Intellectual Property
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Top Story
3 Takeaways From Delaware's TC Heartland Venue Guidance
The District of Delaware's chief judge recently held in two rulings that companies must have permanent ties to the state to face patent suits there following the U.S. Supreme Court's TC Heartland ruling, and his analysis could keep many generic-drug cases in his court. Here's what attorneys can learn from the decisions.
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September 8, 2017
Global Firms Snap Up India Work With Liberalization In Limbo
International law firms play a crucial role in India despite being barred from practicing there, and some say opening up the country’s legal industry wouldn’t drastically change how they do business.
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September 9, 2017
‘We Shall Overcome’ Verse Loses Copyright Protection
A New York federal judge ruled Friday that the lyrics and melody to the first verse of Pete Seeger’s classic civil rights song “We Shall Overcome” aren’t protected by copyright, finding the first verse of the 1960s Seeger version doesn’t differ sufficiently from a 1948 public domain version to warrant protection.
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September 8, 2017
Navico Wins $38M From Garmin In East Texas Sonar IP Row
A Texas federal jury on Friday found that Garmin willfully infringed a pair of Navico patents related to sonar-scanning, awarding Navico $38.8 million in damages in the companies’ latest dispute over the technology used in commercial fishing.
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September 8, 2017
Raytheon Says $25M IP Suit Little More Than Money Grab
Raytheon Co. took a swing at a $25 million trade secrets suit alleging it failed to "firewall" employees that had inside information about a former government contracting partner, saying Thursday it had never agreed to keep its workers separate and that the ex-partner was trying to squeeze more out of its original bargain.
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September 8, 2017
Brand Battles: Thomas Jefferson, Adidas, Katy Perry
In Law360's latest roundup of new actions at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation cites an 1815 first-use date for "Monticello," Adidas continues to closely police its "three-stripe" trademark, and Katy Perry accuses a Chinese company of false association over a "KatyPeny" application.
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September 8, 2017
Fed. Circ. Finds PTAB Erred, Still OKs Nix Of Cable Patent
The Federal Circuit said Friday that the analysis behind the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's invalidation of a cable manufacturer’s patent covering a method for making an electrical cable was faulty, but that the PTAB was not wrong to nix the claims.
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September 8, 2017
UK Drugmaker Can’t Dodge States’ Suboxone Case Just Yet
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday refused to dismiss a case brought by more than 40 states in multidistrict litigation accusing a U.K.-based drugmaker of delaying the introduction of generics of its opioid addiction treatment Suboxone, ruling that at the current stage in the case, the states have properly alleged their claims.
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September 8, 2017
Fed. Circ. OKs Sanctions, Injunction In Skin System IP Row
The Federal Circuit on Friday knocked back the multi-pronged appeal of a Florida man who committed copyright and patent infringement by marketing a knock-off facial hydradermabrasion system and was sanctioned in the lower court for putting up phony evidence of prior trademark use.
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September 8, 2017
Amgen Set To Face Off With Hospira In Biosimilar IP Trial
Pharmaceutical companies Amgen Inc. and Hospira Inc. are set to square off later this month in a patent infringement trial centering on Hospira’s efforts to produce a biosimilar version of Amgen’s anti-anemia drug Epogen after the sides completed their final pre-trial conference in Delaware on Friday.
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September 8, 2017
Sharebeast.com Owner Pleads Guilty To Felony Infringement
The 29-year-old owner of file sharing website Sharebeast.com pled guilty to a felony count of criminal copyright infringement for pirating more than a billion copies of copyrighted works, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday.
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September 8, 2017
Allergan Transfers Restasis Patents To IPR-Immune Tribe
Allergan PLC has transferred the patents for its dry eye treatment Restasis to a Native American tribe with sovereign immunity in a bid to escape inter partes review proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the pharmaceutical company said Friday.
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September 8, 2017
Petrochem Test Co. Sues Ex-Lab Manager Over Trade Secrets
Camin Cargo Control, a petroleum cargo management company that also does lab testing and inspections for petroleum and petrochemical companies to ensure quality control, filed a $1 million lawsuit against its former lab manager Thursday in Texas state court, alleging he stole trade secrets and violated a noncompete agreement.
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September 8, 2017
Fed Circ. Affirms PTAB Rejection Of Biofuel Patent
The Federal Circuit on Friday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejection of a patent for a biofuel production method, affirming a finding that existing fermentation and algal processes rendered the invention’s contribution obvious.
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September 8, 2017
Judge Scolds Getty, Ex-VP Over Trade Secrets Deposition Row
A Washington federal judge Thursday chastised Getty Images Inc. and a former executive it accuses of giving trade secrets to a rival for a “breakdown in civility” following her July deposition, ordering her to sit for another on findings she dodged Getty’s questions during their last go-round.
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September 8, 2017
Quinn Emanuel Expands In Europe With 9th Office
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP said it has opened a new office in Stuttgart, Germany — its fourth in the country and ninth across Europe — that will focus on intellectual property and antitrust law.
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September 8, 2017
Ex-NFLers Want Madden Suit’s Calif. Publicity Claim Revived
A proposed class of former NFL players urged a California federal judge Thursday to reconsider his tossing of the state right to publicity claim in their suit against Electronic Arts over use of their likenesses in Madden video games, saying the information shown on the screen during the games identifies them.
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September 8, 2017
Buchanan Ingersoll Scores Merchant & Gould Drug Patent Pro
A former Merchant & Gould PC partner who litigates over drug patents for clients such as Breckenridge Pharmaceutical and hedge-fund-backed Coalition for Affordable Drugs has joined Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.
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September 8, 2017
NASA Supplier Denied Sanctions In Trade Secret Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday denied Advanced Fluid Systems Inc.'s request for sanctions against a former employee accused of stealing its designs and contracts for hydraulic systems at a NASA-run rocket launch facility, giving him a last chance to destroy electronic copies of documents containing proprietary information.
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September 8, 2017
Qualcomm Can’t Halt Apple’s Foreign IP, Antitrust Suits
Qualcomm on Thursday lost its bid for a worldwide injunction to prevent Apple from pursuing patent and antitrust lawsuits against the company in the U.K., China, Japan and Taiwan, with a California federal judge saying the foreign suits would not be resolved by the U.S. action.
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September 8, 2017
Ex-Covidien Employee Can't Escape Contract Breach Suit
A former Covidien LP employee accused of making off with confidential information for medical procedure patents will have to fight out the lawsuit in Massachusetts for now, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
Editor's Picks
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Supreme Court Forces Patent Litigation Into New Corners
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put tighter restrictions on where patent owners can file infringement lawsuits, a decision that upends nearly 30 years of established practice and will likely force many lawsuits out of the patent litigation hotbed of the Eastern District of Texas. Here, check out all of our best coverage of the case.
Expert Analysis
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5 Questions To Ask Before Entering Joint-Representation AFA
One growing trend is for clients to enter into alternative fee arrangements in which one law firm represents multiple parties who “share” fees and costs in a related matter. This way parties can more efficiently manage a matter and reduce their individual legal fees. But joint representation is not without its own risks and challenges, say attorneys with WilmerHale.
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Legal Incubators Can Help New Lawyers And Society
Legal incubators serve as an important bridge to practice and a crucial step toward aligning the incentives of new lawyers with the needs of their clients. They may even pose a threat to the traditional law school model itself, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, says Martin Pritikin, dean of Concord Law School at Kaplan University.
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How Fed. Circ. Guides PTAB On CBM Review: Part 1
By recently declining en banc rehearing in Secure Axcess, the Federal Circuit may have placed a stamp of finality on the scope of covered business method review, say Brian Mudge and Andrew Kasnevich of Andrews Kurth Kenyon LLP.
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Patent Venue: How We Got To TC Heartland, And What's Next
The growth of the Eastern District of Texas as a venue for patent cases, which led to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in TC Heartland, did not occur overnight. It was the result of seven factors that coalesced over decades, says Patrick Coyne of Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP.
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How The Grinch Stole Fair Use
A case in the Southern District of New York centers on a play that presents a wicked spin on Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,” and may test the boundaries of what is parody, what is transformative, and how much taking is “fair,” says Jim Burger of Thompson Coburn LLP.
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What To Watch As FDA Begins To Fight Rising Drug Prices
As of last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's reluctance to engage in drug price-control efforts may be changing. There are several controversial Hatch-Waxman issues that the FDA may set its sights on in the near future, say Sapna Palla and Kristyn Hansen of Wiggin and Dana LLP
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Software IP — It's Not Just For Tech Cos. Anymore
Software innovations are being made by companies in the entertainment, financial services, health care and media industries, among others. At the same time, it has become more complicated for counsel to advise on the best strategy for protecting those inventions, says Joshua Simmons of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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Brexit Creates Uncertainty For IP
Following Brexit, if the EU regulations directly applicable to intellectual property law are not transposed into English or Scottish law, a regulatory vacuum could be created. For patents, this could mean the first lack of substantive legal protection in over 700 years, says Roberta Young of Loza & Loza LLP.
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How To Prioritize Your Law Firm's Crisis Response Plan
If the media is going to cover your law firm’s crisis, they are going to cover it with or without your firm’s input. But your involvement can help shape the story and improve your firm’s image in the public eye, says Michelle Samuels, vice president of public relations at Jaffe.
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Locating A 'Place Of Business' After TC Heartland: Part 2
In the final part of their article, Brian Kwok and Nicholas Lo of Haynes and Boone LLP discuss other factors courts consider in the “regular and established place of business” analysis, the Eastern District of Texas’ new framework set forth in Raytheon, and how the historical case law fits into the Raytheon approach.