Intellectual Property

  • October 15, 2025

    Chase Accused Of IP Theft By Fintech Startup

    A fintech startup has accused JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets after months of trying out the trade-optimizing technology, claiming that the bank backed out of their deal in bad faith, costing the small firm $5 million in out-of-pocket expenses as well as undetermined additional damages.

  • October 14, 2025

    Sirius XM Can't Yet Ditch Proposed Class Action Over Pricing

    An Oregon federal judge on Tuesday refused to toss a proposed class action claiming Sirius XM concealed a royalty charge from subscribers, ruling that the subscribers have adequately alleged they did not know about the fee or the true cost of their subscription when they signed up.

  • October 14, 2025

    NJ, Del. Judges Stress Value Of Local Counsel For IP Attys

    Six judges with significant experience overseeing pharmaceutical patent litigation in the districts of New Jersey and Delaware urged litigators on Tuesday to rely on the expertise of local counsel if they're hoping to impress the court.

  • October 14, 2025

    Smucker Sues To Squash Trader Joe's 'Uncrustables' Copycat

    J.M. Smucker, whose "Uncrustables" sandwiches have been a staple in countless school lunchrooms, is taking Trader Joe's to the courtroom, accusing the grocery chain of swiping Smucker's intellectual property to market its own copycat version of the crustless PB&Js.

  • October 14, 2025

    Skinny Labels, Orange Book Take Center Stage In IP Talks

    Patent litigators focused on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology met Tuesday to work through the biggest issues in their industries, including possible reform to skinny label law, frustration with position-switching in litigation, concerns about when to list patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book and data on the relatively low impact of new policies at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • October 14, 2025

    Full Fed. Circ. Won't Revisit Dumbbell, Database Patent Cases

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued orders rejecting requests for full court scrutiny of separate panel decisions that saved a dumbbell patent owned by PowerBlock Holdings Inc. and that revived Google's challenges to patent claims covering database systems.

  • October 14, 2025

    Full 3rd Circ. Won't Rethink $45M CareDx False Ad Case

    The Third Circuit on Tuesday turned down medical testing company CareDx's request to have a full panel mull whether to reinstate a $45 million jury award in a false advertisement case over genetic testing technology against rival Natera.

  • October 14, 2025

    Whirlpool Says Samsung Infringed Dishwasher Rack Patent

    Whirlpool Corp. has hit competitor Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with a patent infringement suit in Texas federal court, alleging Samsung infringed its patented "enhanced top rack" dishwasher technology, which includes separate third racks with dedicated sprayers at the top of its dishwashers.

  • October 14, 2025

    Squires Calls For 2nd Look At PTAB Wins By Visa

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has ordered Patent Trial and Appeal Board officials to review final decisions largely backing Visa Inc. in challenges to three credential verification patents, after patent owner Cortex MCP Inc. argued the holdings were flawed.

  • October 14, 2025

    Exec Tells Fla. Jury He Wanted To Protect Nicklaus Brand

    An executive for the company bearing Jack Nicklaus' name denied making alleged defamatory statements in emails to clients regarding the golf legend's interest in a competing Saudi Arabian league, telling a Florida state court jury on Tuesday that he received contradicting information and wanted to protect the business' brand name.

  • October 14, 2025

    Rakoff Irked By 'Kindergarten-Like' Depo In 'Top Gun' IP Case

    U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff admonished attorneys representing Paramount Pictures Corp. and a man who claims he wasn't credited for writing key scenes in the 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick," saying the numerous objections, colloquies and accusations on both sides devolved into "kindergarten-like behavior."

  • October 14, 2025

    PTAB Discretionary Denials, Reexam Bids Way Up: Report

    The number of Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions that were denied for discretionary reasons reached a record level in the third quarter of 2025 — more than 200% higher than in all of last year — and patent reexamination requests also spiked, according to a new report from Unified Patents.

  • October 14, 2025

    Knicks, Raptors Agree That Data 'Mole' Case Is Closed

    The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have agreed to call off their legal dispute of more than two years involving a video assistant the Knicks accused of being a "mole" who took proprietary data with him when he left them for the Raptors.

  • October 14, 2025

    Hytera 'Can't Be Trusted,' Motorola Says In Push For Payment

    Motorola Solutions argued Tuesday that Chinese rival Hytera Communications Corp. should pay the full $371.7 million it still owes on a 2020 judgment and be permanently blocked from selling any mobile two-way radios using stolen source code so their long-running trade theft dispute in Illinois federal court can be brought to a just close.

  • October 14, 2025

    Attempts To Revive Stroke Treatment Patents Fail At Fed. Circ.

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday tossed without analysis a challenge to Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings that invalidated patents covering a stroke treatment system, letting stand one of the decisions deemed precedential by a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

  • October 14, 2025

    Campbell's Sues Mich. Candidate Over Soup Can Images

    The Campbell's Co. has sued a Michigan congressional candidate for using the soup maker's iconic can design in her campaign, saying her "Soup for Change 2026" and "Campbell for Congress" images create a false impression that the company endorses her candidacy.

  • October 14, 2025

    Law Firm Seeks Court Order To End Trademark Dispute

    Personal injury law firm CR Legal Team LLP has asked a North Carolina federal court to rule that it did not infringe another law firm's trademarks, arguing that the two firm's legal services are dissimilar and don't cause client confusion.

  • October 14, 2025

    Blood Test Co. Can't Escape Willful Infringement Claims

    A company that makes diagnostic medical tests has been denied a bid to escape from a medical research firm's claims that it willfully infringed patents when a judge held that reading the allegations in combination creates a plausible basis that the company had knowledge of the patents.

  • October 13, 2025

    Energy Data Co. Says Info Supply Cut-Off Was Justified

    An energy data supplier owned by a consortium of British power companies has denied unfairly cutting off an energy startup, arguing that it refused to supply data because the startup repeatedly breached its deal by sharing data with third parties.

  • October 10, 2025

    Some Cases Advance In Latest Stewart Discretionary Rulings

    Deputy U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Coke Morgan Stewart rejected 37 Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions Friday night, but allowed 17 challenges to proceed.

  • October 10, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Not Sure IPR Estoppel Binds Patent Office

    A panel of Federal Circuit judges seemed wary Friday that language from the America Invents Act barring private parties from raising multiple patent challenges also applies to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  • October 10, 2025

    Squires Says Patent Eligibility Needed For National Security

    The newly confirmed head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has solidified his views that making more inventions eligible for patent protection is imperative for national security, saying expansive eligibility speaks to "the very spirit of American ingenuity."

  • October 10, 2025

    $8B EV Trade Secrets Case Best Left To Israel, 5th Circ. Says

    The Fifth Circuit agreed with a district judge Friday that an $8 billion trade secrets case between two electric vehicle companies was better suited to be litigated in Israel, saying the party that wants to keep the dispute stateside had not adequately explained why that would be better.

  • October 10, 2025

    Supreme Court Asked To Consider Appeal Over AI-Created Art

    A computer scientist who was denied a copyright for artwork created by an artificial intelligence system he built has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his appeal challenging the U.S. Copyright Office's decision.

  • October 10, 2025

    Infosys' Counterclaims Against Competitor Tossed For Now

    A Texas federal court dismissed counterclaims from Infosys Ltd. accusing Cognizant TriZetto Software Group Inc. of monopolizing a market for healthcare software and related services after finding the allegations ignored potential competition from alternatives.

Expert Analysis

  • Enter The Wu-Tang Ruling That May Change Trade Secret Law

    Author Photo

    A New York federal court's recent holding that a Wu-Tang Clan album qualifies as a trade secret provides the first federal framework for analyzing trade secret claims involving assets valued primarily for exclusivity, potentially reshaping Defend Trade Secrets Act jurisprudence for the digital economy, says Jason Bradford at Jenner & Block.

  • Where 4th And 9th Circ. Diverge On Trade Secret Timing

    Author Photo

    Recent Fourth and Ninth Circuit decisions have revealed a deepening circuit split over when plaintiffs must specifically define their alleged trade secrets, turning the early stages of trade secret litigation into a key battleground and elevating the importance of forum selection, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 3 Tips On Finding The Right Job

    Author Photo

    After 23 years as a state and federal prosecutor, when I contemplated moving to a law firm, practicing solo or going in-house, I found there's a critical first step — deep self-reflection on what you truly want to do and where your strengths lie, says Rachael Jones at McKool Smith.

  • Breaking Down The Intersection Of Right-Of-Publicity Law, AI

    Author Photo

    Jillian Taylor at Blank Rome examines how existing right-of-publicity law governs artificial intelligence-generated voice-overs, deepfakes and deadbots; highlights a recent New York federal court ruling involving AI-generated voice clones; and offers practical guardrails for using AI without violating the right of publicity.

  • Mich. Ruling Narrows Former Athletes' Path To NIL Recovery

    Author Photo

    A federal judge's recent dismissal of a name, image and likeness class action by former Michigan college football players marks the third such ruling this year, demonstrating how statutes of limitation and prior NIL settlements are effectively foreclosing these claims for pre-2016 student-athletes, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Series

    Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

  • AI Will Transform Patent Examination For The Better

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's increasing use of artificial intelligence tools will result in patents that are more thoroughly vetted, and patent applicants and practitioners will need to adapt their drafting strategies and address stronger and more sophisticated rejections, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Understanding And Managing Jurors' Hindsight Bias

    Author Photo

    Hindsight bias — wherein events seem more predictable after the fact than they were beforehand — presents a persistent cognitive distortion in jury decision-making, but attorneys can mitigate its effects at trial through awareness, repetition and framing, say consultants at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Protecting Sensitive Court Filings After Recent Cyber Breach

    Author Photo

    In the wake of a recent cyberattack on federal courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, civil litigants should consider seeking enhanced protections for sensitive materials filed under seal to mitigate the risk of unauthorized exposure, say attorneys at Redgrave.

  • Midjourney Cases Could Define Fair Use In Age Of AI Images

    Author Photo

    Recently filed litigation over Midjourney's use of artificial intelligence-generated images based on Disney, Universal and Warner Bros.' copyrighted characters display straightforward infringement issues favoring the plaintiffs, but also present an opportunity to clarify the fair use doctrine as it relates to generative AI, says Avery Carter at Arnall Golden.

  • Means-Plus-Function Terms In Software Claims May Be Risky

    Author Photo

    Though the Federal Circuit recently reversed a decision rejecting a set of means-plus-function software claims as lacking sufficient structure, practitioners who proceed under this holding may run into indefiniteness problems if they do not consider other Federal Circuit holdings related to the definiteness requirement, says Jeffrey Danley at Seed IP Law Group.

  • Training AI On Books: A Tale Of 2 Fair Use Rulings

    Author Photo

    Though two recent decisions from the Northern District of California concluded that training artificial intelligence with copyrighted books counts as fair use, certain meaningful differences in reasoning could affect pending and future cases, says Brett Carmody at Atheria Law.

  • Series

    Judging Figure Skating Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Judging figure skating competitions helps me hone the focus, decisiveness and ability to process complex real-time information I need in court, but more importantly, it makes me reengage with a community and my identity outside of law, which, paradoxically, always brings me back to work feeling restored, says Megan Raymond at Groombridge Wu.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Petitioners' Settled Expectations

    Author Photo

    Recent Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions show that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new "settled expectations" factor is no longer the exclusive domain of patent owners and can also provide petitioners with viable pathways to argue against discretionary denial, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Female Athletes' NIL Deal Challenge Could Be Game Changer

    Author Photo

    A challenge by eight female athletes to the NCAA’s $2.8 billion name, image and likeness settlement shows that women in sports are still fighting for their share — not just of money, but of respect, resources and representation, says Madilynne Lee at Anderson Kill.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here