Intellectual Property

  • May 16, 2024

    High Court Told USPTO's Address Requirement Is Dangerous

    A North Carolina trademark law firm is taking its fight against a new rule requiring trademark applicants to provide their home addresses all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, telling the justices that this requirement publicized "the home addresses of victims of domestic violence and stalking, as well as celebrities and other public figures."

  • May 16, 2024

    Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

    An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

  • May 16, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Grills Sherwin-Williams, PPG On Coating Patents

    The judges of the Federal Circuit had tough questions for both sides Thursday as Sherwin-Williams Co. appealed a jury verdict that its beverage can coating patents are invalid due to earlier patents issued to PPG Industries Inc., which was accused of infringement.

  • May 16, 2024

    Donna Summer's Estate Working With Ye To Settle IP Suit

    Donna Summer's estate has indicated that it is finalizing a settlement with rappers Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign to resolve a copyright complaint that alleges the musicians sampled the legendary disco singer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love" without permission.

  • May 16, 2024

    Viacom Sues Apparel Co. Over 'TMNT,' 'Avatar' Products

    Viacom International Inc. accused an apparel and toys company in New York federal court of profiting off products that infringe its trademarks for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender," among other intellectual properties.

  • May 16, 2024

    DC Judge Reluctantly Holds That Hyatt Forfeited Patents

    A D.C. federal judge on Thursday found the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sufficiently proven that inventor Gilbert Hyatt forfeited the right to receive certain patents based on decades of delay, but made clear that his finding was the result of a Federal Circuit mandate, not how he thought the case should be approached.

  • May 16, 2024

    Gilead, Teva Want 17 HIV Drug Antitrust Appeals Consolidated

    Gilead Sciences Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals are asking the Ninth Circuit to consolidate 17 appeals contesting their win in a case alleging they delayed generic versions of HIV medications, saying the three groups of buyers are raising largely the same issues but refuse to commit to combining their briefs.

  • May 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Tries To Untangle Aftermath Of Judge's Early Exit

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Thursday quizzed attorneys for rival breeders of disease-resistant shrimp about whether a $10 million trade-secrets jury verdict should be overturned after a federal magistrate judge presided over the trial's ending because a federal district judge had to catch a flight, with one of the panel judges saying the parties had been put "in a very difficult position."

  • May 16, 2024

    Ex-Execs Accuse Truist Of Hijacking Control Of Mortgage Unit

    Three former executives who spearheaded the real estate finance arm of Truist Financial Corp. before they left for a competitor are countersuing the bank for allegedly usurping control of the business, saying Truist then tried forcing them out to skirt paying severance.

  • May 16, 2024

    Baker Botts Grows IP Group With Perkins Coie Atty In Calif.

    Baker Botts has welcomed a Perkins Coie LLP partner to its Palo Alto, California, office, strengthening its intellectual property department with a litigator whose clients include Chinese and Taiwanese technology companies, the international law firm announced Thursday.

  • May 16, 2024

    Pa. Pot Co. Says No Deal To Breach In Growth IP Suit

    A Pennsylvania cannabis cultivator is asking a federal court to dismiss a suit claiming it broke an oral agreement with a consulting firm and continued to use the firm's trade secrets, saying no oral contract existed, nor was the firm's information trade secrets.

  • May 16, 2024

    Nordstrom Settles Patagonia's Suit Over Alleged Counterfeits

    Patagonia has agreed to toss its trademark lawsuit accusing Nordstrom's Nordstrom Rack discount stores of selling thousands of "obvious counterfeits" after their partnership ended and then refusing to issue a recall on the products once Patagonia complained.

  • May 16, 2024

    Fracking Services Co. Nitro Hits Ch. 11 After IP Trial Loss

    Oil and gas fracking services provider Nitro Fluids LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court with more than $50 million in debt, months after a jury found it had infringed another company's patents.

  • May 15, 2024

    Newman Wasn't At Fed. Circ. Conference, But She Was Invited

    U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's absence from Tuesday's Federal Circuit Judicial Conference was not due to a lack of invitation, contrary to initial comments from her lawyer, but the law isn't explicit about whether a suspended judge legally could have been excluded.

  • May 15, 2024

    Ex-Samsung Exec Called Netlist Leaders 'Morons,' Jury Hears

    A former sales executive for Samsung testified Wednesday to a California federal jury that he made fun of Netlist executives in an email to his boss as they were repeatedly trying to secure product deliveries, calling them "morons" who didn't understand that "nobody likes or wants them as a customer."

  • May 15, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Backs Xerox Win In Printer Patent Case

    The Federal Circuit has affirmed a New York federal judge's decision that handed Xerox Corp. a win in a suit claiming the company infringed a series of printer technology patents owned by a youth sports company.

  • May 15, 2024

    Lilly Lands Default ITC Order Against Weight Loss Copycats

    The U.S. International Trade Commission voted on Wednesday to give Eli Lilly a default win against the remaining companies in the drugmaker's trademark case surrounding its highly popular, billion-dollar weight loss drugs.

  • May 15, 2024

    Little People Wrestling Co. Starts 'Micro' TM Fight With Rival

    Low Budget Rock Star Entertainment LLC, which produces wrestling entertainment featuring little people, has accused two men of infringing its trademark by using the word "micro" in their own wrestling ventures, according to a lawsuit filed in Florida federal court.

  • May 15, 2024

    Caltech Makes A Deal With Dell, Ending Another Patent Suit

    The California Institute of Technology has reached a settlement in its patent lawsuit against Dell Technologies Inc., the latest deal the school has cut in suits over its data transmission patents in the years after its $1.1 billion verdict against Apple Inc. crashed at the Federal Circuit.

  • May 15, 2024

    1 Year After Warhol, Judges Feel Their Way Through Fair Use

    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a rock photographer in a copyright dispute over Andy Warhol's iconic silkscreens of music legend Prince, judges have had to rethink their analysis of fair use — sometimes struggling to apply the high court's conclusions to the facts of the cases before them.

  • May 15, 2024

    'Misconduct Bingo Card' Warrants $2M In Fees, Co. Says

    Cozy Comfort, maker of the Comfy sweatshirt featured on "Shark Tank," has asked for nearly $2 million in fees — and about $8 million in additional interest — in a suit where a jury found that Chicago hooded sweatshirt retailer Top Brand owed over $18 million for infringing design patents and trademarks.

  • May 15, 2024

    NJ Firm Picks Up An Ex-NPE Patent Litigator

    A small New Jersey firm has hired a longtime patent litigator from the "nonpracticing entity" trenches, who tells Law360 that he's since sworn off "NPE work," because it's become too hard to make money from those cases.

  • May 15, 2024

    Winston & Strawn Adds Buchalter IP Atty As Trademarks Lead

    Global firm Winston & Strawn LLP has hired a Buchalter PC attorney to bolster its intellectual property practice and lead its global trademark prosecution and counseling efforts.

  • May 15, 2024

    Photographer Sues De La Hoya's Co. Over Lennox Lewis Pic

    A photographer has sued Oscar De La Hoya's boxing promotion business, its parent company, and Getty Images US for allegedly using a photo of former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis without his permission.

  • May 15, 2024

    Senators Release 'Road Map' For Crafting Federal AI Policy

    A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday laid out a "road map" for artificial intelligence policy that calls for increased AI innovation funding, testing of potential harms posed by AI and consideration of the technology's workforce implications.

Expert Analysis

  • Averting Patent And Other IP Risks In Generative AI Use

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    While leveraging generative AI presents potential problems such as loss of ownership of patents and other intellectual properties, a series of practice tips, including ensuring that the technology is used as a supplementary tool and is not contributing to invention conception, can help mitigate those concerns, say Mackenzie Martin and Bryce Bailey at Baker McKenzie.

  • After TikTok, Tiptoeing Toward Patent Transfer Alignment

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    Following the Fifth Circuit's TikTok decision, which aimed to standardize transfer analysis in patent cases, the Federal Circuit and Texas federal courts facing transfer requests have taken small steps to consider the practical realities of patent litigation, reinforcing the intensely factual focus of the analysis, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

  • New Hydrogen Regulations Show The Need For IP Protections

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    The introduction of hydrogen regulations, such as the IRS' proposed tax credit for clean hydrogen under the Inflation Reduction Act, are reshaping the competitive landscape, with intellectual property rights an area of increased emphasis, say Evan Glass and James De Vellis at Foley & Lardner.

  • Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • Opinion

    Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation

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    The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.

  • 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.

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