Intellectual Property

  • March 20, 2024

    Spanish Investment Co. Beats Slovak TM Opposition In EU

    A Spanish investment company has won an appeal to revive its trademark application, as European officials ruled that buyers of financial services paid a "high degree of attention" and wouldn't think that the sign was linked to a Slovak company.

  • March 20, 2024

    Digital Comms Filings Bolster Record EPO Applications

    Companies and inventors filed the highest number of European patent applications to date in 2023, buoyed by marked increases in filings for digital communications and energy technologies.

  • March 20, 2024

    Tech Partner Takes Reins Of New AI Team At Phillips Lytle

    Phillips Lytle this week became one of the latest firms to unveil a dedicated team focused on artificial intelligence, with a partner experienced in technology and business matters poised to lead that group of seven attorneys overall.

  • March 20, 2024

    EU Commission Builds 'Toolkit' To Fight Counterfeiting

    The European Commission has adopted new measures to crack down on counterfeiting aimed at strengthening intellectual property rights by increasing the sanctions for criminal offenses while also designating a single contact point for enforcement issues. 

  • March 20, 2024

    Boehringer Wins Diabetes Treatment Patent On Appeal In EU

    Boehringer Ingelheim saved its diabetes drug patent from the chopping block after a European appellate board ruled that the treatment for patients with moderately damaged kidneys was new and innovative despite eight oppositions.

  • March 20, 2024

    Stroller Co., Music Publisher Agree To End IP Row Over Song

    Music distributor Third Side Music Inc. and car-seat maker Evenflo Co. Inc. have agreed to end a lawsuit that claimed Evenflo used a "sound-alike" song in its advertisements that allegedly infringed Third Side's rights to music by the electronic band Sofi Tukker, according to a filing in Ohio federal court.

  • March 20, 2024

    Upper Deck Settles Suit Over 1998 Michael Jordan Photo

    Upper Deck and the owner of a 1988 photo of NBA legend Michael Jordan have agreed to settle a California federal lawsuit that accused the trading card giant of making millions off the famous photograph without permission. 

  • March 20, 2024

    How The Supreme Court Could Narrow Chevron

    After hours of oral argument in a closely watched administrative law case, it appeared that some U.S. Supreme Court justices could be open to limiting the opportunities for lower courts to defer to federal agencies' legal interpretations in disputes over rulemaking — and legal experts said there are a number of ways they could do it.

  • March 20, 2024

    EU's AI Act Disclosure Rules Could Spark Further Litigation

    The European Union's new artificial intelligence law included some welcome guardrails to protect intellectual property rights. But lawyers say it remains to be seen whether these new rules will bridge the gap between concerned rights holders and AI pioneers.

  • March 20, 2024

    Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2024 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2024 Editorial Advisory Boards.

  • March 20, 2024

    Fight Over NFL Star's Statue Hinges On Who Holds Copyright

    The works of sculptors, like those of other artists, are protected by the fair use doctrine in U.S. copyright law, while photographers also have copyright protection for their work when others try to use it for their own profit. The intersection of those rights complicates a rare copyright infringement suit against the NFL and the Detroit Lions over a statue of Hall of Fame player Barry Sanders, experts say.

  • March 20, 2024

    US Chamber's Litigation Funding Concerns Spur 2 State Laws

    Amid concerns from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about third-party litigation funding, including from potentially hostile foreign entities, state legislatures in Indiana and West Virginia have recently passed bills imposing restrictions on the practice.

  • March 20, 2024

    Wise Hits Back At Bad Faith TM Allegations From Tech Rival

    Payments firm Wise has hit back at a counterclaim from software company WithWise, urging the High Court to reject WithWise's claim that Wise's trademark is invalid because it is overbroad and being used as a legal weapon.

  • March 20, 2024

    Google Fined €250M By France For Media Copyright Breaches

    France's competition regulator said Wednesday that it has hit Google with a €250 million ($271 million) fine for using content from news agencies without alerting them or payment.

  • March 19, 2024

    2 Men Behind Chinese Co. Stole Tesla Trade Secrets, Feds Say

    Brooklyn federal prosecutors have charged a Canadian man residing in China and his Chinese business partner with scheming to sell secret battery manufacturing technology that belongs to Tesla, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

  • March 19, 2024

    Copyright Office Prevails In British Sculptor's Challenge

    The U.S. Copyright Office was within its rights to refuse registration to an artist after finding that his sculpture "lacks the necessary level of creativity to warrant copyright protection," a D.C. federal judge ruled Monday, finding that the Copyright Office didn't err in its analysis of the sculpture.

  • March 19, 2024

    Schumer Scolds McConnell For Judge-Shopping Policy Rebuff

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday lauded the Judicial Conference's updated policy on random case assignments to prevent litigants from judge-shopping, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing back against the policy since it'd make it tough for hard-right partisans "to hijack our courts for their purposes."

  • March 19, 2024

    USPTO Stresses Clarity On Means-Plus-Function Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office told patent examiners Tuesday to provide "consistent and clear analyses" when evaluating patent applications containing so-called means-plus-function claims, saying that will ensure any issues are addressed early in the process.

  • March 19, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs PTAB Invalidation Of Sisvel Wireless Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that found many claims in a Sisvel patent on improving the efficiency of LTE wireless networks for cellphones were invalid as obvious.

  • March 19, 2024

    Acorda Says Tribunal Ignored Patent Law In MS Drug Feud

    Acorda Pharmaceuticals is pressing the Federal Circuit to award it nearly $66 million more than the $16.5 million it won in arbitration against Irish biopharmaceutical company Alkermes in a licensing fight over a multiple sclerosis drug, arguing that the tribunal disregarded clear patent law.

  • March 19, 2024

    Reddit Reveals Patent Complaint From Nokia As IPO Nears

    Reddit Inc. on Tuesday said it received a letter from Nokia Corp. alleging that it has infringed certain Nokia patents, a disclosure that comes just ahead of the social media platform's long-anticipated initial public offering.

  • March 19, 2024

    Netflix Can't Get PTAB To Ax Patent Amid Ownership Dispute

    A board of administrative patent judges has decided to shut down its review of a data communications network patent that a Finnish businessman claimed to own, after a federal court in California ruled earlier this year that he had transferred the patent nearly two decades ago to a startup that eventually went bankrupt.

  • March 19, 2024

    Law Firm Hit With Suit Over Abandoned Patent Application

    A Louisiana-based medical software company has sued a law firm that was hired to help it with an application for a patent for its platform, saying the firm's alleged negligence led to the application being abandoned.

  • March 19, 2024

    Full 4th Circ. Won't Hear Record Labels' Piracy Fight With ISP

    The Fourth Circuit will not reconsider its decision to vacate a $1 billion verdict against Cox Communications for allowing piracy on its networks, it said Tuesday, despite neither side being happy with its ruling.

  • March 19, 2024

    NY Times Says Microsoft's AI 'Free-Riding' Threatens Revenue

    The New York Times blasted Microsoft's contention that the paper hasn't provided "real-world" examples of ChatGPT lifting its content, contending Monday its complaint references "widely-publicized" occurrences of infringement and that Microsoft and OpenAI's actions reduce the publication's revenue by keeping users within the tech companies' search ecosystem.

Expert Analysis

  • Google Patent Case Is A Claim Construction Litigation Lesson

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    The Federal Circuit's recent precedential decision in Google v. EcoFactor, which held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board erred in the claim construction it had unknowingly adopted, shows that litigators should be alert to claim construction issues that masquerade as something else, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • Reassessing Trade Secrets Amid Proposed Noncompete Ban

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    The Federal Trade Commission's proposed ban on noncompete agreements as well as state bans make it prudent for businesses to reevaluate and reinvigorate approaches to trade secret protection, including knowing what information employees are providing to vendors, and making sure confidentiality agreements are put in place before information is shared, says Rob Jensen at Wolf Greenfield.

  • Considering The Logical Extremes Of Your Legal Argument

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    Recent oral arguments in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump highlighted the age-old technique of extending an argument to its logical limit — a principle that is still important for attorneys to consider in preparing their cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Will Guide Social Media Account Ownership

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision in JLM Couture v. Gutman — which held that ownership of social media accounts must be resolved using traditional property law analysis — will guide employers and employees alike in future cases, and underscores the importance of express agreements in establishing ownership of social media accounts, says Joshua Glasgow at Phillips Lytle.

  • Storytelling Strategies To Defuse Courtroom Conspiracies

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    Misinformation continues to proliferate in all sectors of society, including in the courtroom, as jurors try to fill in the gaps of incomplete trial narratives — underscoring the need for attorneys to tell a complete, consistent and credible story before and during trial, says David Metz at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues

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    The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.

  • Opinion

    9th Circ. Should Overturn The Miles Davis Tattoo Ruling

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    A California district court made several missteps that led to a finding that celebrity artist Kat Von D's Miles Davis tattoo did not infringe copyright, and the Ninth Circuit should overturn the decision because recent U.S. Supreme Court guidance was ignored and the jury did not receive adequate instruction, says Brian Moriarty at Hamilton Brook.

  • Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues

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    As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.

  • Exporters Should Approach Self-Disclosure With Caution

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    A January Bureau of Industry and Security memorandum created an abbreviated process for disclosing export control violations that lack aggravating factors, but deciding which disclosure method to utilize remains a complex strategic undertaking to which companies must give careful consideration, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Is Compulsory Copyright Licensing Needed For AI Tech?

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    The U.S. Copyright Office's inquiry into whether Congress should establish a compulsory licensing regime for artificial intelligence technologies that are trained on copyrighted works has received relatively little attention — but commenters recently opposed the regime under three key themes, say Michael Kientzle and Ryan White at Arnold & Porter.

  • EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • 3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict

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    In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

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