Intellectual Property

  • June 06, 2024

    'Brussels Effect' Of EU's AI Act Is Uncertain, Legal Pros Say

    BigLaw attorneys advising international clients on the European Union's AI Act tell Law360 there are significant uncertainties over vague terms in the 458-page statute, how its steep eight-figure fines will be enforced, and whether it will set a new standard globally as part of the "Brussels effect."

  • June 06, 2024

    Romania Becomes 18th EU State To Join Unified Patent Court

    European officials said Wednesday that Romania has joined Europe's unitary patent system after ratifying the agreement just ahead of its first anniversary.

  • June 06, 2024

    Turf Co. Says Ex-VP Stole Secrets Before Joining Rival

    A longtime sales executive at FieldTurf USA, one of the leading manufacturers of artificial turf sports fields, has absconded with confidential information about the company's customers and taken the information to an industry rival, according to a lawsuit filed in Georgia federal court Wednesday.

  • June 05, 2024

    Rimini's Oracle IP Defense Was Wrongly Barred, 9th Circ. Told

    Rimini Street and its owner urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday to vacate an injunction blocking it from copying Oracle's software in their 14-year battle over Rimini's software patches, arguing that the lower court erroneously tossed certain infringement defenses that "should have been in the case all along" and made other errors.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Questions Willfulness Finding Over Meat Slicer Patent

    A Federal Circuit panel appeared wary Wednesday of Provisur Technologies Inc.'s argument that Weber Inc. knew it was infringing its patents for meat slicing and packaging machines, the basis for a $10.5 million judgment against Weber last year.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Loses Another Patent Board Appeal In Sonos Feud

    Federal Circuit judges sided Wednesday with a patent board ruling that wiped out claims in yet another Google patent that was asserted in the tech company's infringement lawsuit against wireless speaker brand Sonos.

  • June 05, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Judges Skeptical Broadband IP Is Patentable

    A Federal Circuit panel seemed ready Wednesday to affirm a Texas federal judge's decision that a Broadband iTV Inc. streaming service interface patent is invalid as abstract, even if one judge eventually said the company was "making close to a persuasive case."

  • June 05, 2024

    Texas Tamale Co. Wins Partial Injunction In Trademark Case

    A Texas federal magistrate judge has found that a Fort Worth tamale outfit called Texas Lone Star Tamales can't use certain phrases in its advertising but limited some language in a requested injunction.

  • June 05, 2024

    3rd Circ. Won't Put Trade Secrets Atty Fee Fight Before Jury

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday backed a jury verdict in favor of two former employees that a power trading company claimed took trade secrets to start a new firm, but rejected one defendant's bid to have a jury determine whether he gets attorney fees for what he called "bad-faith" litigation.

  • June 05, 2024

    USPTO Fee Hike Finds Ally In Google, But Others Have Gripes

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's plan to increase many patent-related fees beginning next year has received support from Google, but dozens of other comments came from patent litigators of all stripes who argue that the proposal is a bad idea.

  • June 05, 2024

    TTAB Rejects Gin Maker's Attempt To Narrow 'Iron Balls' Mark

    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has refused a gin maker's bid to force a Texas brewery to limit its use of the phrase "Iron Balls" to craft microbrews instead of just "beer," saying such a change wouldn't make confusion any less likely.

  • June 05, 2024

    Google Hit With IP Suit By Textbook Cos. Over Pirated Books

    A group of textbook publishers hit Google LLC with a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit Wednesday in New York federal court, accusing the tech giant of allowing advertisements from websites that allegedly sell pirated books and ignoring take-down requests from the publishers for years.

  • June 05, 2024

    K&L Gates Adds Ex-Norton Rose IP Team In Frankfurt

    K&L Gates LLP has bolstered its intellectual property practice in its 30-attorney Frankfurt office with the addition of a team from Norton Rose Fullbright LLP, including a partner who works closely with fashion and luxury product clients.

  • June 05, 2024

    McDonald's Loses 'Big Mac' TM Rights Over Poultry In EU

    A European Union court on Wednesday stripped McDonald's of its right to use the "Big Mac" trademark on chicken sandwiches in the bloc, ruling that the fast food giant had failed to put the sign to proper use on poultry products in recent years.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Mulls Whether To Undo $13M Jury IP Verdict

    NCR Corp. has a "tough burden" on its shoulders if it wants to prove that the evidence a jury relied on to deliver a $13 million jury verdict against the company for infringing two payment processing patents was not substantial enough, a Federal Circuit judge said Tuesday.

  • June 04, 2024

    Judge Recommends $27.7M For Textbook Publishers In IP Suit

    A federal magistrate judge in Manhattan has recommended that a group of textbook publishers be awarded nearly $27.7 million in damages in a copyright and trademark infringement complaint against nearly a dozen defendants who defaulted for not participating in a case where they were accused of selling counterfeits on Amazon.

  • June 04, 2024

    Paramount Hit With $142.5M 'Lucha Libre' Lawsuit

    Paramount and Univision have been hit with a $142.5 million copyright lawsuit over allegedly continuing to broadcast masked "Lucha Libre" fights on Pluto TV, over a year after ending a licensing deal with a California company that markets the videos in the U.S.

  • June 04, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Pours Doubt On Trademark Board's 'Cognac' Ruling

    Federal Circuit judges on Tuesday repeatedly expressed skepticism over a split administrative board ruling that allowed a small hip-hop record label to land a trademark using the word "cognac" over objections from the cognac distilling industry.

  • June 04, 2024

    PQA Tells Fed. Circ. To Deny VLSI's Speculative Stay Bid

    One of the companies sanctioned for misconduct while successfully challenging a VLSI Technology LLC patent has told the Federal Circuit that there's no reason to stay VLSI's appeal while unrelated litigation plays out.

  • June 04, 2024

    PTAB Upholds G+ Patent After Samsung Challenge

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has refused to invalidate any claims of a G+ Communications 5G network patent following a review requested by Samsung, which argued they were either obvious or anticipated.

  • June 04, 2024

    Netflix Tells 10th Circ. Warhol Helps Defense In 'Tiger King' Suit

    Netflix Inc. has told the Tenth Circuit that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year finding that an Andy Warhol silkscreen of pop icon Prince infringed the photo it was based on strengthens its position in a lawsuit that accuses the streaming service of infringing a copyrighted funeral video by using a clip of it in the popular 2020 docuseries "Tiger King."

  • June 04, 2024

    Smartflash Says Patent Office Can't Hide Apple Docs

    An inventor is arguing against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's bid to toss a D.C. federal court case challenging the office's redactions in documents regarding Patent Trial and Appeal Board reviews of patents at the center of his battle with Apple Inc.

  • June 04, 2024

    Houston IP Firm Settles Trade Secrets Case With Ex-Law Clerk

    Houston-based intellectual property law firm Lloyd & Mousilli PLLC and a former law clerk accused of stealing confidential information while working virtually from California reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the firm in a Texas federal court.

  • June 04, 2024

    Ex-Restoration Co. Execs 'Teeter' On Contempt, Judge Says

    The former presidents of a property restoration company have staved off civil contempt after narrowly convincing a North Carolina Business Court judge that they merely misunderstood an injunction curbing their business activities as opposed to flagrantly disregarding it.

  • June 04, 2024

    NJ Deer Repellent Co. Can't Get TRO In Trade Secret Fight

    A New Jersey deer repellant maker cannot restrain a competitor in Ohio who used to license its trademarks, its formerly patented repellant formula and its secret spraying techniques, a federal judge ruled, because its trade secrets complaint has not alleged any harm that cannot be cured later with damages.

Expert Analysis

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

  • Del. IP Ruling May Mark Limitation-By-Limitation Analysis Shift

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    A Delaware federal court's recent ruling in Lindis Biotech v. Amgen, which involved complex technology where the complaint contained neither facts nor a specific allegation directed to a claim limitation, might spark a shift away from requiring a limitation-by-limitation analysis, say Ted Mathias and Ian Swan at Axinn.

  • Trump Hush Money Case Offers Master Class In Trial Strategy

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    The New York criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump typifies some of the greatest challenges that lawyers face in crafting persuasive presentations, providing lessons on how to handle bad facts, craft a simple story that withstands attack, and cross-examine with that story in mind, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.

  • ITC Ruling Has Serious IP Implications For Foreign Imports

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    While a recent U.S. International Trade Commission decision is a win for trade secret owners who can show injury to a U.S. domestic industry, the decision also means that companies operating in foreign jurisdictions will be subject to the requirements of U.S. trade secret law, say Paul Ainsworth and Cristen Corry at Sterne Kessler.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe

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    A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • TTAB Ruling Raises Foreign-Language Mark Questions

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    The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's recent decision to cancel the Veuve Olivier registration due to its similarity to Veuve Clicquot brings new focus to the treatment of foreign terms and the doctrine of foreign equivalents, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Measuring Early Impact Of Rule 702 Changes On Patent Cases

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    Since Federal Rule of Evidence 702 was amended to clarify the standards for admitting expert witness testimony five months ago, emerging trends in patent cases suggest that it may be easier to limit or exclude expert testimony, and hold key practice takeaways for attorneys, say Manuel Velez and Nan Zhang at Mayer Brown.

  • Protecting IP May Be Tricky Without Noncompetes

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    Contrary to the Federal Trade Commission's view, trade secret law cannot replace noncompetes' protection of proprietary information because intellectual property includes far more than just trade secrets, so businesses need to closely examine their IP protection options, say Aimee Fagan and Ching-Lee Fukuda at Sidley.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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