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Intellectual Property
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October 15, 2025
Fed. Circ. Again Urged To Probe Settled Expectations Rule
A nonprofit represented by former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has thrown its weight behind the latest Federal Circuit petition challenging the USPTO's policy of denying review of patents based on the owner's "settled expectations," saying the rule is "economically harmful and legally unsound."
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October 15, 2025
Cal Poly Athletes Told Objections To NIL Deal Don't Hold Water
The members of a college swimming and diving team that was eliminated by its school last March should blame the school itself for its demise, not the negotiators of a $2.78 billion class action athlete compensation settlement, the NCAA and the athlete class representatives told a California federal court in response to their objections.
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October 15, 2025
Judge Shouldn't Have Axed Lens Patent Claims, Fed. Circ. Says
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday vacated a lower court's finding that claims in two eyeglass lens patents are invalid based on a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling on different claims, saying that decision cannot stand because courts and the board use different burdens of proof.
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October 15, 2025
Patent Decisions Clearing Ford, BMW Upheld By Fed. Circ.
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive cases accusing Ford and BMW of infringing a pair of cruise control system patents, affirming how a lower court construed key claim terms when it cleared the automotive giants in the litigation.
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October 15, 2025
Lender Sues For Access To High-Tech Kiosks After Default
A company that makes high-tech vending machines that dispense beauty and personal hygiene products has defaulted on a loan and is refusing to turn over credentials to keep the kiosks in operation, according to a suit filed in Massachusetts state court.
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October 15, 2025
Phone-Maker Oppo Wants Out Of Apple Trade Secret Case
Chinese phone-maker Oppo has asked a California federal judge to release it from a case brought by Apple Inc. alleging that a former employee stole trade secrets when he moved to Oppo, saying the suit had no allegation that Oppo received any trade secrets.
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October 15, 2025
Fed. Circ. Affirms ITC Ruling That Brita Filter Patent Is Invalid
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday let stand the U.S. International Trade Commission's decision that a Brita LP water filter patent is invalid, affirming a finding that the patent wasn't adequately described and that it didn't enable someone to make the invention.
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October 15, 2025
Greenberg Traurig Lands Wilson Sonsini Life Sciences Pro
Greenberg Traurig LLP has added a California partner from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with in-house and government legal experience to enhance its capacity to handle matters for clients in life sciences, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other industries.
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October 15, 2025
TTAB Denies 'Gasparilla' TM Despite Deal With Other IP Holder
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board has rejected a bid to register "Gasparilla" for mugs and clothing, because of potential confusion with "Gasparilla Treasures," concluding in a precedential opinion that a consent agreement offered by the parties was not enough to overcome a likelihood of consumer confusion.
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October 15, 2025
Engineering Firm, Ex-Worker Resolve Noncompete Dispute
A global environmental and engineering consulting firm has resolved a suit alleging a former employee violated a noncompete agreement by accepting a similar job at a direct competitor, according to a docket entry.
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May 22, 2025
Fed. Circ. Says Professor Lacks Standing To Fight Rapunzel TM
The Federal Circuit on Thursday backed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's rejection of a professor's challenge to a "Rapunzel" trademark as a consumer of fairy tale toy characters, saying the board properly used a framework laid out by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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October 15, 2025
Chase Accused Of IP Theft By Fintech Startup
A fintech startup has accused JPMorgan Chase Bank NA of stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets after months of trying out the trade-optimizing technology, claiming that the bank backed out of their deal in bad faith, costing the small firm $5 million in out-of-pocket expenses as well as undetermined additional damages.
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October 14, 2025
Sirius XM Can't Yet Ditch Proposed Class Action Over Pricing
An Oregon federal judge on Tuesday refused to toss a proposed class action claiming Sirius XM concealed a royalty charge from subscribers, ruling that the subscribers have adequately alleged they did not know about the fee or the true cost of their subscription when they signed up.
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October 14, 2025
NJ, Del. Judges Stress Value Of Local Counsel For IP Attys
Six judges with significant experience overseeing pharmaceutical patent litigation in the districts of New Jersey and Delaware urged litigators on Tuesday to rely on the expertise of local counsel if they're hoping to impress the court.
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October 14, 2025
Smucker Sues To Squash Trader Joe's 'Uncrustables' Copycat
J.M. Smucker, whose "Uncrustables" sandwiches have been a staple in countless school lunchrooms, is taking Trader Joe's to the courtroom, accusing the grocery chain of swiping Smucker's intellectual property to market its own copycat version of the crustless PB&Js.
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October 14, 2025
Skinny Labels, Orange Book Take Center Stage In IP Talks
Patent litigators focused on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology met Tuesday to work through the biggest issues in their industries, including possible reform to skinny label law, frustration with position-switching in litigation, concerns about when to list patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book and data on the relatively low impact of new policies at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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October 14, 2025
Full Fed. Circ. Won't Revisit Dumbbell, Database Patent Cases
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued orders rejecting requests for full court scrutiny of separate panel decisions that saved a dumbbell patent owned by PowerBlock Holdings Inc. and that revived Google's challenges to patent claims covering database systems.
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October 14, 2025
Full 3rd Circ. Won't Rethink $45M CareDx False Ad Case
The Third Circuit on Tuesday turned down medical testing company CareDx's request to have a full panel mull whether to reinstate a $45 million jury award in a false advertisement case over genetic testing technology against rival Natera.
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October 14, 2025
Whirlpool Says Samsung Infringed Dishwasher Rack Patent
Whirlpool Corp. has hit competitor Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with a patent infringement suit in Texas federal court, alleging Samsung infringed its patented "enhanced top rack" dishwasher technology, which includes separate third racks with dedicated sprayers at the top of its dishwashers.
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October 14, 2025
Squires Calls For 2nd Look At PTAB Wins By Visa
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has ordered Patent Trial and Appeal Board officials to review final decisions largely backing Visa Inc. in challenges to three credential verification patents, after patent owner Cortex MCP Inc. argued the holdings were flawed.
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October 14, 2025
Exec Tells Fla. Jury He Wanted To Protect Nicklaus Brand
An executive for the company bearing Jack Nicklaus' name denied making alleged defamatory statements in emails to clients regarding the golf legend's interest in a competing Saudi Arabian league, telling a Florida state court jury on Tuesday that he received contradicting information and wanted to protect the business' brand name.
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October 14, 2025
Rakoff Irked By 'Kindergarten-Like' Depo In 'Top Gun' IP Case
U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff admonished attorneys representing Paramount Pictures Corp. and a man who claims he wasn't credited for writing key scenes in the 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick," saying the numerous objections, colloquies and accusations on both sides devolved into "kindergarten-like behavior."
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October 14, 2025
PTAB Discretionary Denials, Reexam Bids Way Up: Report
The number of Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions that were denied for discretionary reasons reached a record level in the third quarter of 2025 — more than 200% higher than in all of last year — and patent reexamination requests also spiked, according to a new report from Unified Patents.
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October 14, 2025
Knicks, Raptors Agree That Data 'Mole' Case Is Closed
The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have agreed to call off their legal dispute of more than two years involving a video assistant the Knicks accused of being a "mole" who took proprietary data with him when he left them for the Raptors.
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October 14, 2025
Hytera 'Can't Be Trusted,' Motorola Says In Push For Payment
Motorola Solutions argued Tuesday that Chinese rival Hytera Communications Corp. should pay the full $371.7 million it still owes on a 2020 judgment and be permanently blocked from selling any mobile two-way radios using stolen source code so their long-running trade theft dispute in Illinois federal court can be brought to a just close.
Expert Analysis
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What 2 Profs Noticed As Transactional Law Students Used AI
After a semester using generative artificial intelligence tools with students in an entrepreneurship law clinic, we came away with numerous observations about the opportunities and challenges such tools present to new transactional lawyers, say professors at Cornell Law School.
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What Patent Claim 'Invalidity' Means In Different Forums
A recent Federal Circuit order allowing a patent suit to proceed despite similar claims being invalidated in an inter partes review underscores how fractured the patent litigation landscape has become, leading to critical nuances in how district courts, the U.S. International Trade Commission and Patent Trial and Appeal Board treat invalidity, says Jason Hoffman at BakerHostetler.
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Top Takeaways From Trump's AI Action Plan
President Donald Trump's AI Action Plan represents some notable evolution in U.S. policy, including affirmation of the administration's trend toward prioritizing artificial intelligence innovation over guardrails and toward supporting greater U.S. private sector reach overseas, say attorneys at WilmerHale.
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Rebuttal
BigLaw Settlements Should Not Spur Ethics Deregulation
A recent Law360 op-ed argued that loosening law firm funding restrictions would make BigLaw firms less inclined to settle with the Trump administration, but deregulating legal financing ethics may well prove to be not merely ineffective, but counterproductive, says Laurel Kilgour at the American Economic Liberties Project.
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How Big Pharma Has Responded To FTC Delisting Demands
Looking at some statistics concerning how pharmaceutical companies have responded to the Federal Trade Commission's recent challenges to Orange Book listings raises several possible hypotheses about the FTC's strategy and effectiveness, say Ratib Ali and Celia Lu at Competition Dynamics.
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5 Ways Lawyers Can Earn Back The Public's Trust
Amid salacious headlines about lawyers behaving badly and recent polls showing the public’s increasingly unfavorable view of attorneys, we must make meaningful changes to our culture to rebuild trust in the legal system, says Carl Taylor at Carl Taylor Law.
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How To Successfully Challenge Jurors For Cause In 5 Steps
To effectively challenge a potential juror for cause, attorneys should follow a multistep framework rather than skipping straight to the final qualification question, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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USPTO's AI Tool Redefines Design Patent Landscape
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's newly introduced DesignVision tool for artificial intelligence-powered image searching represents a dramatic shift in how design patent applications are examined, necessitating new strategies for patent practitioners, says Matthew Epstein at Dinsmore.
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Series
Hiking Makes Me A Better Lawyer
On the trail, I have thought often about the parallels between hiking and high-stakes patent litigation, and why strategizing, preparation, perseverance and joy are important skills for success in both endeavors, says Barbara Fiacco at Foley Hoag.
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6 Tips On Drafting Machine Learning Patents Post-Recentive
While the Federal Circuit's decision in Recentive v. Fox narrows the scope of patent-eligible machine learning applications, there are several drafting and prosecution strategies that may help practitioners navigate Section 101 challenges, say attorneys at BCLP.
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What US-India Trade Deal Will Mean For Indian Pharma
Complicated by newly imposed tariffs from the U.S., the outcome of the U.S.-India trade talks is poised to reshape not just trade policy, but also the strategic alignment of the two countries' pharmaceutical ecosystems, says Jashaswi Ghosh at Holon Law Partners.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Negotiation Skills
I took one negotiation course in law school, but most of the techniques I rely on today I learned in practice, where I've discovered that the process is less about tricks or tactics, and more about clarity, preparation and communication, says Grant Schrantz at Haug Barron.
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Opinion
Bar Exam Reform Must Expand Beyond A Single Updated Test
Recently released information about the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam highlights why a single test is not ideal for measuring newly licensed lawyers’ competency, demonstrating the need for collaborative development, implementation and reform processes, says Gregory Bordelon at Suffolk University.
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The Patent Eligibility Eras Tour: 11 Years Of Post-Alice Tumult
A survey of recent twists and turns in patent eligibility law highlights the confusion created by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 Alice decision and reveals that the continually shifting standards have begun to diverge in fundamental ways between the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, says Michael Shepherd at Fish & Richardson.
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Export Misconduct Resolutions Emphasize BIS, DOJ Priorities
The U.S. Department of Justice's and Bureau of Industry and Security's recently resolved parallel enforcement actions against semiconductor technology company Cadence Design demonstrate the agencies' prioritization of penalties for export control violations involving China, as well as the importance of voluntary self-disclosure, say attorneys at Fenwick.