Intellectual Property
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Top Story
Fed. Circ. Rebuke Of PTAB Interpretation May Aid Patentees
A recent Federal Circuit decision chastising the Patent Trial and Appeal Board for using an "unreasonably broad" reading of a patent could push the board to interpret patent claims more narrowly, which may help patent owners facing validity challenges, attorneys say.
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October 16, 2017
End-Payors, Direct Purchasers Get Cert. In Solodyn MDL
End-payor and direct purchasers' bids for class certification were granted in Massachusetts federal court Monday in the pay-for-delay litigation against drugmakers Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. and Impax Laboratories Inc. over the generic version of Medicis’ acne medication Solodyn.
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October 16, 2017
Schlafly Family TM Drama Continues As Counterclaims Axed
A possibly unauthorized spinoff organization controlled by some of the late conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly’s loyalists cannot countersue those who control Schlafly’s original group, the Eagle Forum, who sued alleged interloper Phyllis Schlafly’s American Eagles last year shortly before Schlafly’s death in the wake of a family squabble over Donald Trump.
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October 16, 2017
Dean Foods Gets TRO Blocking Ex-Exec From Rival Dairy
A Texas state judge on Friday granted Dean Foods Co. a temporary restraining order blocking its former vice president of operations from working for a rival dairy company, after Dean Foods alleged the former executive was likely to disclose trade secrets and contact former customers in violation of employment agreements.
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October 16, 2017
Waymo Denied Access To Uber Self-Driving Source Code
Waymo LLC can't get its hands on Uber's self-driving vehicle source code, a California federal magistrate judge said Monday, calling Waymo's attempt "profoundly overbroad" and lacking sufficient cause.
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October 16, 2017
Mattress Firm Sues 'Bed-In-A-Box' Co. For Allegedly False Ads
Mattress Firm Inc. sued online mattress company Tuft & Needle on Monday in Texas federal court, accusing the so-called bed-in-a-box startup of smearing Mattress Firm's trademark with false advertising as it sought to break into the business.
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October 16, 2017
Fed. Circ. Finds Mail-Tracking Patents Invalid Under Alice
The Federal Circuit ruled Monday that several Secured Mail Solutions LLC patents are invalid under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice test, upholding a lower court’s decision in an infringement case against Universal Wilde Inc.
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October 16, 2017
Simon & Schuster Sinks 'Light Between Oceans' IP Suit
A New York federal judge on Monday tossed a copyright lawsuit accusing Simon & Schuster Inc., DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and ABC Inc. of ripping off an unpublished screenplay to produce the best-selling novel “The Light Between Oceans” and its film adaptation, finding Monday that the works were not substantially similar.
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October 16, 2017
HP, Juniper Won't Get Quick Win In Ethernet Patent Suit
A Texas federal judge on Thursday partially dismissed Hewlett-Packard and Juniper Networks’ request to toss Network-1 Technologies Inc.'s allegations that they infringed its Ethernet patent on Friday, upholding a federal magistrate's recommendations.
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October 16, 2017
Packet Intelligence Wins $6M IP Verdict Against NetScout
A Texas federal jury on Friday awarded Packet Intelligence LLC more than $5.75 million in its patent suit against computer networking company NetScout Systems Inc., finding that NetScout infringed on three of Packet's patents with its GeoProbe data network monitoring systems.
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October 16, 2017
Electronic Arts Fires Back At Coder's High Court Appeal
Video game industry giant Electronic Arts has hit back at a former computer programmer's Hail Mary attempt to revive copyright claims to "John Madden Football," telling the U.S. Supreme Court that offering expert testimony instead of evidence should remain out of bounds.
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October 16, 2017
33 Countries Change IP Tax Incentives To Meet OECD Rules
Thirty-three countries have changed or abolished tax incentives to lure valuable intellectual property due to a new standard from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a progress report from the organization released on Monday.
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October 16, 2017
High Court Denies Challenge To 'Google' Trademark
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a petition urging the justices to hold that “google” has become a generic verb that cannot be protected by trademark law.
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October 16, 2017
Ticketmaster Denied Quick Win On Songkick Antitrust Claims
A California federal judge on Monday tossed Live Nation and Ticketmaster's bid for a quick win on some of Songkick's antitrust claims against the ticketing giant and its subsidiary over their alleged monopoly on ticket sales, saying the parties disagree on the facts but there is “no question” that the suit stems from a restraint of trade.
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October 16, 2017
Judge Hacks Away At Allergan's Restasis Patents
A federal judge ruled Monday that claims in several patents covering Allergan PLC’s dry-eye drug Restasis are invalid, dealing a blow to the drugmaker just weeks after it transferred the patents to a Native American tribe in an effort to shield them from review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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October 16, 2017
Janssen Defends Role As Sole Patent Owner In Remicade Suit
Johnson & Johnson doesn’t need to be named as a party in patent infringement litigation regarding subsidiary Janssen Biotech Inc.’s blockbuster biologic Remicade, as Janssen has full patent ownership rights, the unit told a Massachusetts federal court Monday.
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October 16, 2017
Comcast, Others Infringed Home Security Patent, Suit Says
Video surveillance technology company ComCam International hit Comcast Cable Communications, Abode Systems and SimpliSafe with suits in Delaware federal court Friday, accusing the companies of infringing its internet-based security, fire and emergency identification system patent with their home security and automation products.
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October 16, 2017
GCs To Spend More On IP Litigation In 2018
Companies are expected to increase spending on intellectual property litigation by more than a quarter of a billion dollars next year, a new report shows, and law firms hoping to capitalize are going to have to engage with potential clients early in the process with a specific, tailored approach.
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October 13, 2017
Carmen Electra, Models Sue Strip Club For Using Their Photos
A group of 30 models, including former Baywatch and Playboy star Carmen Electra, hit Chicago strip club Atlantis Gentlemen’s Club with a false advertising and defamation suit in Illinois federal court Thursday, saying none of them ever gave their permission to Atlantis to use their likenesses in advertising for the club on social media.
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October 13, 2017
Allergan, Generic Cos. Debate If Tribal Patent Deal Is A 'Sham'
Generic-drug makers told a Texas federal court Friday that Allergan’s transfer of patents for the dry-eye treatment Restasis to a Native American tribe in a bid to escape Patent Trial and Appeal Board review is a “sham” and “pure hypocrisy,” while Allergan argued the deal is a valid transaction.
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October 13, 2017
Alice Worries Turn To Admiration For Fed. Circ. Judge
As a first-year judge in 2014, Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Chen remembers feeling concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Alice decision was “broad and conceptual in its guidance.” But three years on the bench have shown him the wisdom of the high court’s incremental approach, Judge Chen said in a keynote speech at an intellectual property summit in Los Angeles on Friday.
Editor's Picks
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Supreme Court Forces Patent Litigation Into New Corners
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put tighter restrictions on where patent owners can file infringement lawsuits, a decision that upends nearly 30 years of established practice and will likely force many lawsuits out of the patent litigation hotbed of the Eastern District of Texas. Here, check out all of our best coverage of the case.
Expert Analysis
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Aqua Products: Watershed Decision Or Barely A Ripple?
A deeply fractured en banc Federal Circuit in Aqua Products v. Matal has shifted the burden of persuasion onto petitioners to establish the unpatentability of amended claims proffered by patent owners during inter partes review proceedings. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may attempt to promulgate regulations reimposing the burden of persuasion on patent owners, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.
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Financial Crisis Anniversary
New Post-Recession Metrics For BigLaw Partner Success
After nearly a decade of recession-accelerated change in the legal industry, “merit-based” compensation has largely come to mean measuring attorney success using some combination of origination and working attorney hours metrics. However, there are signs that the real impact of the recession is still around the corner, and that building a book isn’t enough, says Peter Zeughauser of Zeughauser Group.
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Opinion
Time To Lift Student Loan Counseling Restrictions
While it lends more than $100 million each year to our nation’s college students — including law students — the U.S. Department of Education surprisingly limits loan counseling to one-time entrance counseling for first-time student borrowers. Is this rational? asks Christopher Chapman, president of AccessLex Institute, a nonprofit focused on access to legal education.
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The Future Of Standard-Essential Patents At The ITC
For the second time in four years, the U.S. International Trade Commission has been asked to exclude products from import into the United States based on standard-essential patents. The Fujifilm case is a potential opportunity for the ITC to clarify what the proper test is for essentiality in the absence of a contractually agreed-upon definition, say Bryan Vogel and Derrick Carman of Robins Kaplan LLP.
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New Jersey Whistleblower Protections: More Than Skin-Deep
The Third Circuit recently reiterated its expansive interpretation of New Jersey state whistleblower protections when it revived a patent lawyer’s lawsuit against his former employer. Steven Trzaska’s victory should provide whistleblowers with greater assurance that they can investigate and oppose employer misconduct without fear of retaliation, says Matthew Stiff of Katz Marshall & Banks LLP.
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BPCIA At Fed. Circ.: Awaiting Guidance On Patent Dance
The Federal Circuit heard arguments last week in Amgen v. Apotex, a case that has the potential to shape Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act litigation and factor into a biosimilar manufacturer’s decision to engage in the patent dance, say Tasha Francis and Jenny Shmuel of Fish & Richardson PC.
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Gorilla Glue Case Shows Cannabis IP Is Not Sticking
Last week's trademark settlement between adhesives company Gorilla Glue and cannabis company GG Strains is the latest in a string of settlements that show there is marketplace precedent but no reliable legal precedent for cannabis brands registering and enforcing their own trademarks, say Thomas McMahon and Lauren Estevez of Margolin & Lawrence.
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Why You Should Consider Hyperlinking Your Next Brief
The shift to electronic filing has somewhat eased the task of reviewing briefs and their supporting files. An e-brief takes e-filing to the next level, says Christine Falcicchio, a principal at Strut Legal Inc.
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Trademark World Can Learn From Nobel-Winning Economist
When the "bounded rationality" work of Richard Thaler — who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in economics — is imported into the trademark realm, trademark jurisprudence may start understanding that consumers respond to brands not only with their heads but also with their hearts, says Richard Kirkpatrick of Pillsbury Winthrop.
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Venue Transfers Within East Texas: The Case To Know
Following the recent Cray ruling on patent venue, companies that have physical presences in the northern Dallas suburbs and are subject to infringement suits in the Eastern District of Texas may want to consider transfer to the Sherman Division under a Fifth Circuit case rarely invoked in patent cases — Radmax, says Matthew Zorn of Yetter Coleman LLP.