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Intellectual Property
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Featured
Copyright And TM Cases To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court will evaluate contributory liability in a $1 billion copyright case involving internet service providers, and the Federal Circuit will assess the latest attempted trademark registration testing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's comfort with profanity. Here are the copyright and trademark cases to watch for the rest of the year.
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July 24, 2025
Pandora Should Beat Comedians' IP Suit, Special Master Says
A special master has recommended that a California federal judge hand Pandora Media a summary-judgment win in high-stakes copyright infringement litigation by a group of comedians who allege the streaming service lacked licenses for the underlying jokes in their comedy routines, finding that the comedians waited too long to sue.
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July 24, 2025
Novo Nordisk Resolves Ozempic TM Suit Against Drugmaker
Novo Nordisk has settled claims of trademark infringement and unfair trade practices against Connecticut drugmaker LIVation LLC over the latter's comparisons of its compounded drugs to the Danish pharmaceutical company's Ozempic medication.
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July 24, 2025
PTAB Erases Claims In Patent From $279M Samsung Verdict
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated claims in one of two Headwater Research wireless communications patents that a jury had found Samsung owed nearly $279 million for infringing, finding that the claims were obvious.
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July 24, 2025
Kraft Must Face Claims It Stole Overseas Distributor Database
The Kraft Heinz Co. cannot escape a lawsuit accusing it of stealing confidential information from a business that helps U.S.-based consumer goods brands expand their markets internationally by identifying foreign distributors, an Atlanta federal judge has ruled.
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July 24, 2025
Columbia Sportswear Says University Breached Name Deal
Columbia Sportswear Co. has sued Columbia University in Oregon federal court, claiming the university breached a trademark deal over their shared name by making apparel that only said "Columbia" with no other university insignia.
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July 24, 2025
Trump Says AI Needs Free Content For Global Competition
President Donald Trump has expressed support for letting large language model developers use copyrighted material for training their systems without payment, saying during the unveiling of his artificial intelligence action plan that licensing requirements would impede the technology's progress and give China an unfair advantage.
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July 24, 2025
McGuireWoods Adds Offit Kurman Gov't Contracts, Tech Atty
McGuireWoods LLP has hired a former Offit Kurman Attorneys At Law principal who focuses his practice on government contracts and technology transactions, and who joins the team as a counsel in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Thursday.
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July 24, 2025
Miami Van Gogh Cafe, Museum Exhibitor Settle TM Suit
A company that runs an immersive Vincent van Gogh-themed exhibit has reached a deal to settle trademark infringement claims it brought against Miami's Van Gogh Cafe.
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July 24, 2025
Fed. Circ. Backs Snap, Meta, X Win Over Xerox Patent
Xerox on Thursday lost its attempt to restore claims in a patent for providing personalized content to users after the Federal Circuit backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that Meta, X and Snap were able to show the claims were invalid.
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July 24, 2025
Eli Lilly's Trademark Suit Not 'Abuse Of Process'
A Washington federal judge has tossed out counterclaims by a pair of clinics being sued for trademark infringement by Eli Lilly & Co., saying the acts of filing the suit and making a settlement demand are not in themselves abuse of process.
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July 23, 2025
Texas Jury Says Verizon Owes $175M For Infringing 2 Patents
A federal jury Wednesday found that Verizon infringed a pair of wireless communications patents owned by Headwater Research, putting the telecommunications company on the hook for $175 million in damages.
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July 23, 2025
Full Fed. Circ. Won't Disturb Machine Learning Patent Ruling
The full Federal Circuit on Wednesday declined to reconsider its first-ever patent eligibility decision involving machine learning, leaving in place a panel's April findings that applying established machine learning methods to a new area cannot be patented.
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July 23, 2025
9th Circ. Clarifies Bored Ape NFTs Are Trademarkable Goods
The Ninth Circuit issued a significant ruling for digital asset creators Wednesday finding that Yuga Labs' Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens are protectable "goods" under federal law, while also reversing Yuga Labs' $8 million summary judgment win and ruling that a jury must decide whether rival NFTs confuse consumers.
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July 23, 2025
Anthropic Judge Says Authors Can Seek OpenAI Docs In NY
A California federal judge on Wednesday told a certified class of authors claiming Anthropic stole their work to train its AI technology that they have his blessing to ask a New York court overseeing copyright litigation against OpenAI and Microsoft to produce documents and deposition testimony related to the California case.
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July 23, 2025
Astellas, Generics Scolded For 'Abusive' Discovery In IP Case
A Delaware federal magistrate judge on Wednesday rebuked Astellas Pharma and makers of generic drugs for what she deemed exploitation of the discovery dispute process in the brand-name company's patent infringement case, calling their dozens of fights "not just excessive" but also "abusive of the discovery dispute process."
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July 23, 2025
Ex-Copyright Chief Suggests Trump Fired Her Over AI Report
An attorney for the fired leader of the U.S. Copyright Office suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump "sought to sideline her" to stop her from advising Congress on issues related to the use of copyrighted material for training artificial intelligence models, noting her dismissal occurred shortly after she released a pivotal report on the subject.
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July 23, 2025
9th Circ. Revives Barrett Business Services' Secrets Case
The Ninth Circuit has reinstated Barrett Business Services Inc.'s claims of trade secret theft against two former employees, their wives and a competing company they started.
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July 23, 2025
Eye-Control Wheelchair Tech Targeted In Wash. Co.'s IP Suit
A Washington-based firm that makes devices for individuals with disabilities has launched a lawsuit in federal court claiming a German company exploited its patented technology that allows users to control powered wheelchairs by looking at a screen.
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July 23, 2025
False Ad Ruling Expanded Patent Law, Crocs Tells Justices
Shoemaker Crocs Inc. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to look at a Federal Circuit decision reviving false advertising claims that its shoes were made with "patented, proprietary, and exclusive" materials that weren't actually patented, arguing that the ruling would allow an "end run" around Congress' limitations on false marking suits.
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July 23, 2025
Innospec Sues Ex-Employee, Saying Trade Secrets Were Filched
A Colorado chemicals company claims in Colorado federal court that a former employee and his new employer are using trade secrets to steal customers in violation of the ex-employee's confidentiality agreement.
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July 23, 2025
Judge Clears Mylan On 1 Novo Nordisk Patent In Wegovy Suit
A Delaware federal judge has found that proposed labeling for a generic version of the weight loss drug Wegovy doesn't recommend doctors prescribe it in a way covered by a Novo Nordisk patent on the brand-name treatment.
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July 23, 2025
Operators Of Streaming Site Jetflicks Sentenced Up To 7 Years
Five people convicted last year of running an illegal streaming website called Jetflicks have been sentenced by a Nevada federal judge, with one receiving seven years in prison and three others receiving shorter terms.
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July 23, 2025
Fed. Circ. Deems 'Kist' And 'Sunkist' Marks Confusingly Alike
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday reversed a trademark tribunal's conclusion that "Kist" and "Sunkist" soft drink marks were not confusingly similar, saying the board was wrong to distinguish the goods by focusing on images of red lips and the sun in marketing materials for the products.
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July 23, 2025
Indiana CPA Gets 3 Years In Royalty Payment Tax Scheme
An Indiana accountant received a three-year prison sentence for willfully preparing tax returns for clients who inappropriately claimed millions of dollars worth of business deductions based on false royalty payments made for using intellectual property, according to federal prosecutors.
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July 23, 2025
PTAB Ends Remote Hearings Beginning Sept. 1
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is mandating that all Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings take place in person, starting Sept. 1.
Editor's Picks
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2024 Patent Litigation: A Year In Review
The Eastern District of Texas held onto its newly regained title as the busiest patent venue in the U.S., with nearly three times as many cases in 2024 as the once-dominant Western District of Texas. In addition, Patent Trial and Appeal Board filings bounced back after falling to a record low in 2023.
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My So-Called Retirement: Some IP Lawyers Just Can't Quit
When patent partner Terry Rea set out to retire, the onetime acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had her eyes on the independence that retirement promises — flexible hours, fewer deadlines and less stress over having lots of people counting on you.
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Trade Secrets Emerge As Path For Cos. To Protect AI Works
Classifying creations of artificial intelligence tools as trade secrets has become a viable alternative to copyrights and patents — a shift that is presenting businesses using AI with a range of strategies and risks they must consider to protect their innovations.
Expert Analysis
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How To Increase 3rd-Party Preissuance Patent Submissions
Attorneys Marian Underweiser and Marc Ehrlich, who helped draft the America Invents Act, discuss changes that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could potentially implement to facilitate its hopes for increased participation in front-end patent challenges.
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Anthropic Ruling Creates Fair Use Framework For AI Training
A California federal court’s recent ruling that Anthropic’s use of copyrighted books to train its large language model qualified as fair use provides important guidance for both artificial intelligence developers and copyright holders because it distinguishes between transformative uses and unauthorized uses involving pirated or format-shifted works, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Series
Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.
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Assessing Impact Of USPTO's New Patent Policies
Recent data shows how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new patent policies are affecting America Invents Act trial institution rates, including spurring an uptick in discretionary denials, say attorneys at Armond Wilson.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion
In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Fed. Circ. Ingenico Ruling Pivotal For IPR Estoppel Landscape
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Ingenico v. Ioengine brings long-awaited clarity to the scope of inter partes review estoppel, confirming that a patent challenger is not precluded from relying on the same or substantially similar prior art in both IPR and district court proceedings, so long as it is used to support a different invalidity theory, say attorneys at Irwin IP.
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Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss
Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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How Patent Attys Can Carefully Integrate LLMs Into Workflows
With artificial intelligence-powered tools now being developed specifically for the intellectual property domain, patent practitioners should monitor evolving considerations to ensure that their capabilities are enhanced — rather than diminished — by these resources, say attorneys at McDonnell Boehnen.
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The Metamorphosis Of The Major Questions Doctrine
The so-called major questions doctrine arose as a counterweight to Chevron deference over the past few decades, but invocations of the doctrine have persisted in the year since Chevron was overturned, suggesting it still has a role to play in reining in agency overreach, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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New PTAB Denial Processes Grow More And More Confusing
Guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office about the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's new workload management and discretionary denial processes has been murky and inconsistent, and has been further muddled by the acting director's seemingly contradictory decisions, say attorneys at Finnegan.
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EU Space Act Could Stifle US Commercial Operators
The EU Space Act, proposed last month, has the potential to raise global standards for safety and sustainability in space, but the U.S. and EU need to harmonize their regulatory approaches to avoid imposing regulatory burdens that undermine commercial innovation and agility, say Jessica Noble and Adriane Mandakunis at Aegis Space Law.
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A Word On Ensuring Precision In Patent Claim Construction
The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Express Mobile v. Meta Platforms, overruling the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's interpretation of the term "style," highlights the importance of articulating claim constructions that are as clear as possible, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Series
Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator
Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.
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Does Research Tool Safe Harbor Cover AI Drug Development?
As artificial intelligence increasingly takes root in drug development, many questions may emerge regarding current gaps in courts' application of the research tool exception to the safe harbor defense against patent infringement, and whether that defense applies to AI-based tools, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Tips For Business Users After 2 Key AI Copyright Decisions
Because two recent artificial intelligence copyright decisions from the Northern District of California — Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta — came out mostly in favor of the developers using the plaintiffs' works to train large language models, business users should proceed with care, says Chris Wlach at Acxiom.