Expert Analysis

• IRS Scrutiny May Underlie Move Away From NIL Collectives

  

  The University of Colorado's January announcement that it was severing its partnership with a name, image and likeness collective is part of universities' recent push to move NIL activities in-house, seemingly motivated by tax implications and increased scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

• 6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.

• A Reminder On Avoiding Improper Venues In Patent Cases

  

  A Texas federal court's recent decision in the Symbology and Quantum cases shows that baseless patent venue allegations may be subject to serious Rule 11 sanctions, providing venue-vetting takeaways for plaintiffs and defendants, say attorneys at Bond Schoeneck.

• Opinion

  NCAA Name, Image, Likeness Settlement Is A $2.8B Mistake

  

  While the plaintiffs in House v. NCAA might call the proposed settlement on name, image and likeness payments for college athletes a breakthrough, it's a legally dubious Band-Aid that props up a system favoring a select handful of male athletes at the expense of countless others, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

• Copyright Ruling Could Extend US Terminations Worldwide

  

  If upheld on appeal, Vetter v. Resnik, a recent ruling from a Louisiana federal court, could extend the geographical scope of U.S. copyright termination rights to foreign territories, say attorneys at Manatt.

• NIH Cuts To Indirect Costs May Stifle IP Generation

  

  Although currently blocked by a preliminary injunction, the National Institutes of Health's new policy to cut down on indirect cost funding creates challenges for university research projects, and may hamper the development of intellectual property — which is considered an indirect cost — for years to come, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

• Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

  

  HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

• Dewberry Ruling Is A Wakeup Call For Trademark Owners

  

  The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dewberry v. Dewberry hones in on the question of how a defendant's affiliates' profits should be treated under the Lanham Act, and should remind trademark litigants and practitioners that issues involving monetary relief should be treated seriously, say attorneys at Finnegan.

• Is AI Distillation By DeepSeek IP Theft?

  

  A brewing controversy over whether Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek's distillation of outputs from OpenAI's ChatGPT violates copyright law raises questions about the legality and ethics of such practices, and will set important precedents for the future of AI development and intellectual property law, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

• Pepperdine Case Highlights Shift In Collegiate IP Landscape

  

  A complaint filed by Pepperdine University against Netflix and Warner Bros. two weeks ago alleges that a comedy series unlawfully copies the school's trademarks, and the decision could reshape the portrayal of collegiate athletics on screen and the legal tools schools use to defend their emblems, says Mindy Lewis at Michelman & Robinson.

• 7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments

  Excerpt from Practical Guidance

  

  As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

• Series

  Playing Beach Volleyball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  My commitment to beach volleyball has become integral to my performance as an attorney, with the sport continually reminding me that teamwork, perseverance, professionalism and stress management are essential to both undertakings, says Amy Drushal at Trenam.

• Patent Prosecution Length Has Surprising Impact On Invalidity

  

  Though practitioners might hypothesize that patents with longer prosecution histories are less likely to have inherent validity problems, a statistical analysis of over 89,000 patents involved in litigation suggests otherwise, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

• Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing

  

  After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.

• Opinion

  2 Errors Limit The Potential Influence Of AI Fair Use Case

  

  The recent opinion in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence may have little predictive value for artificial intelligence litigation, because the decision failed to engage with an important line of case law on intermediate copying, and misapplied the concepts of commercial substitution and superseding use, says Brandon Butler at Jaszi Butler PLLC.