Intellectual Property

  • April 15, 2024

    Photog Beefs Up Copyright Suit Over Barry Sanders Statue

    A photographer has added several new claims, including breach of contract, to his copyright lawsuit that accuses the Detroit Lions, the NFL and a host of other defendants of unlawfully using his photo to create a statue of legendary running back Barry Sanders.

  • April 15, 2024

    4th Circ. Affirms Timberland Boots' Trade Dress Bid Denial

    The Fourth Circuit decided Monday that a Virginia federal judge correctly denied trade dress registration for Timberland's Icon Boot, saying in a published opinion the lower court did not err in concluding the design elements the company wanted to register were ineligible because they had not acquired distinctive meaning in consumers' minds.

  • April 15, 2024

    Ohio IP Firm Beats Appeal In $42K Billing Fight

    An Ohio state appeals court has left intact a nearly $42,000 judgment Amin Turocy & Watson LLP won in a billing dispute with a client, reasoning that the materials Just Funky provided to fight the firm's summary judgment bid lacked the necessary detail.

  • April 15, 2024

    Orrick Adds Kramer Levin Life Sciences Head In NY

    The former head of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP's life sciences practice has jumped to the intellectual property litigation team at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in New York, Orrick said Monday. 

  • April 15, 2024

    Justices Skip Appeal Over $36M Sanction In TM Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider the appeal of a man who argued the Ninth Circuit was wrong to impose $36 million in sanctions against him and several companies in a trademark dispute, the justices said Monday.

  • April 12, 2024

    Jane Street Says Millennium, Ex-Workers Stole Trade Secrets

    Trading firm Jane Street Group LLC sued rival Millennium Management LLC and two former employees in New York federal court Friday, alleging they stole a confidential trading strategy and have reaped "massive profits from this theft."

  • April 12, 2024

    Gilstrap Rejects Jury Instruction Tweaks In Samsung Retrial

    U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap on Friday largely denied jury instruction requests made by both Samsung and G+ Communications ahead of a damages retrial in Texas federal court in litigation over wireless network patents, rejecting each company's ideas for limiting what's presented to jurors.

  • April 12, 2024

    Moderna, Pfizer COVID Vax IP Suit Paused Amid PTAB Review

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday agreed to pause Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine patent infringement suit against Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech until the Patent Trial and Appeal Board weighs in on a pair of patents, issuing a stay despite objections from Moderna.

  • April 12, 2024

    Split PTAB Panel Upholds QinetiQ Fracking Patent

    A British defense contractor successfully fought off a legal challenge surrounding its patent covering a fracking device, in a ruling from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that was split three ways over the matter.

  • April 12, 2024

    'American-Made' May Include Foreign Parts, 10th Circ. Says

    A panel of the Tenth Circuit unanimously ruled Friday there's nothing legally problematic with foreign-made components being used in products advertised as "American-made," upholding a construction equipment maker's summary judgment win over its competitors' claims of false advertising, false designation of origin and copyright infringement.

  • April 12, 2024

    'Much More Is Coming': Experts See Wave Of AI-Related Suits

    Legal experts speaking Friday at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law's symposium on artificial intelligence and evidence in civil litigation warned that broadening usage and increased regulation will lead to a wave of litigation over the technology, leaving courts to analyze the "black box" of corporate AI algorithms to determine liability.

  • April 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ.'s Fight With Newman: A Year In Review

    One year has passed since it came to light that the Federal Circuit's judges were investigating whether their colleague, U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, was mentally competent to remain on the court. In that time, Judge Newman has garnered support from many in the patent community, but has faced a series of setbacks in her legal challenges.

  • April 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ.'s Competency Feud With Newman Turned Personal

    A year after the Federal Circuit publicly acknowledged its investigation into U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's mental and physical competency, the nonagenarian still refuses to follow the court's medical testing orders and remains determined to reclaim her seat on the bench.

  • April 12, 2024

    Misconduct Doomed Dining Mat Patent Case, Fed. Circ. Rules

    The Federal Circuit on Friday upheld a decision that a maker of toddler dining mats torpedoed its patent case against a rival with "unconscionable" misconduct, and ordered a lower court to reconsider findings that the patent is invalid but not unenforceable.

  • April 12, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Broadcom Unit's IP In Netflix Fight

    The Federal Circuit on Friday backed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's holding that the vast majority of Broadcom unit Avago Technologies' patent directed to providing digital media services to users is invalid as obvious, based on a challenge from Netflix.

  • April 12, 2024

    Software Co. Hit With Patent Suit Over Data Tracker

    A software developer has accused a rival of infringing patents that allow businesses to track a website user's browsing data without using third-party cookies, costing the developer profits.

  • April 12, 2024

    ITC To Look Into Motorola's 5G IP Claims Against Ericsson

    Motorola is taking its 5G intellectual property battle with Ericsson to the U.S. International Trade Commission, with the agency agreeing to launch an investigation into Motorola's accusations of patent infringement against the Swedish company.

  • April 12, 2024

    Hytera Says It'll Be A 'Shell' If 7th Circ. Doesn't End Sanctions

    China-based Hytera Communications has again asked the Seventh Circuit to pause a daily $1 million fine, worldwide product sales ban and other "crushing" sanctions an Illinois federal judge imposed for continuing a Chinese intellectual property suit against her orders, saying it will otherwise become "an empty corporate shell."

  • April 12, 2024

    Bridal Designer Seeks Conversion Of JLM Couture To Ch. 7

    A bridal dress designer engaged in litigation with bankrupt dressmaker JLM Couture asked a Delaware court Friday to convert the company's insolvency case to a Chapter 7 liquidation, saying the costs of that ongoing litigation will drain estate resources to the point it won't be able to pay for the bankruptcy case.

  • April 12, 2024

    HP Accused Of Infringing 'Wex' TM In Software-As-Service Biz

    HP was hit with a trademark infringement action in Maine federal court by global mobility solutions platform Wex Inc., which alleges that HP is launching a new software-as-a-service solutions platform under the infringing name, "Wex," causing confusion in the public. 

  • April 12, 2024

    Trade Groups Urge Senators To Advance Patent Reform Bills

    Groups representing inventors, startups and medical technology companies are putting pressure on U.S. senators to pass bills that would prospectively limit the ability of courts to throw out patent lawsuits, a month after tech industry groups argued the legislation would trigger an onslaught of patent litigation.

  • April 12, 2024

    Judge Pauline Newman's Year In Her Own Words

    April 14 marks the one-year anniversary of when the Federal Circuit confirmed an unprecedented investigation into whether U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman was mentally and physically competent to remain on its bench, and the judge has not been allowed to hear cases during that time. Here is what she had to say about the investigation in an interview with Law360.

  • April 12, 2024

    Jury Says 3D Printing Firm Owes $17.3M For Infringing Patent

    A Delaware federal jury has ruled that 3D printing company Markforged infringed one of two claims in a patent owned by smaller competitor Continuous Composites over a machine for 3D printing, putting it on the hook for more than $17.3 million.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mogul Aims To Trace Part Of Alleged $35M Hack Payout To Atty

    An airline mogul has doubled down on a bid to access the bank records of a North Carolina attorney and ex-FBI agent, saying those records will help "follow the money" to prove a large-scale hacking conspiracy against him that he claims involves a $35 million payout.

  • April 12, 2024

    Gas Co. Accuses Tech Partner Of 'Snake Oil Salesman' Tactics

    A Houston natural gas company asked a federal court Thursday to revoke a state settlement agreement between it and a partner who allegedly provided it with faulty monitoring equipment, calling the company a "modern-day snake oil salesman" that retaliated when it was "called on its failures."

Expert Analysis

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

  • Exploring The Foreign Discovery Trend In Delaware

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    Despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the use of Section 1782, recent trends from a Delaware federal court suggest that Delaware remains an appealing forum for such foreign discovery requests, says Florentina Field at Abrams & Bayliss.

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • What To Know About WDTX Standing Order For Patent Cases

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    Patent litigators should review and ensure compliance with the standing order recently issued by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas — a popular patent litigation venue — which encompasses new deadlines, seeks to streamline discovery disputes, and further reflects the court's existing practices, says Archibald Cruz at Patterson + Sheridan.

  • 10 Lessons From A Deep Dive Into IP Damages

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    Decisions on challenging an intellectual property expert's opinion can benefit from the in-depth study of court rulings on admissibility grounds, where the findings include the fact that patent cases see the most challenges of any IP area, say Deepa Sundararaman and Cleve Tyler at Berkeley Research.

  • Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation

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    There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The EU, UK, Australia

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    Accelerated pathways for regulatory approvals for psychedelic drugs in the European Union, U.K. and Australia is indispensable to facilitate a seamless advancement of treatments from the research environment to the consumer, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Opinion

    Gilead Ruling Signals That Innovating Can Lead To Liability

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    A California appeals court's ruling last month in Gilead Life Sciences v. Superior Court of San Francisco that a drug manufacturer can be held liable for delaying the introduction of an improved version of its medication raises concerns about the chilling effects that expansive product liability claims may have on innovation, says Gary Myers at the University of Missouri School of Law.

  • Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury

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    Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Opinion

    Vidal Should Amend USPTO Precedent In Automaker Review

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    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal's recent decision to review Ford and Honda patent challenges that were rejected by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board provides an opportunity to revisit precedents that have unfairly denied companies a fair review process and align them with commonsense principles of legal equity, says former Sen. Patrick Leahy.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

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