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Intellectual Property

  • Top Story

    More PTAB Fights Between Big Pharma Could Be Looming

    Pharmaceutical firms like Pfizer Inc. are accustomed to having their patents for brand-name drugs challenged by generics makers at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. But companies that make innovative new drugs may increasingly find challenges coming from another front: other brand companies.

  • July 21, 2017

    The Best Law Firms For Female Partners

    Although women have made some strides toward gender parity in the lower ranks of law firms, breaking into the equity tier remains elusive. These 20 firms, however, are leaders in advancing equality at the top, earning them the designation of Law360 Ceiling Smasher.

  • July 21, 2017

    The Best Law Firms For Female Attorneys

    While the legal industry continues to struggle with gender parity, this year’s Glass Ceiling Report shows that some firms are ahead of the rest. Here, Law360 reveals its third annual ranking of the best law firms for female attorneys, based on their representation of women at the nonpartner and partner levels.

  • July 21, 2017

    The 2017 Law360 Glass Ceiling Report

    U.S. law firms have long been overwhelmingly dominated by men, particularly at the partnership level, and Law360’s latest Glass Ceiling Report shows that recent progress has been — at best — only incremental.

  • July 21, 2017

    How 4 Firms Are Moving The Needle On Gender Diversity

    A handful of law firms of various sizes and types are outpacing their peers on including women in their ranks. Here’s why four of them are positioned toward the front of the pack.

  • July 21, 2017

    Could An NFL Diversity Rule Be A BigLaw Game-Changer?

    In a bid to elevate more women to positions of authority, law firms are taking a page from the National Football League's playbook.

  • July 21, 2017

    4 Female Perspectives On BigLaw Leadership

    Only a handful of the largest U.S. law firms are led by women. Here, in their own words, are perspectives from Shook Hardy & Bacon Chair Madeleine McDonough, Crowell & Moring Chair Angela Styles, Morgan Lewis & Bockius Chair Jami Wintz McKeon and Goodwin Procter Chair Emeritus Regina Pisa.

  • July 21, 2017

    BigLaw Bias Suits New Wild Card In Fight For Gender Equity

    As gender bias suits pile up against law firms, it remains to be seen how they will impact recruiting in the industry. But some legal experts say firm leaders may want to look at the complaints as blueprints for change.

  • July 21, 2017

    Quinn Dropped Uber Due To Fixed Fee Program, Doc Says

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP dropped Uber Technologies Inc. as a client last fall because a fixed fee arrangement “no longer made financial sense,” according to an email disclosed Thursday in the California federal court intellectual property battle filed against Uber by the firm’s current client Waymo LLC.

  • July 21, 2017

    Intel, Apple Tag Qualcomm As 'Monopolist' In IP War At ITC

    Apple and Intel hit hard at Qualcomm in public statements filed Thursday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in a case where the chipmaker is seeking to bar iPhones that allegedly infringe its patents, with both companies accusing Qualcomm of seeking a monopoly on the technology.

  • July 21, 2017

    Orange Owes $60M For Startup-Killing IP Theft, Jury Told

    An attorney for defunct startup Telesocial Inc. told a California federal jury during closing arguments Friday that Orange SA destroyed the young company by stealing its trade secrets instead of buying its communications technology, while Orange’s attorneys denied responsibility for Telesocial’s failure and argued no theft occurred.

  • July 21, 2017

    Intel Says AVM Can't Reverse Loss In $2B Patent Trial

    Intel Corp. urged a Delaware federal judge on Friday to shut down rival AVM Technologies LLC's bid to undo its loss in a $2 billion patent infringement trial, saying the evidence amply supported Intel's belief that its circuits' functionality was different from that spelled out in the intellectual property at issue.

  • July 21, 2017

    BakerHostetler Adds Pillsbury Patent Pro In Seattle

    BakerHostetler scored a patent litigator from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP who brings 20 years of experience representing technology clients in intellectual property disputes, the firm recently announced.

  • July 21, 2017

    Dow’s Trade Secrets Suit Doesn’t Belong In Del., Court Told

    A Turkish chemical company said Friday that its scant corporate ties to Delaware failed to support Chancery Court jurisdiction for a Dow Chemical Co. lawsuit seeking broad damages for the alleged theft of Dow secrets used to make competing products.

  • July 21, 2017

    Boat Co. Seeks Retrial Under TC Heartland After $2.7M Loss

    Brunswick Corp. asked a Virginia federal court on Friday for a new trial after it was found to have infringed Cobalt Boats LLC’s patent on a boat step and ordered to pay $2.7 million in damages, asserting that the venue was improper under the U.S. Supreme Court's TC Heartland decision in May.

  • July 21, 2017

    Dish Gets Counterclaims Tossed In Copyright Suit

    A Florida judge on Friday dismissed counterclaims by the owner of an Arabic pay-TV company facing a copyright infringement suit claiming the service steals signals from Dish Network LLC, but gave the company time to fix the problems with its pleadings.

  • July 21, 2017

    Brand Battles: Disney Gets Creative To Block 'Jedi' TM

    In Law360's latest roundup of new actions at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Lucasfilm once again goes deep into the details of the Star Wars universe, Frito-Lay takes on a look-alike Lay’s logo and the Chicago Cubs stay aggressive.

  • July 21, 2017

    Fed. Circ. Rejects Amazon’s Plea To Reissue IP Liability Ruling

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday rejected a request from Amazon and eBay to reissue as precedential an opinion it issued last month finding that Amazon, as a mere host to third-party vendors in this case, couldn’t be held liable for the sale of stuffed-animal pillowcases that allegedly infringe design patents.

  • July 21, 2017

    Illumina, Qiagen Settle DNA Sequencer Patent Dispute

    Illumina Inc. has settled patent infringement claims against rival Qiagen NV, according to a California federal judge’s order on Friday, resolving a year-old action over DNA-sequencing intellectual property.

  • July 21, 2017

    PTAB Invalidates Patent As Earbud-Makers Duel

    An earbud company convinced the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to invalidate a patent on a rival’s earbud system on Wednesday for combining existing inventions in an obvious way, drawing first blood in an industry feud involving four patent challenges and two infringement lawsuits.

  • July 21, 2017

    PTAB Says Communications Patent Ineligible For CBM Review

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board refused Friday to review a patent for a communications system used by financial traders, finding the patent was not eligible for the America Invents Act's covered business method review program because it was not related to a financial activity.

Expert Analysis

  • The Elephant In The Room: Advancing Women To Partnership

    Anusia Gillespie

    Despite more focus and investment, the numbers continue to show little progress in advancing women to the top tiers of firm leadership. Considering the irreversible nature of the transformation of the market for top talent, it is time to start experimenting and innovating from the core, rather than from the periphery, say Anusia Gillespie and Scott Westfahl of Harvard Law School.

  • How Midsize Law Firms Can Minimize Cybersecurity Threats

    K. Stefan Chin

    It can be challenging for midsize law firms to develop an enterprise cybersecurity program that mitigates the eminent threat of data breach and meets the regulatory and compliance requirements of the firm and its clients. This challenge becomes daunting when considering the steady rise in client audits, say K. Stefan Chin of Peckar & Abramson PC and John Sweeney of Logicforce.

  • Exhausted: Courts Reject Restraints On Alienation Of IP

    Jason Russell

    With its recent decisions in Impression Products and Kirtsaeng, the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically has endorsed a sweeping interpretation of the patent exhaustion and first sale doctrines, which is likely to have significant effects on commerce, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

  • Distilling The 'Tequila' Trademark Trial And Appeal Board Case

    David Kluft

    Monday is National Tequila Day, and tequila manufacturers may have more reason to celebrate than usual — this year a trade association of Mexican companies finally won its battle to register "Tequila" as a certification mark in the United States, says David Kluft of Foley Hoag LLP.

  • Current Trends In Biologics-Related Inter Partes Reviews

    John Molenda

    There were roughly 100 biologics-related inter partes review petitions filed between September 2012 and April 2017. John Molenda and Richard Praseuth of Steptoe & Johnson LLP take a look at the types of patents being challenged and the success rates of those challenges.

  • Using Music In Your Work: Copyright Tips For Companies

    Joy Butler

    Music has the power to elevate the mundane and help make dry business topics more exciting and engaging. But when employees are unaware of the copyright implications of using music in presentations, web content, videos and other branded materials, businesses face the risk of copyright lawsuits and fines, says attorney Joy Butler.

  • 5 Strategies For Winning On Pre-Appeal At The USPTO

    Richard Coller

    When facing a final rejection of a utility patent application, if you feel strongly about the merits of your arguments of record but are apprehensive about proceeding with a full appeal, you may want to consider the pre-appeal brief request for review, say Richard Coller and Ian Soule of Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox PLLC.

  • Clearing Content For Digital Advertising: 5 Things To Address

    Benjamin Mulcahy

    The speed with which advertising content can be created and published means that advertisers must be more thorough and vigilant than ever in their clearance efforts, say Benjamin Mulcahy and Gina Reif Ilardi of Jenner & Block LLP.

  • Weekly Column

    Innovating For Wise Juries: Matching Experts

    Stephen Susman

    In the penultimate installment of this series, Stephen Susman, Richard Lorren Jolly and Dr. Roy Futterman of the NYU School of Law Civil Jury Project answer a question on many legal analysts’ minds: What if both sides’ expert witnesses sat in a hot tub discussing the case while a jury watched?

  • Rebuttal

    The Rise Of Midsize Firms

    Ronald Shechtman

    Recently, this publication featured an op-ed in which one law firm partner contended that midsize firms will be the next casualty of the legal market, due to a supposed inability to compete with BigLaw or boutique firms for business. Though we can expect to see Am Law firms continue to lead the market in megadeals and life-or-death litigations, by all indications midsize is on the rise, says Ronald Shechtman of Pryor Cashman LLP.