Intellectual Property

  • July 09, 2025

    4th Circ. Rejects Machinery Co.'s 3rd Try At Trade Secrets Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday shot down a Taiwanese manufacturer's third attempt to pursue claims of trade secrets theft against its North Carolina distributor, rebuffing the idea that a manufacturer can hold distributors liable for misappropriation if they sell a rival's product.

  • July 09, 2025

    Calif. Atty Drops Out Of Class Action Against Avvo Inc.

    One of two attorneys leveling a class action against online legal service provider Avvo Inc. over allegations it misappropriated the identities of more than 1 million attorneys to promote its legal marketing tools and referral services has moved to drop her claims.

  • July 09, 2025

    10th Circ. Won't Rule On Immunity In Dental Dispute

    The Tenth Circuit has declined to grant a dental products company immunity from a rival's defamation claims, saying it can't yet rule on the issue since the district court's denial of immunity did not turn on a legal question.

  • July 09, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Snubs Samsung's Bid To Ship Texas Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday shot down Samsung's attempt to send to California a lawsuit claiming its products such as smartphones and tablets infringe a variety of Mullen Industries LLC patents, leaving in place Eastern District of Texas Judge Rodney Gilstrap's denial of the transfer bid.

  • July 08, 2025

    IRhythm Argues Patent Owner's Inaction Shouldn't Doom IPRs

    A heart monitoring company told the acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director that it shouldn't be barred from challenging a patent just because the company had known about it for 12 years, especially when the owner didn't assert it during that time.

  • July 08, 2025

    Breaking Down Stewart's Nonstop Discretionary Denial Orders

    Acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart inundated the patent community in May and June with dozens of rulings altering the landscape of discretionary denials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Here, Law360 goes through what you should know.

  • July 08, 2025

    Medtronic's Blood Pressure IP Claims Against Recor Get Axed

    A California federal judge on Monday agreed to toss, for now, Medtronic Ireland's counterclaims alleging that Recor's surgical treatment for high blood pressure infringes a pair of patents, finding that Medtronic Ireland doesn't have the standing to sue because it licensed its patents to another company.

  • July 08, 2025

    Broadcom Wants Netflix's 'Retaliatory' Cloud Patent Suit Axed

    Broadcom and cloud services provider VMware on Monday urged a California federal court to throw out Netflix's "meritless, retaliatory" patent infringement suit against them, arguing that Netflix is the one infringing Broadcom's patents and the latest suit is intended to give Netflix leverage in the ongoing dispute.

  • July 08, 2025

    Del. Judge Cuts Co-Plaintiff From $57M Refined Coal IP Suit

    A co-plaintiff alongside Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. cannot share in a $57 million award from a jury that found patents on technology for refining coal to reduce mercury emissions from power plants were infringed, with a Delaware federal judge ruling on Tuesday the other company lacks standing.

  • July 08, 2025

    Teva Challenge To J&J Antipsychotic Patent Fails At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s challenge to the validity of claims in a Johnson & Johnson unit's patent covering a lucrative schizophrenia drug, disagreeing with the generic-drug maker that one of the patent's claims should be presumed obvious.

  • July 08, 2025

    Aviation Co. Asks Justices To Clarify TM Jury Trial Rights

    A personal airplane manufacturer involved in a trademark dispute with a luxury charter-plane company has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether parties in infringement cases forfeit their right to a jury trial when seeking an accounting of profits as the monetary remedy instead of damages.

  • July 08, 2025

    Biosimilars Industry Group Backs Interchangeability Bill

    The current law on how biosimilars are deemed interchangeable or not with their name-brand biologic equivalents has led to public confusion over how safe biosimilars are, a coalition of healthcare industry groups told lawmakers in a letter Monday.

  • July 08, 2025

    Anoxia Says Alembic's Blood Clot Catheter Infringes Patents

    Anoxia Medical Inc. commenced a patent infringement suit in California federal court Monday against its competitor Alembic LLC, accusing Alembic of ripping off Anoxia's novel technology for its endovascular "Slinky®" catheter invention that efficiently removes blood clots from the human body.

  • July 08, 2025

    4th Circ. Revives Medical Device Co.'s Claim In Contract Suit

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday revived a medical device maker's breach of contract claim alleging a company it hired to manage its patents globally overcharged for services, sending the case back to a Virginia federal court.

  • July 08, 2025

    Judge Doubts OpenAI Rival Used Similar TM Commercially

    A California federal judge appeared skeptical Tuesday that Open Artificial Intelligence Inc. began using its name commercially earlier than ChatGPT developer OpenAI Inc., pushing the lesser-known company for evidence and expressing impatience over what she viewed as a lack of any substantive backing.

  • July 08, 2025

    Exclusion's Use Of 'The' Supports Alt. Reading, 5th Circ. Says

    The Fifth Circuit said an exclusion barring coverage for intellectual property infringement claims didn't necessarily relieve an insurer from covering defense expenses an oil and gas company incurred in an IP theft lawsuit, finding the exclusion's use of "the" led to a pro-coverage, reasonable meaning.

  • July 08, 2025

    Medical Co. Wants High Court To Review Rushed Patent Case

    A medical device maker has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear it out on claims that a North Carolina federal judge rushed the case to trial and violated the Fifth Amendment right to due process by shortening the amount of time for discovery.

  • July 08, 2025

    The Biggest Copyright Rulings Of 2025: A Midyear Report

    Two California judges were the first to deliver crucial rulings about what constitutes fair use in training generative artificial intelligence models — a question expected to test the boundaries of the copyright doctrine amid the emergence of the groundbreaking technology. Here is Law360's list of the biggest copyright decisions so far this year.

  • July 08, 2025

    Clarity Sought On Tycoon's Trade Secrets In Hacking Suit

    A federal judge has said he needs a clearer picture on whether aviation tycoon Farhad Azima owns the trade secrets he has accused a North Carolina private investigator of leaking as part of an international hacking conspiracy, ordering both sides to beef up their briefing on the issue.

  • July 08, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive EcoFactor Thermostat Patent Claims

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday refused to revive a series of EcoFactor Inc. patents related to energy-efficient smart thermostats, backing Patent Trial and Appeal Board findings that Google showed the patents were invalid.

  • July 08, 2025

    Frost LLP Adds Entertainment Vet As Partner

    Longtime entertainment attorney Gary Stiffelman has joined Frost LLP as a partner after several years at his own firm, bringing the experience of four decades representing what the firm said were numerous high-profile artists, cultural leaders and executives.

  • July 07, 2025

    6th Circ. Affirms Toss Of 'Que Sera, Sera' Writer's Family Spat

    The Sixth Circuit Monday refused to revive a royalties spat between the granddaughter and daughter of Jay Livingston, the late Oscar-winning co-songwriter of "Que Sera, Sera," saying in a published opinion that the granddaughter failed to plausibly allege that her mom's bids to terminate copyright grants were invalid.

  • July 07, 2025

    Annoyed Fed. Circ. Judge Unsure Where To Land In Drug Row

    An irascible Federal Circuit judge chewed out both sides of the aisle Monday morning during arguments over a generic endocrine disorder drug, and although she accused one attorney of "beating a straw man to death," the judge said she still wasn't sure how she would decide the appeal.

  • July 07, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Digs Into Domestic Industry For Apple Watch Appeal

    A Federal Circuit panel on Monday struggled with how to meet domestic industry requirements needed for the U.S. International Trade Commission to issue import bans, as it evaluated the agency's high-profile decision to keep certain Apple Watches out of the U.S.

  • July 07, 2025

    Ioengine Wants Fed. Circ. To Rethink IPR Estoppel Ruling

    Ioengine LLC on Monday urged the Federal Circuit to rethink a panel's decision backing a jury's invalidation of its flash drive patents for being publicly available, saying the decision would upend a balance meant to protect patent owners against repetitive legal attacks.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.

  • Opinion

    Counterfeiting Cases Could Alter TM Law, Hurt Resale Market

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    Trademark infringement litigation brought by Nike and Chanel against resale platforms could reshape the first-sale doctrine, with the future of the $49 billion luxury fashion resale market at stake, says attorney Charles Meyer.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP

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    Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Derivative Suit Representation Test

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    The Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Bigfoot Ventures v. Knighton clarifies the test used to assess the adequacy of a plaintiff's representation in a shareholder derivative action, and will likely prove useful to litigants by ensuring that courts can fully examine all relevant circumstances, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Patenting AI And Machine Learning In The Wake Of Recentive

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    Though the Federal Circuit's recent decision in Recentive Analytics v. Fox Corp. initially appears to doom patents related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, a closer look shows that strategies for successfully drafting and prosecuting such patents offer hope despite increased pushback from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, say attorneys at Banner Witcoff.

  • Trade Secrets Would Likely See Court Protection From GenAI

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    The advent of generative artificial intelligence has given rise to debate about how this technology will affect intellectual property rights and trade secret protections in particular, but courts to date have protected owners when technological advances have facilitated new means for trade secret theft, say attorneys at Kilpatrick Townsend.

  • 5 Tribunals' Rules To Help Patent Litigators Avoid AI Disasters

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    Tech-savvy patent litigators are uniquely poised to stay current on the latest developments in artificial intelligence, such that courts may have even higher expectations for their compliance with AI rules, including the standing orders of several patent-heavy fora, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Unpacking Copyright Office's AI Report Amid Admin Shakeups

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    Though recent firings have thrown the U.S. Copyright Office into turmoil, the latest entry in its report on artificial intelligence can serve as a road map for litigants, persuasive authority for courts and input on the legislative process, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Size, Supply Schedules, SINs

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    In this month's bid protest roundup, Alissandra McCann at MoFo examines three recent decisions, two of which offer helpful reminders for U.S. General Services Administration schedule holders drafting blanket purchase agreement proposals, and one for small-business joint ventures to avoid running afoul of the U.S. Small Business Administration's two-year rule.

  • $38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils

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    A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.

  • Maintaining Legal Compliance For GenAI In Life Sciences

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    As companies continue to implement generative artificial intelligence to enhance all phases of drug discovery, they must remain mindful of legal, regulatory and practical considerations as best practices in this space emerge and evolve, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Trending At The PTAB: The Influence Of Litigation Arguments

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    Recent decisions from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board shed light on the varying extent to which the board considers patent owners' district court arguments, particularly with respect to the meaning of claim terms, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Series

    Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Discovery

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    The discovery process and the rules that govern it are often absent from law school curricula, but developing a solid grasp of the particulars can give any new attorney a leg up in their practice, says Jordan Davies at Knowles Gallant.

  • Patent Takeaways In Fed. Circ.'s 1st Machine Learning Ruling

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Recentive Analytics v. Fox, a case of first impression affirming the invalidity of patents that applied general machine learning methods to conventional tasks, serves as a cautionary guide for patent practitioners navigating the complexities of machine learning inventions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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