale Offer Should Doom Jetaire IP Suit, Judge Says

    A Florida federal magistrate judge has said aviation company AerSale should get a win on arguments that not only did it not infringe a trio of Jetaire patents, but also that the patents are invalid.

  • April 18, 2024

    Kimmel Atty Defends Airing 'Patently Ridiculous' Santos Clips

    A lawyer for Jimmy Kimmel told a Manhattan federal judge Thursday that the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law allows the late-night host to air silly videos that he tricked indicted former congressman George Santos into making on the personalized messaging platform Cameo.  

  • April 18, 2024

    Biotech Co. NanoString Lands $393M Bid At Ch. 11 Auction

    Scientific instrument maker Bruker Corp. is set to acquire insolvent biotechnology company NanoString for roughly $393 million in cash that would be used to repay creditors under the debtor's recently proposed Chapter 11 plan, a notice filed in Delaware's bankruptcy court shows.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Get Stalking Injunction Against Influencer

    A Florida state judge on Wednesday denied a former Greenberg Traurig LLP partner's request for a cyberstalking injunction against a social media influencer, saying the petitioner did not show enough evidence to justify it.

  • April 18, 2024

    Red Roof Franchise Co. Settles IP Fight With Motel Operator

    Red Roof Inn's Ohio-based location franchising company and the Toledo motel operator it accused of still using the hospitality chain's branding almost two years after its franchise agreement was terminated have agreed to settle the intellectual property dispute between them, according to a new joint notice.

  • April 18, 2024

    Hipgnosis Agrees To $1.4B Takeover By US Rival Concord

    Concord Chorus has agreed to buy its British music royalties rival Hipgnosis Songs Fund in an all-cash transaction worth $1.4 billion, as the U.S. company looks to add 1.2 million more songs to its portfolio, the companies said in joint statement Thursday.

  • April 17, 2024

    Mintz Sues Parking Meter Co. Over $4.3M IP Legal Bill

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC sued parking meter provider Duncan Parking Technologies Inc. and its parent company, CivicSmart Inc., in Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, accusing its former clients of owing $4.3 million in unpaid legal fees and interest for representing CivicSmart in a since-settled patent litigation.

  • April 17, 2024

    United Therapeutics Can't Bar Rival Lung Disease Drug

    Repeating himself for the second time in the last several weeks, a federal judge in Delaware on Wednesday said he won't stop a biochemical startup from launching a drug that would compete directly with one of United Therapeutics' biggest pharmaceutical products.

  • April 17, 2024

    Tesla Gets PTAB To Wipe Out Vehicle Charging Patent

    Tesla has persuaded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate all claims of a Charge Fusion Technologies electrical charging patent, the latest development in a larger legal battle between the parties.

  • April 17, 2024

    Clarify DMCA Carveout For AI Research, DOJ Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice is showing some support for a proposal that could allow researchers looking into biases in artificial intelligence programming to bypass laws that limit access to copyright-protected AI models.

  • April 17, 2024

    3 Takeaways From Revived Obviousness Case On J&J Patent

    A Federal Circuit ruling from earlier this month that told a judge to reconsider upholding a Johnson & Johnson schizophrenia drug patent emphasizes that analyzing whether a patent is invalid as obvious requires focusing on what it actually claims and an inventor's creativity, attorneys said.

  • April 17, 2024

    3rd Circ. Erases $10M Judgment In Car Charities' TM Dispute

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday erased a $10 million judgment awarded to a charity that sells donated cars for children's education, saying a lower court made a series of errors in concluding that unreasonable delays did not bar claims from Texas-based America Can Cars for Kids in a trademark dispute with a similar charity.

  • April 17, 2024

    2nd Circ. Doubts Adidas Appeal In Thom Browne TM Case

    A Second Circuit panel on Wednesday appeared skeptical of Adidas' arguments that a Manhattan district judge gave improper instructions to a jury that shot down its trademark infringement claims against fashion brand Thom Browne, suggesting the lower court had laid out the issues fairly.

  • April 17, 2024

    Sport Flooring Co. Says Ex-Owner Stole Info To Start Rival Biz

    A former part-owner of a company that sells and installs performance flooring for college athletic facilities and health clubs has been sued by the prior company, which has claimed he stole proprietary information to jumpstart his own competing business.

Expert Analysis

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Will Guide Social Media Account Ownership

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision in JLM Couture v. Gutman — which held that ownership of social media accounts must be resolved using traditional property law analysis — will guide employers and employees alike in future cases, and underscores the importance of express agreements in establishing ownership of social media accounts, says Joshua Glasgow at Phillips Lytle.

  • Storytelling Strategies To Defuse Courtroom Conspiracies

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    Misinformation continues to proliferate in all sectors of society, including in the courtroom, as jurors try to fill in the gaps of incomplete trial narratives — underscoring the need for attorneys to tell a complete, consistent and credible story before and during trial, says David Metz at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues

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    The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.

  • Opinion

    9th Circ. Should Overturn The Miles Davis Tattoo Ruling

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    A California district court made several missteps that led to a finding that celebrity artist Kat Von D's Miles Davis tattoo did not infringe copyright, and the Ninth Circuit should overturn the decision because recent U.S. Supreme Court guidance was ignored and the jury did not receive adequate instruction, says Brian Moriarty at Hamilton Brook.

  • Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues

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    As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Is Compulsory Copyright Licensing Needed For AI Tech?

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's inquiry into whether Congress should establish a compulsory licensing regime for artificial intelligence technologies that are trained on copyrighted works has received relatively little attention — but commenters recently opposed the regime under three key themes, say Michael Kientzle and Ryan White at Arnold & Porter.

  • EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

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