Intellectual Property
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Top Story
3 Takeaways From Delaware's TC Heartland Venue Guidance
The District of Delaware's chief judge recently held in two rulings that companies must have permanent ties to the state to face patent suits there following the U.S. Supreme Court's TC Heartland ruling, and his analysis could keep many generic-drug cases in his court. Here's what attorneys can learn from the decisions.
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September 19, 2017
Fed Circ. Asked To Nix Finjan Cybersecurity Patents
Blue Coat Systems Inc. and Palo Alto Networks Inc. asked the Federal Circuit to rethink a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling upholding a Finjan Inc. malware detection patent asserted against them, arguing that it had misinterpreted prior art.
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September 19, 2017
Maine Lab Accuses Chinese University Of Selling Its Mice
One of the world’s largest breeders of mice for medical research asked a Maine federal judge on Monday to force arbitration against one of China’s most prestigious universities, accusing it of ripping off its costly research by breeding its mice and selling them for just a fraction of the cost.
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September 19, 2017
Warner Chilcott Seeks Out Of Asacol Antitrust Suit
Allergan subsidiary Warner Chilcott has told a Massachusetts federal court that pulling its Asacol ulcerative colitis drug off the market pursuant to a federal safety order can’t be considered anti-competitive conduct, urging the court to grant it a quick win in an antitrust lawsuit.
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September 19, 2017
AstraZeneca, Amneal Settle Generic Diabetes Drug Fight
Drug companies AstraZeneca and Amneal have settled a patent infringement lawsuit over Amneal's application to sell a generic version of AstraZeneca diabetes drug Byetta, according to a Monday filing in Delaware federal court.
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September 19, 2017
Taylor Swift Hit With Fresh Suit Over 'Shake It Off'
A pair of songwriters accused Taylor Swift, Sony ATV and Universal Music Group of ripping off lyrics from a 2001 hit song they’d penned, saying Monday that even though “Shake It Off’s” use of the lyrics wasn’t exactly the same, they still violated the songwriters’ copyright.
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September 19, 2017
How A Naughty 'Grinch' Play Is Fair Use
A New York federal judge recently ruled that a dirty stage play riffing on the Dr. Seuss classic "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was protected by the fair use doctrine. Here's why.
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September 19, 2017
Ex-Worker Cops To Trying To Sell ‘As Seen On TV’ Co. Info
A New Jersey-based former employee of a New York company that develops and markets “As Seen on TV” merchandise admitted on Tuesday to his role in a scheme in which he attempted to sell the company’s information to its competitors.
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September 19, 2017
Attys Warn Of Shifting Electronic Searches At Borders
Government prosecutors and privacy experts told their colleagues Tuesday that increased searches of electronic devices at the border have left the law lagging behind law enforcement practices, and searches prohibited today may become permissible tomorrow as consumers become more accustomed to divulging sensitive personal information.
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September 19, 2017
'Whoomp! (There It Is)': A Deal To End Song Rights Row
The Chapter 7 trustee for a music publisher that went bankrupt after a $2.2 million judgment over the rights to the song “Whoomp! (There It Is)” gained approval Tuesday from a Florida federal judge for a deal to settle the case and several related disputes.
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September 19, 2017
Hitachi Metals Hits Chinese Rivals With ITC Trade Secrets Suit
Hitachi Metals filed a complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday alleging that a number of Chinese companies have violated the Tariff Act by selling and importing into the U.S. amorphous metals manufactured using misappropriated trade secrets.
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September 19, 2017
Troutman Sanders Nabs Mintz Levin Litigators In Calif.
Troutman Sanders LLP has hired two Mintz Levin attorneys who have represented tech and life sciences companies in a range of disputes involving data breaches, intellectual property rights and fiduciary rights for its business litigation practice in San Diego as a part of the firm’s efforts to bolster its presence on the West Coast, Troutman Sanders said Monday.
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September 19, 2017
Pat's Steaks Sues Family Member Over Pa. Brand Rights
Pat’s King of Steaks Inc., the iconic Philadelphia restaurant brand controlled by the grandson of the purported originator of the cheesesteak, sued a family member in state court on Monday, saying she is refusing to concede that she does not have the rights to use the company's name in Pennsylvania.
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September 19, 2017
'The Art Of Fielding' Author Accused Of Stealing Book Idea
The author of the 2011 baseball novel “The Art of Fielding” has been hit with a copyright lawsuit in New York federal court alleging that he took significant portions of another author’s work and incorporated it in the book.
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September 19, 2017
Insurer Wants Provider List Kept Secret In Fla. Contract Fight
The winner of a contract to provide dental benefits for Florida's health insurance program for children asked a state appeals court Tuesday to overturn an order forcing the company to hand over a list of providers in response to a public records request by a losing bidder, arguing the list is a protected trade secret.
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September 19, 2017
Car Restoration Co. Founder Can't Duck Trademark Suit
A California federal judge has kept alive allegations that a car restoration company’s president infringed trademarks belonging to the trust for the famous race car driver Carroll Shelby, saying the court has jurisdiction over the man.
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September 19, 2017
Priceline Gets Partial Win In IBM Patent Infringement Suit
A Delaware federal judge on Monday handed a complicated and split ruling to International Business Machines Corp. and several Priceline Group Inc. travel and hospitality websites in IBM’s lawsuit accusing the sites of infringing its patents from the early days of the internet.
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September 19, 2017
PTAB Says System Not To Blame For Luv N’ Care Late Petition
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Monday denied Luv N’ Care Ltd.’s challenge to a patent covering pails used to wash shampoo from a baby’s hair, rejecting the baby products maker’s argument that its petition was late because of problems with the board’s online filing system.
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September 19, 2017
Ex-K&L Gates Atty Escapes Sanctions Over Withheld Evidence
A California federal judge declined Monday to sanction generic-drug maker Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its former K&L Gates attorney for withholding evidence in a since-dismissed False Claims Act suit, saying the counsel acted improperly but not necessarily in bad faith.
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September 19, 2017
FTC Contests Impax's Defense Of Opana ER Patent Settlement
Impax Laboratories Inc. has no pro-competitive justifications for its 2010 patent dispute settlement with Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. over the drug Opana ER, and none of its defenses of the agreement’s alleged reverse payment hold water, the Federal Trade Commission said in a Friday filing in its administrative proceeding against Impax.
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September 18, 2017
Content-Makers Call For Stronger Copyright Rules In NAFTA
An association of creative content producers has argued that the "overly-broad, outdated" safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act should not factor prominently into a reworked North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the trade groups that stumped for the provisions to the U.S. Trade Representative represented not content producers as claimed but tech giants.
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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'Per-Doc' Pricing Can Improve Document Review
Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering your steak medium-rare. The steak arrives burned. You expect the kitchen to bring you another one properly done, right? And you don’t expect to pay for two steaks, do you? Paying a vendor for document review should be no different, says Lisa Prowse, an attorney and vice president at Business Intelligence Associates Inc.
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A Review Of Willfulness Findings In Hatch-Waxman Actions
Federal Circuit cases interpreting Halo will likely increase awards of attorney fees and thus portend an increase in allegations of willful infringement in Hatch-Waxman actions. The present standard for finding willful infringement in Hatch-Waxman actions is somewhat uncertain, say Brian Coggio and Ron Vogel of Fish & Richardson PC.
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Are PTAB Precedential Opinions Really Binding?
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Snyder v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs raises the question of whether the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has met the requirements for using adjudicative decisions as precedent, says Richard Torczon, of counsel at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and a former Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge.
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Finding Eligible Subject Matter For Business Methods
Although software and business method patents have recently come under fire, there are valid approaches to successfully preparing and prosecuting these applications in the current environment, say Matthew Grady and Ed Russavage of Wolf Greenfield & Sacks PC.
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5 Thoughts On 5 Years Of Inter Partes Review
Over the five years since inter partes review came into effect, it has made the Patent Trial and Appeal Board the most popular venue for litigating patent disputes. It is worthwhile to ask whether IPRs are achieving their intended policy goals and at what cost their popularity comes, say Gene Lee and Danielle Grant-Keane of Perkins Coie LLP.
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Tips For Drafting Patents That Won't Need Alice Step 2
Based on three cases in which the Federal Circuit has found software-related claims to recite patent-eligible subject matter, a patent application drafter can improve the chances that claims pass muster under step one of the Alice two-step patent-eligibility test, thereby not requiring an analysis under step two, says Phillip Articola of Banner & Witcoff Ltd.
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A Guide To The Executive Branch Official Nomination Process
Although the Trump administration has completed the vetting and confirmation of a cabinet and White House staff, thousands of senior positions remain unfilled throughout the executive branch. More than ever, people selected for those posts find themselves under close scrutiny, say Adam Raviv and Reginald Brown of WilmerHale.
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PTAB At 5: Part 4 — At The Intersection Of PTAB And Courts
Whether the 5-year-old Patent Trial and Appeal Board can achieve its lofty goals — providing a quick, inexpensive and reliable alternative to challenging patent validity — rests largely in the ability of counsel to effectively navigate the intersection of PTAB and district court jurisdiction, say Michael Specht and Jonathan Tuminaro of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC.
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Some Clarity On Surname Trademarks From USPTO
Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office changed its policies and procedures for marks composed of a surname and an additional term. It seems that there are better odds in obtaining a registration for a surname mark with a broad descriptive term rather than a surname with a “merely descriptive” term, says Davide Schiavetti of Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck PC.
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PTAB At 5: Part 3 — Fed. Circ. Statistics
In the five years since the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was established, the Federal Circuit has rendered over 250 judgments and issued over 120 opinions deciding appeals taken from post-grant proceedings. The data reveals how the court has addressed those appeals and how those appeals are affecting the court, say attorneys with Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC.