Intellectual Property

  • April 01, 2024

    High Court Refuses To Revisit Alice Ruling In Steel Beam Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to revisit its landmark ruling on how courts should determine patent eligibility, this time rejecting a plea coming from a company whose claim to have invented an important new method for automating the manufacture of steel beams failed to hold up in court.

  • April 01, 2024

    Ex-Pharma Co. Exec Denies Signing Noncompete Deal

    The former director of government sales for a pharmaceutical company asked the North Carolina Business Court on Friday to knock out a breach of contract claim in a lawsuit that alleges he took trade secrets to a competitor, arguing the company has no valid noncompete agreement to back it up.

  • April 01, 2024

    In East Texas, Korean Biz Bags $10M Verdict Over 5G Patents

    Jurors in Texas federal court ordered a Chinese phone manufacturer on Monday to pay more than $10 million to Korean entity Pantech in a patent dispute over technology used to comply with 5G wireless standards.

  • April 01, 2024

    Duracell Gets Vape Co.'s 'Optimum' TM Suit Tossed For Good

    A New Jersey federal judge has thrown out a vape company's trademark suit alleging Duracell U.S. Operations Inc. infringed on its trademark for the "Optimum" brand name, saying there's no evidence showing any actual or potential confusion between the companies' products.

  • March 29, 2024

    Northern Texas Judges Won't Adopt Judge-Shopping Rule

    Judges with the Northern District of Texas have opted not to make any changes to how cases are assigned, despite a recent letter from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging the district to implement an updated policy aiming to prevent litigants from judge shopping, the district's chief judge said Friday.

  • March 29, 2024

    Intel License Defense Tossed In Calif. VLSI Patent Case

    A California federal judge on Friday threw out Intel's counterclaim arguing that it has a license to VLSI's microchip patents in a multibillion-dollar dispute, indicating that it can be raised in a separate case.

  • March 29, 2024

    Judge Denies Injunction For Tyvaso Drug Competitor

    A D.C. federal judge Friday denied drugmaker United Therapeutics Corp.'s attempt to preemptively block the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from approving a new competitor to its blockbuster pulmonary hypertension medication Tyvaso, saying the company was effectively seeking to challenge an agency action before the FDA made one.

  • March 29, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Tears Cancer Testing Rivals Apart In Injunction Args

    A trio of Federal Circuit judges appeared fed up Friday with a Morrison Foerster LLP attorney who they repeatedly suggested was focusing on arguments not raised to the district court judge who had blocked her client from selling certain cancer tests while facing infringement litigation.

  • March 29, 2024

    Allergan Scoffs At Sandoz Bid To Undo $39M Patent Loss

    Allergan told the Federal Circuit to reject Sandoz's fight over a $39 million verdict against it for infringing an Allergan eyelash growth drug patent, saying Sandoz's reliance on a 2014 decision involving the same drug misses the decision's central point.

  • March 29, 2024

    In Pandora Win, Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Playlist Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Friday declined to revive a collection of patents on generating playlists that were issued to an early, erstwhile executive at Amazon and were asserted in a failed lawsuit against music streaming website Pandora.

  • March 29, 2024

    9th Circ. Critical Of Treasure Hunter's Insurance Appeal

    A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubt Friday that a treasure hunter could get an insurer to pay him a $7.5 million settlement over a soured shipwreck salvaging expedition, suggesting his ex-partners' refusal to hand over vital maps was an intentional act to keep him from striking gold — not an accident covered by insurance.

  • March 29, 2024

    UK Photog Tells Judge Napster License Didn't Cover Original Art

    A British photographer told a Washington federal judge Friday that Napster's promotion of a reggae record infringed his copyright for the photo used on the album cover, arguing that even though he licensed the album art to a record company, the music streamer did not have rights to the photo itself.

  • March 29, 2024

    Winston & Strawn Looks To Settle Brief-Copying IP Suit

    A Winston & Strawn LLP attorney on Friday told a Manhattan federal judge that the firm is angling to settle a copyright infringement suit that accuses its attorneys of copying a motion-to-dismiss filing by a boutique intellectual property firm "nearly verbatim," saying it isn't worth the cost to all involved.

  • March 29, 2024

    Nikola Says Convicted Ex-CEO Plotting Illegal Board Takeover

    Electric truck manufacturer Nikola Corp. sued its former CEO and convicted felon Trevor Milton in Arizona federal court Friday, accusing him of scheming with unqualified loyalists to regain control of the company by flouting securities laws, infringing Nikola's trademarks and breaching agreements.

  • March 29, 2024

    Vidal Tells PTAB To Better Explain Nokia Challenge Denials

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has vacated the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's refusal to hear three patent challenges by Nokia, telling the board to more fully explain its holding that the patent office had already considered the invalidity arguments.

  • March 29, 2024

    Trojan Battery Co. Gets $2.6M Win In TM Row

    A Texas federal judge has sided with Trojan Battery Co. in its trademark infringement and unfair competition case against Trojan EV LLC and Golf Carts of Cypress LLC, ordering a permanent injunction and an award of millions of dollars.

  • March 29, 2024

    Vidal Offers 'Peace Of Mind' For MDL Rivals Heading To PTAB

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Kathi Vidal has set new boundaries on interpreting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's discretionary denial precedent for follow-on petitions, making clear that defendants can work together in multidistrict litigation without giving up the right to file separate patent challenges.

  • March 29, 2024

    Gambling Co. To Face Most Card Shuffle Tech Antitrust Claims

    An Illinois federal judge largely refused to let Scientific Games Corp. duck monopolization claims over its automatic card shufflers dominance, finding that with the exception of two out of six asserted patents, a would-be rival has adequately alleged the company tricked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office into granting those patents.

  • March 29, 2024

    Del. Judge Clears Liquidia To Sell Lung-Disease Drug

    A Delaware federal judge has ruled that biochemical startup Liquidia can launch its lung disease drug after the Federal Circuit upheld a patent board ruling cutting out the remaining claims in a hypertension patent owned by United Therapeutics that was keeping the drug off the market.

  • March 29, 2024

    DraftKings Rips Former Exec's 'Lies' In Ongoing Fanatics Spat

    Former DraftKings executive Michael Hermalyn lied in his opposition last week to its preliminary injunction request, just as he had during his departure to rival Fanatics and throughout a trade secrets and breach of contract suit against him, the company has told a Massachusetts federal court in defending its injunction request.

  • March 28, 2024

    Apple Says Ex-Engineer Leaked To 'Homeboy,' Other Journos

    Apple Inc. is accusing a former engineer of leaking sensitive information about its business practices, internal policies and products to employees at other technology companies as well as at least three journalists for national publications — including one saved in his phone as "Homeboy" — in a suit in California state court.

  • March 28, 2024

    Penile Implant Doc Awarded $18.3M After Trade Secrets Trial

    A California federal judge on Thursday awarded more than $18.3 million in royalties and damages to a urologist who won a jury trial verdict last year over a competitor's theft of penile implant trade secrets.

  • March 28, 2024

    Quinn Emanuel Adds Longtime Kirkland Litigator In Chicago

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's office in Chicago has added a 24-year veteran of Kirkland & Ellis LLP who litigates intellectual property, high-profile torts and product liability matters, the firm announced this week.

  • March 28, 2024

    NY Garment Co. Appeals Valentino's Award In Copyright Feud

    A garment manufacturer has asked a New York federal court to hold off on enforcing Valentino SpA's arbitral award for costs related to a copyright case, saying it is a small company and will be ruined if the Italian luxury brand collects its money while an appeal remains pending.

  • March 28, 2024

    Centripetal Rips Palo Alto Bid To Scrap $151.5M Patent Verdict

    Centripetal Networks has urged a Virginia federal judge to reject Palo Alto Networks' request to discard a $151.5 million jury verdict against it for infringing cybersecurity patents or order a new trial, saying the evidence supports the infringement finding and the damages award.

Expert Analysis

  • Copyright Lessons Following Ruling In Artist AI Suit

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    The recent California district court ruling in Andersen v. Stability AI — that artists needed to specify how the training of artificial intelligence tools violated their copyrights — shows that lawyers on either side of generative AI matters must carefully navigate copyright issues including temporary copying and data sourcing, says Carlos Araya at Magnolia Abogados.

  • The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift

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    As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.

  • Fed. Circ. In Jan.: One Word Can Affect Claim Construction

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    The Federal Circuit's recent Pacific Biosciences v. Personal Genomics decision highlights how even construction of a simple term can be dispositive, and thus disputed, in view of the specific context provided by the surrounding claim language, say Jeremiah Helm and Sean Murray at Knobbe.

  • The State Of Play In NIL, Compensation For Student-Athletes

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    Recent NCAA developments — including name, image, and likeness legislation and a governance and compensation proposal — reflect a shift from the initial hands-off approach to student-athletes' NIL deals and an effort to allow colleges to directly compensate student-athletes without categorizing them as employees, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • 5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money

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    As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.

  • UK Ruling Revitalizes Discussions On Harmonizing AI And IP

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General last month has reinvigorated ongoing discussions about how the developments in artificial intelligence fit within the existing intellectual property legislative landscape, illustrating that effective regulation will be critical as the value and influence of this sector grows, say Nick White and Olivia Gray at Charles Russell.

  • Expediting Psychedelics Approvals In The US And Canada

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    Accelerated regulatory pathways for psychedelics in the U.S. and Canada play a pivotal role in the progression of drugs, devices and novel therapies toward commercialization, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell, and Ana Dukic and Sabrina Ramkellawan at AxialBridge.

  • Series

    Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Series

    The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52

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    Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.

  • AI Takes Transformers Beyond Robots In Disguise

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    At the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law, the shape-shifting models known as transformers raise the question of whether using copyrighted materials to train such models constitutes a transformative use, says Sean Li at Benesch.

  • AI Inventorship Patent Options After UK Supreme Court Ruling

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Thaler v. Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks that an AI system cannot be an inventor raises questions about alternative approaches to patent protection for AI-generated inventions and how the decision might affect infringement and validity disputes around such patents, says David Knight at Brown Rudnick.

  • Considerations For Lawyer Witnesses After FTX Trial

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    Sam Bankman-Fried's recent trial testimony about his lawyers' involvement in FTX's business highlights the need for attorney-witnesses to understand privilege issues in order to avoid costly discovery disputes and, potentially, uncover critical evidence an adversary might seek to conceal, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.

  • Del. Ruling Features Valuable Analysis For IPR Estoppel Args

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    Last month, the District Court of Delaware held in Prolitec v. ScentAir Technologies that IPR estoppel does not apply to device art, and the analysis in the case provides welcome illumination for how IPR estoppel arguments should be decided, says Chris Ponder at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Taking A Closer Look At Fed. Circ. Claim Construction Split

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    An empirical analysis of a year's worth of claim construction decisions from the Federal Circuit and four key district court jurisdictions shows that these constructions vary in material ways depending on the analysis' source, and this body of case law would benefit from clarification by the Federal Circuit itself, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Staying Ahead Of The AI Policymaking Curve

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    With artificial intelligence poised to be the hottest legislative and regulatory topic in 2024, expect the AI policymaking toolbox to continue to expand and evolve as stakeholders in the U.S. and abroad develop, deploy, use and learn more about these technologies, say attorneys at Hogan Lovells.

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