Intellectual Property

  • February 05, 2026

    Judge Caps Off 'Beer Law' Trademark Case

    A federal judge has dismissed a trademark lawsuit from a North Carolina law firm that brands itself as the "Beer Law Center" against a Colorado firm that calls itself the "Beer Law HQ," finding the latter company lacked sufficient connections to North Carolina for the court to hear the case.

  • February 05, 2026

    State Bar Of Texas Declines To Open Grievance On Ramey

    The State Bar of Texas has declined to open a grievance against patent litigator William P. Ramey III after a San Francisco federal court sanctioned him and his firm, Ramey LLP, for practicing law in California without a license.

  • February 05, 2026

    Alston & Bird Hires Ex-Baker McKenzie Tech, Privacy Pro

    Alston & Bird LLP has added a technology and privacy specialist previously with Baker McKenzie as a partner in its Silicon Valley office, the firm announced Thursday.

  • February 04, 2026

    Fla. Court Urged To Hold IP Atty Liable For Defamation

    An inventor alleging an intellectual property attorney defamed him in the press urged a Florida federal court Wednesday to hold the attorney accountable, arguing the allegation is well-founded.

  • February 04, 2026

    'Careless Or Disingenuous': Judge Rips CareFirst Rethink Bid

    A Virginia federal judge Wednesday refused to reconsider an order reversing course and throwing out key claims in CareFirst's suit against Johnson & Johnson over the immunosuppressive drug Stelara, calling CareFirst's arguments for doing so "either careless or disingenuous."

  • February 04, 2026

    Packaging Co. Seeks Fees After Judge Kills Rival's Patents

    Plastic packaging manufacturer Lacerta Group Inc. on Wednesday moved for attorney fees after coming out on top of rival Inline Plastics Corp.'s patent infringement lawsuit, telling a Massachusetts federal court that the suit was "exceptional" and warranted the fee award due to Inline's pattern of unreasonable litigation conduct.

  • February 04, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Leans Toward Vacating $12.7M Copyright Award

    The Federal Circuit appeared likely to vacate a $12.7 million copyright infringement award against the federal government on Wednesday, pressing attorneys for a software developer and the government to answer what instructions should be given to the claims court on remand.

  • February 04, 2026

    USPTO Scraps Interested Party Precedent After New Ruling

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has removed the precedential status of two 2019 decisions addressing the rule that patent challengers must identify all interested parties, saying they were at odds with a decision that was made precedential last year.

  • February 04, 2026

    CREXi Fights Bid To Disqualify Quinn Emanuel In CoStar IP Suit

    Commercial real estate platform CREXi has urged a California federal judge to let it keep Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP as its counsel as it fights CoStar's accusations of copyright infringement, saying CoStar is only now raising conflict of interest concerns to gain a "tactical advantage."

  • February 04, 2026

    Squires Throws Out 23 Patent Challenges, Grants 12

    The latest summary decision from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires denied 23 America Invents Act petitions and instituted 12 others, bringing his total number of patent challenges granted to 60.

  • February 04, 2026

    Gospel Singer Pleads To Drop Track Amid 'Messy' Label Fight

    A Grammy Award-winning gospel singer locked in a contract fight with his record label urged a Georgia federal judge Tuesday to reject the label's attempt to shut down the impending release of a solo track, arguing that halting his work could allow his career to "die on the vine."

  • February 04, 2026

    SPEX Urges Fed. Circ. To Revert Slashed $1 IP Win To $553M

    SPEX Technologies Inc. is asking the Federal Circuit to reinstate the $553 million award it had won against Western Digital for patent infringement, after a California federal judge lowered it to a single dollar.

  • February 04, 2026

    GM Brings Design Patent Suits Over Alleged Car Part Copies

    General Motors has launched a trio of lawsuits in both Michigan and Illinois federal courts, accusing a host of companies of infringing the auto giant's design patents by selling copies of its car parts.

  • February 04, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs Infringement Immunity For NASA Contractor

    The Federal Circuit on Wednesday endorsed a California federal judge's decision that a NASA contractor doesn't have to face a patent infringement suit from a pair of California men, given that its allegedly infringing use was authorized by the federal government.

  • February 04, 2026

    Music Labels Win On Most Counts In Classic Rock Videos Suit

    Music labels suing a British filmmaker and his former company over a set of videos that made unauthorized use of songs by several classic rock artists were granted a win on a substantial portion of the case Wednesday by a Manhattan federal judge who found the videos did not contain enough legitimate commentary to be considered documentaries.

  • February 04, 2026

    Davis Polk Picks Up IP Ace From Debevoise & Plimpton

    Preeminent intellectual property attorney John "Jay" Neukom, who has a storied track record prevailing on behalf of major companies in high-profile legal battles across the country, has joined Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in Northern California, after spending nearly four years with Debevoise & Plimpton LLC, according to an announcement made Monday.

  • February 04, 2026

    Teva Fights Class Cert. Bid In Effexor Antitrust Case

    Teva Pharmaceuticals urged a New Jersey federal judge Wednesday to reject a class certification bid by a group of direct buyers of the antidepressant drug Effexor XR and its generic versions, arguing that the proposed class failed to carry its burden showing that joinder is impracticable.

  • February 04, 2026

    IBM Seeks Texas Enforcement Of $24M UK Contract Ruling

    A British subsidiary of IBM asked a Texas federal court to enforce a $24.6 million English judgment against Houston-based software entrepreneur John Jay Moores, seeking to collect court-ordered litigation costs awarded after Moores was found to have breached IBM software licenses.

  • February 04, 2026

    USPTO's Squires Sees TMs As Key Tool Against AI Deepfakes

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires pitched trademarks as one of the most practical tools for combating artificial intelligence deepfakes, saying during a Wednesday webinar that name, image and likeness rights are "where the puck is going," peppering his remarks with pop culture references and sports metaphors.

  • February 04, 2026

    Patent Settlement Blocks Fitness Tech ITC Case

    An Atlanta federal court said a U.S. fitness technology company can't go to the U.S. International Trade Commission to complain about an Australian rival's alleged patent-infringing bicycle training products because of a previous settlement agreement, ordering Wahoo to withdraw its ITC complaint.

  • February 04, 2026

    Whoop Nabs Block On Chinese Co.'s Health-Tracker Products

    A Massachusetts federal judge has blocked a Chinese company from selling in the U.S. its health-tracking products that were alleged by health band maker Whoop Inc. to be infringing its trade dress.

  • February 04, 2026

    Carnegie Mellon Avoids Alice Ax Of Patents In Calif. Suit

    A California federal judge has shot down a bid by an indirect Broadcom Inc. subsidiary to invalidate claims in a pair of Carnegie Mellon University patents the company has been accused of infringing, saying they passed muster under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice test.

  • February 03, 2026

    XAI Fights Uphill To Keep Alive OpenAI IP Theft Suit

    Elon Musk's xAI urged a California federal judge Tuesday to change her tentative decision to toss its suit accusing OpenAI of poaching its workers to steal trade secrets, arguing that when considered together, the "whole gestalt" of xAI's allegations against individual employees is enough to state viable claims against OpenAI.

  • February 03, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Questions Bid To Undo Google, Microsoft PTAB Win

    A Federal Circuit panel appeared unpersuaded Tuesday by an inventor's arguments that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should have ended reviews of computer-locating patents challenged by Google and Microsoft due to actions by LG in a related case, and that the board wrongly invalidated the patents.

  • February 03, 2026

    Martin Shkreli Countersues, Adds RZA To Wu-Tang Fight

    Martin Shkreli has filed counterclaims and added Wu-Tang Clan rappers and producers RZA and Cilvaringz as counterdefendants in litigation over the group's one-of-a-kind album he once owned, a move that comes just weeks after a New York federal judge rejected Shkreli's request to bring the Wu-Tang members into the dispute.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Logic Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching middle and high school students the skills to untangle complicated arguments and identify faulty reasoning has made me reacquaint myself with the defined structure of thought, reminding me why logic should remain foundational in the practice of law, says Tom Barrow at Woods Rogers.

  • From IPR To EPR: The Rapid Rise Of Ex Parte Reexamination

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    With the current administration's dramatic shifts in policy rendering inter partes reviews essentially unavailable for the majority of patents being asserted in litigation, IPR filing rates have plunged, and ex parte reexamination requests have surged to the average rate of IPR petitions in 2024, say attorneys at McKool Smith.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

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    Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

  • Upshot Of 'Skinny Label' Case May Go Beyond Pharma

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's pending review of Hikma v. Amarin, over a drugmaker's "skinny label," carries implications for both generics and brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers, and could shed light on how inducement doctrine should operate in other regulated industries where products have substantial lawful uses, says Jason Shull at Banner Witcoff.

  • Assessing Factors Behind Biosimilar Uptake And Competition

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    As biosimilar uptake remains uneven and questions linger over whether the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act can deliver robust competition between biologics and biosimilars, a case study of Humira and its biosimilars illustrates how many factors, including payor reimbursement and formulary strategy, collectively shape competitive dynamics, say analysts at Analysis Group.

  • How 2 Tech Statutes Are Being Applied To Agentic AI

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    The application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act to agentic artificial intelligence is still developing, but recent case law, like Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity in California federal court, provides some initial guidance for companies developing or deploying these technologies, say attorneys at Weil.

  • FTC Focus: Testing Joint Enforcement Over Loyalty Programs

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    The Federal Trade Commission's case against Syngenta can be understood both as a canary for further scrutiny over loyalty-discount practices and a signal of the durability of joint federal-state antitrust enforcement, with key takeaways for practitioners and those subject to regulatory antitrust scrutiny alike, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • Checking In On Biologics-Related Patent Review Trends

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    Comprehensive analysis of Patent Trial and Appeal Board data since the PTAB's creation indicates that while inter partes review and post-grant review are potent weapons for challenging biologics-related patents, recent policy changes may reduce their effectiveness, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • Patent Eligibility Faces Widening Gap Between USPTO, Courts

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    The year 2026 opened with a profoundly altered Patent Act Section 101 ecosystem — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has pushed eligibility as far open as it can for artificial intelligence technologies, but the courts are not on the same page, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Expect Major Shifts In Patent And Trademark Policy This Year

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    New leadership and initiatives promise to bring consequential changes to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's practices in 2026, likely favoring patent allowance and issuance, as well as streamlining trademark processes, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: MDL Year In Review

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    2025 was a roller coaster for the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, with the panel canceling one hearing session due to the absence of new MDL petitions, yet also issuing rulings on more new MDL petitions than in 2024 — making it clear that MDLs are still thriving, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

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