Intellectual Property

  • April 19, 2024

    Tattoo Artist Loses IP Trial Against NBA 2K Video Game Cos.

    An Ohio federal jury on Friday found in favor of the makers of the video game series NBA 2K, which were accused by a tattoo artist of infringing copyrights he has on tattoos that he inked on LeBron James and other basketball players.

  • April 19, 2024

    Steelmaker Asks ITC To Halt EV Imports From Vietnamese Co.

    Luxembourg-based steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to bar electric vehicle imports from Vinfast, which claims to be the first Vietnamese business to ship electric cars worldwide, with ArcelorMittal saying the company is infringing its patented aluminum-steel coating.

  • April 19, 2024

    Protein Powder Co. Can't Boost $10M Trade Dress Award

    Protein powder maker Orgain wasn't able to increase its $10 million jury award it won in a trade dress infringement lawsuit against a rival, with a California federal judge saying she wouldn't give it a "massive windfall."

  • April 19, 2024

    AI Image Cos. Say Artists Offer Little Proof In Copyright Case

    Four companies that make or distribute artificial intelligence software that creates art through prompts have told a California federal court that a proposed class action from artists must end, arguing the plaintiffs still have not shown proof that any of the businesses infringed or induced infringement of copyrighted works.

  • April 19, 2024

    Paramount Says 'Wolfman' Claims In 'Top Gun' Suit Don't Fly

    Paramount Pictures has urged a California federal court to toss a lawsuit from the actor who played Henry "Wolfman" Ruth in the original "Top Gun," saying he cannot claim his image was used in the 2022 sequel without his permission because the movie studio owns all rights to the Wolfman character.

  • April 19, 2024

    Off The Bench: NCAA Rules, Trans Athlete Win, NBA Pro's Ban

    In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA formally lifted restrictions on athletes transferring schools and how they can receive name, image and likeness money, West Virginia's transgender sports ban is dealt a blow by the Fourth Circuit, and betting costs an NBA player his career.

  • April 19, 2024

    Royal Mail Accuses Developer Of Copying Postcode Database

    Royal Mail has accused a software developer of using its database of postcode information to set up its own address-finding company.

  • April 19, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen U.K. holiday resort chain Butlins target Aviva and a huddle of insurers, Meta and WhatsApp tackle a patents claim by telecommunications company Semitel, an ongoing construction dispute between Essex County Council and Balfour Beatty, and Formycon AG hit a pharmaceutical company for infringing medical products. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 18, 2024

    Amazon Ignored Labor, IP Laws In AI 'Panic,' Ex-Worker Says

    An artificial intelligence researcher suing Amazon for labor law violations says it disregarded numerous laws in a frantic attempt to catch up to its AI rivals, directing her to ignore copyright laws in developing its large language models and retaliating when her pregnancy leave coincided with a rival's product launch.

  • April 18, 2024

    USPTO Reveals Scaled-Back Plan For New Patent Board Rules

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled proposed Patent Trial and Appeal Board rules Thursday that would codify current policies on when multiple challenges to one patent are permitted and set a new briefing process about discretionary denials, which attorneys say should add clarity.

  • April 18, 2024

    BofA Keeps Win Against Movie Website's TM Suit At 10th Circ.

    The Tenth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a lower court's ruling that Bank of America's virtual assistant "Erica" did not infringe on the trademark of an online movie database, saying the plaintiff failed to establish that the service mark "E.R.I.C.A" was directly associated with the search services offered on the website.

  • April 18, 2024

    You Can't Get Fees Without Asking First, Judge Tells Dell

    U.S. District Judge Alan Albright on Thursday declined to order a patent litigation plaintiff to pay attorney fees after bringing a failed patent suit, finding that Dell failed to file any motion requesting fees despite claiming the case was "frivolous" and "meritless" from the start.

  • April 18, 2024

    Trump Wants Cut Of Fundraising That Uses His Name, Image

    Former President Donald Trump is asking for help from Republicans to boost his reelection campaign coffers, with his staffers saying in a letter that GOP fundraisers should split off a portion of the money they collect when using Trump's name, image and likeness in their solicitations for cash.

  • April 18, 2024

    Samsung Gets PTAB To Sink Netlist Patent Claim

    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has sided with Samsung's arguments that a claim in a patent owned by chipmaker Netlist wasn't valid, after the board already found that an earlier decade-old suit against Google didn't block Samsung's petition.

  • April 18, 2024

    Fed. Circ. Maintains Newman Can't Invalidate Disability Law

    Suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman has still not proven that the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act has no constitutional uses and should therefore be invalidated, the Federal Circuit's judicial council told a D.C. federal judge Thursday.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ga. Cargo Co. Says Marks Are Generic In $15M IP Dispute

    A Georgia-based cargo company urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a $15 million judgment awarded to a competitor over trademark violations, saying the intellectual property that it's accused of using is generic.

  • April 18, 2024

    Oakland Airport Name Change Will Create A Mess, SF Says

    Oakland, California, wants to change its airport's name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, but the city of San Francisco said in a California federal lawsuit Thursday that the name would not only befuddle travelers but also unlawfully incorporate San Francisco International Airport's name.

  • April 18, 2024

    Cybersecurity Startup Loses 2 Patents At PTAB

    A small cybersecurity startup litigating in Virginia federal court against larger tech companies has failed to persuade the Patent Trial and Appeal Board not to invalidate the entirety of two patents covering ways of combating "evolving" online threats, among other things.

  • April 18, 2024

    Sale Offer Should Doom Jetaire IP Suit, Judge Says

    A Florida federal magistrate judge has said aviation company AerSale should get a win on arguments that not only did it not infringe a trio of Jetaire patents, but also that the patents are invalid.

  • April 18, 2024

    Kimmel Atty Defends Airing 'Patently Ridiculous' Santos Clips

    A lawyer for Jimmy Kimmel told a Manhattan federal judge Thursday that the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law allows the late-night host to air silly videos that he tricked indicted former congressman George Santos into making on the personalized messaging platform Cameo.  

  • April 18, 2024

    Biotech Co. NanoString Lands $393M Bid At Ch. 11 Auction

    Scientific instrument maker Bruker Corp. is set to acquire insolvent biotechnology company NanoString for roughly $393 million in cash that would be used to repay creditors under the debtor's recently proposed Chapter 11 plan, a notice filed in Delaware's bankruptcy court shows.

  • April 18, 2024

    Ex-BigLaw Atty Can't Get Stalking Injunction Against Influencer

    A Florida state judge on Wednesday denied a former Greenberg Traurig LLP partner's request for a cyberstalking injunction against a social media influencer, saying the petitioner did not show enough evidence to justify it.

  • April 18, 2024

    Red Roof Franchise Co. Settles IP Fight With Motel Operator

    Red Roof Inn's Ohio-based location franchising company and the Toledo motel operator it accused of still using the hospitality chain's branding almost two years after its franchise agreement was terminated have agreed to settle the intellectual property dispute between them, according to a new joint notice.

  • April 18, 2024

    Hipgnosis Agrees To $1.4B Takeover By US Rival Concord

    Concord Chorus has agreed to buy its British music royalties rival Hipgnosis Songs Fund in an all-cash transaction worth $1.4 billion, as the U.S. company looks to add 1.2 million more songs to its portfolio, the companies said in joint statement Thursday.

  • April 17, 2024

    Mintz Sues Parking Meter Co. Over $4.3M IP Legal Bill

    Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC sued parking meter provider Duncan Parking Technologies Inc. and its parent company, CivicSmart Inc., in Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, accusing its former clients of owing $4.3 million in unpaid legal fees and interest for representing CivicSmart in a since-settled patent litigation.

Expert Analysis

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Opinion

    Patent Waiver For COVID Meds Would Harm US Biopharma

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    If the Biden administration backs the World Trade Organization in waiving patent rights on COVID-19 treatments, it would negatively affect the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry and help foreign competitors, without necessarily expanding global access to COVID-19 care, says clinical pathologist Wolfgang Klietmann.

  • 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.

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