Intellectual Property

  • March 28, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Calls For Injunction Amid Online Harassment

    A former Greenberg Traurig LLP patent attorney locked in litigation in Florida federal court with a social media influencer over claims the influencer mounted a campaign to get him fired and destroyed his reputation reiterated his request for a cyberstalking injunction Thursday as he detailed disturbing recent instances of online harassment he has received.

  • March 28, 2024

    NC Atty Calls Airline Mogul's Bank Records Request 'Reckless'

    A North Carolina attorney has asked a federal court to snuff a request by an airline tycoon to dig into the attorney's banking records as part of a hacking conspiracy lawsuit, arguing the request is an overbroad, "reckless" grab at irrelevant information.

  • March 28, 2024

    'Better Made' Chips Goes After 'Better Smoke' Pot

    Detroit-based Better Made Snack Foods Inc. said a number of cannabis companies in Michigan have been selling a line of "Better Smoke" cannabis products that mimics the snack brand's century-old logo in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed Wednesday.

  • March 28, 2024

    NBCUniversal, DeLorean Settle 'Back To The Future' TM Suit

    NBCUniversal Media LLC has settled a trademark infringement suit over royalty payments for its use of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car on "Back to the Future" merchandise, according to a notice filed Tuesday in California federal court.

  • March 28, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • March 27, 2024

    Kim Kardashian Accused Of Touting Fake Donald Judd Tables

    Kim Kardashian bought knockoff Donald Judd tables and chairs for her Skkn By Kim office space and then touted the furniture in a video to her 2 million YouTube subscribers as authentic pieces designed by the late artist, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in California federal court.

  • March 27, 2024

    Warner Bros. Beats Claim It Stole Idea For 2022 'Batman' Film

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday granted Warner Bros. and DC Comics separate wins in a suit accusing the entertainment giants of stealing a comic book artist's story idea for the 2022 movie "The Batman," finding it was actually the artist who exploited the Batman universe.

  • March 27, 2024

    Judge-Shopping Guidance Unlikely To Affect Patent Hot Spots

    Recent guidance by the policymaking body for U.S. courts aimed at deterring "judge shopping" likely won't disrupt patent cases in Texas, experts say, since the suggestions are not mandatory and can be viewed as already being in place in popular patent districts.

  • March 27, 2024

    TikTok Star Ordered To Pay $805K To Sony For Sampling Song

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday ordered TikTok musician Trefuego to pay Sony Music Entertainment Inc. more than $805,000 for illegally sampling its licensed song "Reflections," but he denied Sony's bid for an injunction.

  • March 27, 2024

    ITC Judge Recommends Exclusion Order In Tourniquet IP Row

    A U.S. International Trade Commission administrative judge has recommended the commission order that imports of products related to blood flow restriction be banned, handing a win to a pair of American medical product manufacturers.

  • March 27, 2024

    Citing Warhol, 10th Circ. Undoes Netflix's 'Tiger King' Win

    The Tenth Circuit on Wednesday relied on last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Warhol case to set aside a fair use win for Netflix Inc. in a copyright suit brought by a former zoo employee who livestreamed the funeral of the husband of "Tiger King" star Joe Exotic.

  • March 27, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Says Faulty Jury Directions Warrant New IP Trial

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday granted Inline Plastics Corp. another chance to convince a Massachusetts federal jury that its tamper-resistant plastic containers were too successful for the underlying patents to be invalidated as obvious.

  • March 27, 2024

    Pool Co. Says Objection To Trial Attys Leaving Is 'Misplaced'

    A swimming pool equipment maker has hit back at objections to some of its counsel exiting the case after a nearly $15 million trial loss over false ad claims in North Carolina, saying its rival's grievances are "misplaced."

  • March 27, 2024

    Candy Co. Can Use Recipe Amid 'Chocolate Moonshine' Fight

    A Pennsylvania federal judge has refused to ban the candy maker Local Yokels Fudge from making or selling fudge, ruling the owner's ex-husband hadn't shown the company is still using his family's secret "Chocolate Moonshine" fudge recipe.

  • March 27, 2024

    Farm Data Co. Wants To Bar Carlton Fields Atty From IP Suit

    Lawyers for an agricultural industry data software outfit want a Carlton Fields lawyer banned from participating in a patent dispute with a rival startup because of her in-house involvement at the rival and work on an older trade secrets suit involving the same technology.

  • March 27, 2024

    Netflix Owes Fees For Defense Tactics In Patent Trial

    Netflix has been ordered to pay attorney fees to GoTV Streaming LLC after making a last-minute switch of its defense at a patent trial last year in California federal court that resulted in a $2.5 million verdict against the streaming giant. 

  • March 27, 2024

    On Deck In JPML: Baby Food, 23andMe Privacy, NCAA

    The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's packed meeting Thursday in South Carolina will see the panel mulling consolidation of privacy litigation against 23andMe, claims of heavy metals in baby food, and scholarship-fixing claims by student athletes against the NCAA — and that's just for starters.

  • March 27, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Caps $7M Verdict While Clarifying Foreign Damages

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday rejected Trading Technologies' attempt to increase its $6.6 million patent infringement win against IBG LLC, in an opinion focusing on how to apply a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on foreign damages.

  • March 27, 2024

    Bungie, YouTuber Settle False Copyright Infringement Suit

    An online gamer has settled a lawsuit filed by video game developer Bungie Inc. after a Washington federal judge ruled earlier this month that the gamer illegally posed as a company employee and reported Bungie fans' YouTube videos as copyright violations, according to a court order Wednesday.

  • March 27, 2024

    New England Patriots Defeat Stadium Wi-Fi Patent Case

    A patent-holding entity behind nearly a dozen infringement suits focused on Wi-Fi solutions for sports stadiums suffered its latest defeat Wednesday as a Boston federal judge dismissed its case against the New England Patriots and found the purported invention unpatentable.

  • March 27, 2024

    Judge Won't Sift Through IP Docs For Oil Co.'s Counterclaims

    A Colorado federal judge said it's "patently unreasonable" to expect her to comb through hundreds of pages to find support for an oil and gas equipment maker's patent invalidity allegations, as she dismissed three of the company's counterclaims. 

  • March 27, 2024

    PTAB Wrongly Found Laser IP Obvious, Fed. Circ. Rules

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday reversed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that several claims of a Virtek Vision patent on aligning lasers used in manufacturing are invalid as obvious, while also siding with Virtek Vision on a cross appeal.

  • March 27, 2024

    Piracy Claims Against Bankrupt ISP Frontier Can Go Forward

    A New York bankruptcy judge Wednesday said a group of copyright holders can go to trial with claims internet service provider Frontier Communications is liable for failing to cut off customers who downloaded pirated music and movies.

  • March 26, 2024

    PTAB Tosses 'Smart Card' Patent Used Against Banks

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found that all the claims of a Kioba Processing LLC patent on using a "smart card" to increase the security of wireless transactions are invalid as anticipated or obvious.

  • March 26, 2024

    Albright Told That Choice Hotel's Alice Ax Is 'Premature'

    Patent Armory has told Texas federal Judge Alan D. Albright that a bid to dismiss its patent lawsuit against Choice Hotels International is "premature" and should be set aside at least until fact discovery is done and claim construction has been issued.

Expert Analysis

  • What One Litigator Learned Serving On A Jury

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    Kilpatrick attorney April Isaacson shares insights for trial lawyers from her recent experience serving on a jury for the first time, including lessons about the impact of frequent sidebars, considerations for using demonstratives, the importance of clear jury instructions, and the unconscious habits that can drive jurors mad.

  • Lessons In Navigating Collateral Estoppel Of Similar Patents

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent holding in Google v. Parus that rehearing was appropriate under collateral estoppel illustrates best arguments in inter partes review for any issue that could arise in a later proceeding, including dependent claim limitations, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Seemingly Offers PTAB Deadline Immunity

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    The Federal Circuit's recent Purdue Pharma v. Collegium Pharmaceutical Inc. decision that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board had authority to issue a final written decision in a post grant review after the prescribed statutory deadline underscores how courts should consider the overall objective of the statutory scheme when balancing the classic conflict between bright-line rules and flexible standards, says Matthew Dowd at Dowd Sheffel.

  • 4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year

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    As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.

  • What Brands Need To Know About Consumer Reviews In 2024

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    Testimonials, endorsements and consumer reviews have been on the Federal Trade Commission's radar for years — and since this evolving area will continue to be an enforcement priority in 2024, now is the time to ensure your house is in order, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Opinion

    Waiving COVID-19 IP Protections Would Harm US Industry

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    President Joe Biden should turn down a World Trade Organization proposal to waive crucial intellectual property protections behind COVID-19 tests and diagnostics — protections that allow U.S. companies to sustain millions of jobs and develop life-saving treatments that benefit patients in every country, says former U.S. Circuit Judge Paul Michel, now at the Council for Innovation Promotion.

  • Fed. Circ. Patent Decisions In 2023: An Empirical Review

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    The Federal Circuit decided 306 patent cases last year, which is still well down from the pre-pandemic norm of around 440, and on the whole the court's decisions were markedly less patentee-friendly in 2023 than in 2022, says Dan Bagatell at Perkins Coie.

  • What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

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    As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • 4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

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    Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.

  • Trouble Indemnity: IP Lawsuits In The Generative AI Boom

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    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray explore the contours of the intellectual property indemnification protections offered by providers of generative AI models — including their scope, coverage, conditions, exclusions and caps — to assess where businesses may still face liability exposure.

  • 6 AI Cases And What They Mean For Copyright Law

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    Artificial intelligence cases filed last year, some decided and others pending, demonstrate how the appellate courts that set binding precedent look at the intersection between copyright and AI, so legal frameworks must adapt and provide clarity in order to foster innovation, protect creators, and ensure fair and equitable outcomes, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Why Fed. Circ. Affirmed Attorney Fee Award In PersonalWeb

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    A recent Federal Circuit decision to leave a $5.2 million fee award in place in the PersonalWeb patent case underscores district courts' discretion to sanction unreasonable arguments and litigation tactics under the U.S. Code's attorney fee provision, say attorneys at Shearman. 

  • How AI Is Changing The Game Of Professional Sports

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    As more professional sports teams and organizations employ the use of artificial intelligence, counsel should keep a critical eye on several legal issues, including both state and federal regulatory developments, data privacy concerns, and how AI tools could potentially affect applicable intellectual property rights, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Trending At The PTAB: 6 Areas To Watch In 2024

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    Expect further changes in a half-dozen areas in 2024 following a busy 2023 at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, including more adjustments to the director review process and the first case to hit the Appeals Review Panel, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Law Firm Strategies For Successfully Navigating 2024 Trends

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    Though law firms face the dual challenge of external and internal pressures as they enter 2024, firms willing to pivot will be able to stand out by adapting to stakeholder needs and reimagining their infrastructure, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants.

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