Intellectual Property

  • September 10, 2024

    Phone Maker Vivo Joins Via LA's Audio Patent Licensing Pool

    Via Licensing Alliance said Tuesday it has inked a deal with Chinese smartphone maker Vivo to join its patent pool for standardized audio coding technology.

  • September 10, 2024

    Ex-Michigan Football Stars Hit NCAA With $50M NIL Suit

    A group of former University of Michigan football players are seeking more than $50 million in damages through a proposed class action filed Tuesday that alleges a decades-long scheme by the NCAA and Big Ten Network to unlawfully exploit athlete names, images and likenesses for commercial gain.

  • September 10, 2024

    Cypriot Cheesemakers Lose Challenge To 'Grilloumi' TM

    A group of Cypriot halloumi producers has lost its attempt to overturn a decision that allowed a Swedish cheesemaker to register its "Grilloumi" and "Grilloumaki" trademarks in the U.K., as a London court ruled the marks are sufficiently different.

  • September 10, 2024

    Car Parts Maker Defends Heat-Resistant Steel Patent At EPO

    A Chinese car parts manufacturer can keep its European patent for a heat-resistant steel alloy because its combination of elements is sufficiently inventive over previous formulae, an appeals panel has ruled.

  • September 10, 2024

    Apple Illegally Obtained €13B In State Aid, Top EU Court Rules

    The European Union's highest court ruled on Tuesday that Ireland illegally granted Apple state aid in past tax rulings, requiring the U.S. technology giant to repay €13 billion ($14.3 billion) in back taxes as well as interest.

  • September 09, 2024

    White Stripes Sue Trump For Using Hit 'Seven Nation Army'

    Disbanded rock duo White Stripes on Monday sued former President Donald Trump in New York federal court for using the iconic introductory riff of its Grammy-winning song "Seven Nation Army" on a social media clip without permission, and despite its members publicly denouncing the hit's use during Trump's 2016 presidential run.

  • September 09, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Undoes Alice Ax Of Camera Patents In GoPro Case

    The Federal Circuit on Monday reversed a decision invalidating two video camera patents that GoPro Inc. is accused of infringing, ruling that the patents cover technological improvements, and not only an abstract idea, as a California federal judge had ruled.

  • September 09, 2024

    Judge Again Says Yearbook Site Can't Force Arbitration

    A Washington federal judge has said the company behind Classmates.com can't force a privacy rights suit into arbitration, in a ruling that determined the plaintiff's attorney opted out of a terms-of-service provision.

  • September 09, 2024

    NC Dance Teachers Fend Off Injunction Bid In Trademark Feud

    A North Carolina charter school can't prevent two former teachers from soliciting students for their dance team using the name "Inspire" amid claims of trademark infringement and false advertising, a federal judge ruled Monday.

  • September 09, 2024

    Brighthouse Hits Rival With TM Suit Over 'Shield' Mark

    Annuity and life insurance provider Brighthouse Financial on Friday accused competitor American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. of trademark infringement, claiming in a North Carolina federal court that American Equity is using Brighthouse's decade-old "shield" mark to sell similar, overlapping or nearly identical annuity products and services.

  • September 09, 2024

    Purdue Sees Another OxyContin Patent Axed

    A Delaware federal court decided on Monday that yet another patent issued to bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is invalid, a year and a half after a similar ruling was issued in another case about the company's efforts to assert different patents to stop the same prospective Indian manufacturer of generic painkillers.

  • September 09, 2024

    Qorvo Gets Nearly $12M In Fees After $39M Trade Secrets Win

    A federal judge said Monday that wireless company Qorvo Inc. was entitled to more than $11.7 million in legal fees after a jury earlier this year awarded the business $38.6 million in a trade secrets case against Akoustis Technologies Inc.

  • September 09, 2024

    Denver Court Knocks Out 'Breathable' Fabric Patent Claims

    After almost a decade of litigation over "breathable" waterproof fabric in Colorado federal court, a judge in Denver has decided that some of the claims describing a patent failed to hold up to legal scrutiny. 

  • September 09, 2024

    FTC Backs Teva Orange Book Delisting At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Trade Commission is continuing to back Amneal's efforts to have Teva's inhaler patents delisted from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book, telling the Federal Circuit that a lower court was right in determining that Teva's patents do not satisfy the registry's requirements.

  • September 09, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Ruling In Food Wrapping Feud

    The Federal Circuit has refused to revive claims in a trio of Converter Manufacturing LLC food wrapping patents, handing a win to patent challenger Tekni-Plex Inc. in the legal dispute.

  • September 09, 2024

    Wi-Fi Router Trade Dispute Paused While Makers Finalize Deal

    The U.S. International Trade Commission has stayed all deadlines in an intellectual property dispute between Netgear and TP-Link over TP-Link's Wi-Fi router imports as the pair finalizes a settlement resolving the case.

  • September 09, 2024

    Meta Wants Mike Huckabee's Fake CBD Ad Suit Tossed

    Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. asked a Delaware federal judge to throw out former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's suit alleging it allowed false advertisements claiming he endorsed CBD gummies on its popular social media platform, arguing the claims are clearly barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  • September 09, 2024

    Novo Nordisk Sues Over Ads For Diabetes, Weight Loss Drugs

    A New Jersey company violated trademark and false advertising laws by promoting drugs without a regulatory green light as being generic versions of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy medications, according to a lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court.

  • September 09, 2024

    Bradley Arant Adds Katten Partner In Dallas

    Bradley Arant has hired a six-and-a-half-year veteran of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP who is joining the firm's corporate and securities practice in Dallas as a partner.

  • September 09, 2024

    Frankfurt Kurnit Adds Ex-Copyright Office GC In LA

    Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC has brought in a new partner to the entertainment litigation group in its Los Angeles office, an attorney with vast experience in copyright law that includes serving as general counsel for the U.S. Copyright Office.

  • September 06, 2024

    T.I. Tells Jury 'Anyone With Eyes' Can See MGA's IP Theft

    Grammy-winning hip hop artist T.I. on Friday told jurors weighing his intellectual property suit against toymaker MGA Enterntainment that anyone could see the similarities between the company's O.M.G. doll line and the OMG Girlz pop group that the rapper co-owns, but he's not sure the company CEO knew of any alleged idea theft.

  • September 06, 2024

    7th Circ. Skeptical Of Bid To Revive Fraud Claims Against Firm

    The Seventh Circuit seemed inclined Friday not to disturb lower court rulings that sank a litigation funder's fraud and damages claims against a law firm that abruptly dropped the business to represent a former employee who left to open a competing venture.

  • September 06, 2024

    Takeaways From Fair Use Rejection Of Free E-Book Library

    The Second Circuit's decision shutting down a fair use argument by Internet Archive over its system of scanning physical books and converting them into e-books to lend for free is a resounding victory for book publishers that argued their market was in danger of being supplanted.

  • September 06, 2024

    Actelion Must Face Tracleer Antitrust Suit With Class Certified

    A Maryland federal judge refused Friday to toss an antitrust suit accusing Actelion Pharmaceuticals of illegally denying generics companies the samples they needed to produce generic versions of its hypertension drug Tracleer, while separately certifying a class composed of "hundreds" of insurers and self-funded employers.

  • September 06, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Revives ParkerVision Patent Suit Against Qualcomm

    The Federal Circuit on Friday revived a ParkerVision Inc. lawsuit against Qualcomm Inc. over wireless communications patents, ruling that a Florida judge wrongly relied on earlier decisions to grant summary judgment to Qualcomm and exclude ParkerVision's experts.

Expert Analysis

  • Patent Lessons From 5 Federal Circuit Reversals In June

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    A look at June cases where the Federal Circuit reversed or vacated decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or a federal district court highlights a potential path for branded drugmakers to sue generic-drug makers for off-label uses, potential downsides of violating a pretrial order offering testimony, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Alice Step 2 Trends Show Courts' Extrinsic Evidence Reliance

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    A look at recent trends in how district courts are applying Step 2 of the Alice framework shows that courts have increasingly relied on extrinsic evidence to help determine whether a claimed invention is "well-understood, routine, and conventional," says Jonathan Tuminaro at Sterne Kessler.

  • Recent Settlement Shows 'China Initiative' Has Life After Death

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    Though the U.S. Department of Justice shuttered its controversial China Initiative two years ago, its recent False Claims Act settlement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation demonstrates that prosecutors are more than willing to civilly pursue research institutions whose employees were previously targeted, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • How Orange Book Antitrust Scrutiny Is Intensifying

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    Pharmaceutical patent holders should be reviewing Orange Book listing practices, as the Federal Trade Commission takes a more aggressive antitrust approach with actions such as the Teva listing probe, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration calls attention to potentially improper listings, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Trending At The PTAB: 1 Year Of Denials Of Institution

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    An analysis of Patent Trial and Appeal Board denials of institutions between May 2023 and May of this year highlights the board’s common reasons for denial, which can provide insight to both petitioners and patent owners in future proceedings, say Kevin Rodkey and Victor Palace at Finnegan.

  • Questions Linger About DTSA's Scope After Motorola Ruling

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera, which held that the Defend Trade Secrets Act applies extraterritorially, does not address whether an act that furthers misappropriation must be committed by the defendant in order to satisfy the law's extraterritoriality requirement, say Ilissa Samplin and Grace Hart at Gibson Dunn.

  • Opinion

    Conception Is The Proper Test For AI-Assisted Inventions

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should adopt the conception standard for reviewing AI-assisted inventions, and require the disclosure of artificial intelligence prompts and responses because they are material to patentability, which would then simplify the patent examiner’s invention decision, says Thomas Hamlin at Robins Kaplan.

  • What High Court TM Rulings Tell Us About Free Speech

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    Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings show tension between free speech and trademark law, highlighting that while political mockery is protected, established brands may be forced to adapt to evolving cultural values, says William Scott Goldman at Goldman Law Group.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • How In-House IP Counsel Can Deal With AI's Rise

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    Generative artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize intellectual property law, especially for smaller and midsize enterprises, meaning IP in-house counsel need to prioritize AI implementation to navigate the coming changes, says Friedrich Laub at Diasorin.

  • 7th Circ. Motorola Ruling Raises Stakes Of DTSA Litigation

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    The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Motorola v. Hytera gives plaintiffs a powerful tool to recover damages, greatly increasing the incentive to bring Defend Trade Secrets Act claims against defendants with large global sales because those sales could generate large settlements, say attorneys at MoFo.

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