Intellectual Property

  • January 09, 2026

    Judge Denies 'Fatally Untimely' Bid For New Poaching Trial

    A Boston federal judge has denied what she called a "fatally untimely" motion for a new trial after a jury handed Cynosure LLC a $25 million verdict against two former employees who the company said caused other employees to breach their noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements.

  • January 09, 2026

    Patent Protection Firm Ends Software Infringement Suit

    A patent protection services firm has dropped its case against a photo-editing software company alleging infringement of three patents covering advanced image processing.

  • January 09, 2026

    How New Judges Can Quell Patent Litigation Fears

    Patent litigation has a reputation for being particularly complex due to its technical content, which can be intimidating for litigants, attorneys and judges alike. In the first of a two-part series, several judges in the trenches of patent law spoke with Law360 about how new judges can make patent litigation less overwhelming.

  • January 09, 2026

    Rakoff Hints 'Baby Shark' Mail-Service Precedent Is Unpopular

    U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff on Friday critiqued a Second Circuit decision requiring mail service to alleged Chinese infringers of "Baby Shark" trademarks, which he said may slow Google's effort to shutter an alleged China-based global phishing scam.

  • January 09, 2026

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Trade Secrets Row, A Patient Data Deal

    The North Carolina Business Court closed out the year by tossing a trade secrets fight brought by a corrugated packing manufacturer against its onetime star salesman and signing off on a $2.45 million settlement ending claims a healthcare system sold patients' data to Meta.

  • January 09, 2026

    Texas Law Firm Sues Former Clients Over $11M Unpaid Fees

    Law firm Williams Simons & Landis PC is suing a group of its former clients, saying they breached a representation contract by failing to pay more than $11 million owed to the firm after a successful trade secrets suit against Walmart.

  • January 09, 2026

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

    This past week in London has seen a collapsed investment firm revive a $15 million dispute with a hedge fund, major Hollywood studios bring an IP claim against the U.K.'s largest internet providers over illegal streaming, and the Department of Health and Social Care sue the law firm and barrister representing it in a pharma competition damages case.

  • January 08, 2026

    Apple Beats Antitrust Suit Over Heart Rate Data At 9th Circ.

    A Ninth Circuit panel affirmed Apple's win Thursday against startup AliveCor Inc.'s antitrust claims alleging it illegally blocked third-party access to Apple Watch medical data to create rival software, finding that Apple has no "duty to deal" with AliveCor and therefore the startup's claims fail as a matter of law.

  • January 08, 2026

    OpenAI Fights Authors' Demand For Info On $1B Disney Deal

    OpenAI urged a New York federal judge Thursday to reject a request from authors for details of its newly struck $1 billion licensing agreement with Disney, saying the terms are irrelevant to claims that the company unlawfully used the authors' copyrighted works, because the deal doesn't involve textual works.

  • January 08, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Says Crocs' Appeal Of Split ITC Loss Came Too Late

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday rebuffed Crocs Inc.'s efforts to save its request for an import ban against companies it accused of importing footwear infringing its trademarks, finding the company was too late in challenging the mixed ITC ruling that generated two appeal deadlines.

  • January 08, 2026

    Comcast Wants Full Fed. Circ. To Rethink Transfer Denial

    Comcast said Thursday that the full Federal Circuit should review a December panel decision that shot down its bid to overturn an Eastern District of Texas judge's decision declining to transfer an infringement suit the telecom behemoth is facing to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

  • January 08, 2026

    Virginia Justices Order New Trial In $2B Trade Secrets Case

    The Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a state appellate court decision that vacated Appian Corp.'s $2 billion trade secrets award against software competitor Pegasystems Inc., saying the decision correctly ordered a new trial because errors from the trial judge led to the biggest jury award in Virginia history.

  • January 08, 2026

    Salt-N-Pepa Can't Keep Pushing Copyright Fight, Judge Says

    A New York federal judge on Thursday dismissed a case brought by Salt-N-Pepa seeking the copyrights for several of the hip-hop group's most popular songs against UMG Recordings Inc., saying none of the relevant agreements between the parties indicate that the group ever owned the copyrights at issue.

  • January 08, 2026

    AbbVie Sues Over Bids To Market Generic Migraine Drugs

    AbbVie and its Allergan unit have filed patent infringement lawsuits against MSN Pharmaceuticals and Hetero in New Jersey federal court, alleging the two pharmaceutical companies are infringing on patents for the migraine drug Qulipta.

  • January 08, 2026

    Yankees Slugger Wins TM Battle Over 'Judge' Slogans

    The Federal Circuit has blocked a Long Island man from registering trademarks for judicial-themed slogans that had already been used by New York Yankees star Aaron Judge, upholding a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision in the slugger's favor.

  • January 08, 2026

    Trader Gets Win On Subpoena Ahead Of Quant Secrets Trial

    A Manhattan federal judge said Thursday that a California quantitative trader accused of stealing billion-dollar secrets from Headlands Technologies has issued an enforceable subpoena to the firm ahead of his July criminal trial and vowed to detail what information must be provided.

  • January 08, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Affirms Intel, Dell Wins Over Graphics Patents

    The Federal Circuit on Thursday backed a series of Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that claims in a pair of 3D Surfaces LLC's 3D graphics processing patents were obvious, handing wins to challengers Dell and Intel.

  • January 08, 2026

    ITC To Investigate Smartwatch Giants Over Fall Detection IP

    The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday said it will review whether Apple, Google, Garmin and Samsung are infringing UnaliWear Inc.'s patents with their smartwatch imports.

  • January 08, 2026

    Vicor's Patent Defense Faces Skepticism In SynQor Case

    Electronics company Vicor's claims that it couldn't have shown "willful blindness" of SynQor's power converter technology patent that a jury said it infringed met with some skepticism from a panel of Federal Circuit judges, who pointed out that Vicor's CEO himself said that he didn't look at the patent.

  • January 08, 2026

    Leason Ellis Hires 9 Life Sciences Pros From Haley Guiliano

    Leason Ellis LLP announced Thursday that it has hired nine professionals with backgrounds in the life sciences from Haley Guiliano LLP, a patent practice that originated as a spin-off from Ropes & Gray LLP.

  • January 08, 2026

    Vape Companies Say ALJ Was Wrongly Appointed

    Vaping product companies NJOY LLC and Altria Group Inc. asked a Virginia federal judge to grant them a win in a suit brought against the U.S. International Trade Commission, saying an administrative law judge was improperly appointed in proceedings seeking to prevent them from importing certain e-vapor products and devices.

  • January 08, 2026

    DC Court Partially Trims Shein IP Suit Against Temu

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge has trimmed some of fast fashion company Shein's intellectual property lawsuit against one of the companies behind e-commerce platform Temu, but kept alive claims for false advertising and trade secret theft.

  • January 08, 2026

    Amici Back CoStar's Review Bid For Rival's Antitrust Claims

    Technology industry coalition Chamber of Progress and other parties are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant commercial real estate information company CoStar's review petition for a Ninth Circuit ruling that revived a business rival's antitrust counterclaims.

  • January 08, 2026

    Morgan Lewis Adds Ropes & Gray IP Expert In DC

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP has hired a top intellectual property attorney from Ropes & Gray LLP, who led that firm's Section 337 International Trade Commission practice and spent about 12.5 years there, Morgan Lewis announced Thursday.

  • January 07, 2026

    VW Joins The Fed. Circ. Fray Over Patent Review Discretion

    Volkswagen is the latest company to contest policy changes at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that make it harder to pursue patent challenges, telling the Federal Circuit that the agency's "unfettered discretion" to deny such challenges violates the U.S. Constitution.

Expert Analysis

  • Attys Beware: Generative AI Can Also Hallucinate Metadata

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    In addition to the well-known problem of AI-generated hallucinations in legal documents, AI tools can also hallucinate metadata — threatening the integrity of discovery, the reliability of evidence and the ability to definitively identify the provenance of electronic documents, say attorneys at Law & Forensics.

  • Lessons From Fed. Circ. On Expert Testimony In Patent Cases

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    Several recent decisions from the Federal Circuit are notable for their treatment of expert testimony, with relevance to the three pillars of every patent case — infringement, invalidity and damages — and offer lessons on ensuring that expert testimony is both admissible and sufficient to support the jury's verdict, say attorneys at Honigman.

  • When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

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    Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

  • TikTok Divestiture Deal Revolves Around IP Considerations

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    The divestiture deal between the U.S. and China to resolve a security dispute over TikTok's U.S. operations is seen as a diplomatic breakthrough, but its success hinges on the treatment of intellectual property and may set a precedent in the global contest over digital sovereignty and IP control, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Trending At The PTAB: A Potential Barrier To Serial Challenges

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    New rules proposed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office may appear similar to previous rules at first glance, but are actually much broader in how they would limit petitioners' ability to challenge a patent more than once, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Fed. Circ. In September: The Printed Matter Doctrine Expands

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    The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Bayer v. Mylan represents an extension of the doctrine that adding new words to an existing product or method will not support patentability unless there is a functional relationship, bringing new considerations for both patent holders and challengers, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • 10 Quick Tips To Elevate Your Evidence Presentation At Trial

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    A strong piece of evidence, whether in the form of testimony or exhibit, is wasted if not presented effectively, so attorneys must prepare with precision to help fact-finders both retain the information and internalize its significance, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Practicing Stoicism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Practicing Stoicism, by applying reason to ignore my emotions and govern my decisions, has enabled me to approach challenging situations in a structured way, ultimately providing advice singularly devoted to a client's interest, says John Baranello at Moses & Singer.

  • Broader Eligibility For AI-Related Patents May Be Coming

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    A series of recent developments from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appears to signal that claims involving improvement in the operation of a machine learning model are now more likely to be considered patent-eligible, and that patent examiners may focus on questions of novelty and nonobviousness and less so on subject matter eligibility, say attorneys at Kilpatrick.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Texas, One Year In

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    A year after the Texas Business Court's first decision, it's clear that Texas didn't just copy Delaware and instead built something uniquely its own, combining specialization with constitutional accountability and creating a model that looks forward without losing touch with the state's democratic and statutory roots, says Chris Bankler at Jackson Walker.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • Adapting To USPTO's Reduction Of Examiner Interview Time

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    Reported changes to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's examiner performance appraisal plan will likely make interviews scarcer throughout the application process, potentially influencing patent allowance rates and increasing the importance of approaching each interview with a clear agenda and well-defined goals, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • What To Know About Interim Licenses In Global FRAND Cases

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    Recent U.K. court decisions have shaped a framework for interim licenses in global standard-essential patent disputes, under which parties can benefit from operating on temporary terms while a court determines the final fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms — but the future of this developing remedy is in doubt, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Anticipating FTC's Shift On Unfair Competition Enforcement

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    As the Federal Trade Commission signals that it will continue to challenge unfair or deceptive acts and practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act, but with higher evidentiary standards, attorneys counseling healthcare, technology, energy or pharmaceuticals clients should note several practice tips, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.

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