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Intellectual Property
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March 14, 2024
IP Forecast: Internet Archive Fights Vinyl Copyright Case
A California federal judge will hear arguments next week over whether the Internet Archive can toss accusations from record labels that describe its project for a free, digitized library of 78 rpm records as a "wholesale theft of generations of music." Here's a look at that case, plus all the other major intellectual property matters on deck in the coming week.
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March 14, 2024
DOJ, FTC Tell Copyright Office To Expand Right To Repair
Federal law enforcement and trade officials said Thursday that the U.S. Copyright Office should not only retain a policy that gives consumers more leeway to fix things like cars, it should also expand those protections to things like industrial equipment.
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March 14, 2024
Whitestone Can't Rep Both Plaintiff, Funder In Netflix IP Case
Whitestone Law cannot represent both a Finnish inventor in his patent infringement case against Netflix and a nonparty that paid some of the inventor's legal bills, a California federal judge ruled Thursday, saying the two are now at odds following accusations by Netflix against both.
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March 14, 2024
Vet-Themed T-Shirt Co. Wins $700K In Army Motto TM Trial
An Illinois federal jury awarded Chicago-based T-shirt company Grunt Style LLC $739,500 on Thursday, agreeing with the company's claim that a California competitor illegally used the phrase "This We'll Defend" in connection with its online retail store.
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March 14, 2024
DraftKings' Employment Feud With Former VP Heats Up
The battle between DraftKings and one of its former vice presidents intensified in Massachusetts federal court Thursday, with the online sportsbook sharpening its allegations of corporate espionage and the erstwhile executive calling to wipe out the suit entirely.
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March 14, 2024
DraftKings Gets PTAB To Ax Claims In 5 Gaming Patents
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has found a host of claims across numerous peer-to-peer gaming patents weren't valid, handing a win to challenger DraftKings Inc. as part of a larger intellectual property fight.
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March 14, 2024
Artist Can't Exhibit 'MetaBirkins' NFT After TM Trial Loss
The Los Angeles-based designer behind the "MetaBirkins" non-fungible token is barred from displaying his artwork at a Swedish museum after a federal judge ruled there is a high probability he will use the platform to promote products that a jury previously said infringed trademarks held by luxury French fashion house Hermes International.
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March 14, 2024
Potential Nine-Figure Deal Ends NXP, Impinj Chip Patent Row
Rival chipmakers Impinj and NXP have agreed to settle multiple patent infringement suits between them following trial victories for Impinj, in a deal where Impinj said NXP will pay it more than $195 million if the license runs for its entire term.
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March 14, 2024
2nd Circ. Affirms Breitling Fair Use Win In 'Red Gold' TM Suit
A split Second Circuit panel on Thursday affirmed a Connecticut federal judge's decision that Breitling USA Inc. fairly used the phrase "red gold" to describe the color of its products after a California jeweler with a 2003 trademark registration battled the Swiss watchmaker over its use of the phrase.
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March 14, 2024
Water Treatment Co. Must Face Rival's Trade Secrets Suit
A Tennessee federal judge has found that certain issues in a trade secrets suit against industrial water treatment service company ChemTreat need to go before a jury, shooting down arguments including that no trade secret was adequately identified.
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March 14, 2024
Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB's Toss Of Data Management Patent
Arguments from patent-holding company Daedalus Blue to breathe new life into claims in a data management patent it bought from IBM fell flat on Wednesday at the Federal Circuit, which agreed with the conclusion of an administrative tribunal that the claims were unpatentable in light of an even older IBM patent.
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March 14, 2024
9th Circ. Is Asked To Revive LegalForce's TM Dispute
Intellectual property firm LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC has taken its trademark battle with a Japanese company over the brand "LegalForce" to the Ninth Circuit, arguing in its appeal that a federal statute dictates that infringement can occur through equity sales to investors.
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March 13, 2024
TriZetto's $200M Jury Awards Thrown Out In Syntel Dispute
A New York federal judge on Wednesday vacated roughly $200 million in damages awards Cognizant affiliate TriZetto won in a trade secret misappropriation and copyright infringement suit against Syntel, ruling that the awards were improperly calculated.
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March 13, 2024
Jury Awards Photog $3.1M In Licensing Fight Against Otter
A Colorado federal jury has said a California photographer is entitled to about $3.1 million in a copyright suit after finding that cellphone case maker Otter Products LLC wrongly copied various images.
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March 13, 2024
Netflix Doesn't Want 'Hatchet Wielding' Killer In Suit Either
While Netflix disputes that it defamed a Kentucky man for his appearance in its true-crime documentary titled "The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker," the streaming giant does agree with the plaintiff in the case that the real hatchet-wielding hitchhiker doesn't belong in the lawsuit.
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March 13, 2024
Subpoenas Can't Skirt USPTO Discovery Rules, 4th Circ. Says
In a precedential ruling, the Fourth Circuit said Wednesday that companies can't use the subpoena power of the courts to go beyond the limits of discovery that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office puts on deposing employees in foreign countries.
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March 13, 2024
Cherry IP Deception Claims Would Inflame Jury, Canada Says
The Canadian government has told a Washington federal judge that jurors should not hear allegations that its IP licenser deceived the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in a trial against Washington fruit growers it claims rebranded a unique Canadian sweet cherry variety as their own, citing the "inflammatory" nature of the growers' counterclaim.
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March 13, 2024
Versata Wants Axed $105M Ford Verdict Revived Or Expanded
Versata Software has urged the Federal Circuit to undo a Michigan federal judge's decision erasing a nearly $105 million trade secrets and breach of contract verdict it won against Ford, and argued that it was wrongly barred from presenting damages theories seeking up to $1.3 billion.
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March 13, 2024
AI Auto Damage-Assessing Giant Accused Of Monopoly
Tractable Inc. is hitting back at CCC Intelligent Solutions with counterclaims in an ongoing trade secrets spat, alleging in a new motion CCC has leveraged its dominant share of the auto collision-assessment market to stifle consumer choice and increase prices in violation of antitrust laws.
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March 13, 2024
Ex-Boeing IP Manager's Counsel Secures $224K In Fees
A Washington federal judge has awarded more than $224,000 in attorney fees to a former Boeing intellectual property manager after finding that the company retaliated against him for speaking up against the poor treatment of other workers.
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March 13, 2024
Judge Connolly Ends Chipmaker's Case Against IP Edge
Delaware's top federal judge has decided to brush aside arguments from California chipmaker Power Integrations that multiple agreements "not to sue" that it had obtained from a consortium of patent litigation outfits led by IP Edge were legally "meaningless."
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March 13, 2024
IRobot, SharkNinja Settle Last Of Roomba Patent Fight
IRobot and SharkNinja have reached a settlement in principle to resolve what remains of a long-standing patent dispute related to the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.
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March 13, 2024
Jury Must Weigh Willfulness In Secrets Case, Calif. Court Says
A California state appellate court has found a jury will have to decide whether a former director at Applied Medical Distribution Corp. willfully misappropriated trade secrets from his former employer.
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March 13, 2024
Microsoft Strikes Deal To Settle Suit Over Caltech Patents
The California Institute of Technology and Microsoft notified a Texas court Tuesday that they have reached an agreement to end a case where the university alleged that the Xbox and other products infringed its data transmission patents, following similar settlements with other tech giants.
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March 13, 2024
KKR Leads $500M HarbourView Music-Backed Financing
HarbourView Equity Partners said Wednesday it has secured about $500 million in debt financing through a music asset-backed securitization led by KKR, which will be used to further expand HarbourView's music investment capabilities.
Expert Analysis
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How AI Inventorship Is Evolving In The UK, EU And US
While the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General is the latest in a series of decisions by U.K., U.S. and EU authorities that artificial intelligence systems cannot be named as inventors in patents, the guidance from these jurisdictions suggests that patents may be granted to human inventors that use AI as a sophisticated tool, say lawyers at Mayer Brown.
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How Biotech Cos. Can Utilize Synthetic Royalty Financing
Synthetic royalty transactions have been on the rise as a funding structure for biotechnology companies, but questions have arisen surrounding how such transactions work, and structuring them correctly requires a nuanced understanding, say Todd Trattner and Ryan Murr at Gibson Dunn.
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Copyright Lessons Following Ruling In Artist AI Suit
The recent California district court ruling in Andersen v. Stability AI — that artists needed to specify how the training of artificial intelligence tools violated their copyrights — shows that lawyers on either side of generative AI matters must carefully navigate copyright issues including temporary copying and data sourcing, says Carlos Araya at Magnolia Abogados.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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Fed. Circ. In Jan.: One Word Can Affect Claim Construction
The Federal Circuit's recent Pacific Biosciences v. Personal Genomics decision highlights how even construction of a simple term can be dispositive, and thus disputed, in view of the specific context provided by the surrounding claim language, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe.
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The State Of Play In NIL, Compensation For Student-Athletes
Recent NCAA developments — including name, image, and likeness legislation and a governance and compensation proposal — reflect a shift from the initial hands-off approach to student-athletes' NIL deals and an effort to allow colleges to directly compensate student-athletes without categorizing them as employees, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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UK Ruling Revitalizes Discussions On Harmonizing AI And IP
The U.K. Supreme Court's decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General last month has reinvigorated ongoing discussions about how the developments in artificial intelligence fit within the existing intellectual property legislative landscape, illustrating that effective regulation will be critical as the value and influence of this sector grows, say Nick White and Olivia Gray at Charles Russell.
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Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The US And Canada
Accelerated regulatory pathways for psychedelics in the U.S. and Canada play a pivotal role in the progression of drugs, devices and novel therapies toward commercialization, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.
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AI Takes Transformers Beyond Robots In Disguise
At the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law, the shape-shifting models known as transformers raise the question of whether using copyrighted materials to train such models constitutes a transformative use, says Sean Li at Benesch.
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AI Inventorship Patent Options After UK Supreme Court Ruling
The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Thaler v. Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks that an AI system cannot be an inventor raises questions about alternative approaches to patent protection for AI-generated inventions and how the decision might affect infringement and validity disputes around such patents, says David Knight at Brown Rudnick.
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Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial
Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.
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Del. Ruling Features Valuable Analysis For IPR Estoppel Args
Last month, the District Court of Delaware held in Prolitec v. ScentAir Technologies that IPR estoppel does not apply to device art, and the analysis in the case provides welcome illumination for how IPR estoppel arguments should be decided, says Chris Ponder at Sheppard Mullin.