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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • April 10, 2026

    Federal Circuit Agrees With PTAB: Manual Is Anticipating Prior Art Reference

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not improperly conclude that a user guide for a web security system is a publicly accessible prior art reference, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held; the panel also affirmed PTAB’s finding that the user guide thus anticipates all claims of a patent describing a decryption system.

  • April 10, 2026

    3rd Circuit: Copying Of Building Codes Likely Fair Use

    PHILADELPHIA — A Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with a Pennsylvania federal judge that an online research platform was likely to succeed on its fair use defense against claims accusing it of infringing copyrighted building codes that have been incorporated into the International Building Code; the panel pointed to a 2023 opinion by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appealsinvolving the same plaintiff-appellant that similarly found fair use.

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Finds Mobile Game Patent Claims Invalid As Abstract, Tosses Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware granted a motion for a judgment on the pleadings from the maker of massively successful mobile phone video games like Pokémon GO, agreeing with the company that a patent asserted against the game studio was invalid for being directed at the abstract concept of determining a player’s location.

  • April 09, 2026

    Judge Finds Trademark Default ‘Exceptional’ For Purpose Of Attorney Fees

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge held that a defaulting defendant engineering entity owes more than $30,000 in attorney fees because a plaintiff information technology (IT) company that brought trademark infringement claims had managed to illustrate the “exceptional” nature of the case.

  • April 08, 2026

    Federal Circuit: ITC’s Claim Construction Rightly Led To Anticipation Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) correctly denied relief to an air conditioning patent holder that claimed that certain products imported into the United States infringed its patents; the panel affirmed findings that certain claims of the patent were invalid as anticipated, while the remaining claims required elements that the accused products lacked.

  • April 07, 2026

    Nvidia, Authors Debate Contributory Infringement After Supreme Court Ruling

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Nvidia Corp. and authors squared off in supplemental briefing over the impact a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has on contributory infringement claims involving the training of artificial intelligence.

  • April 07, 2026

    9th Circuit Agrees: ‘Foxy Lady’ Marks Not Sufficiently Similar For Infringement

    LAS VEGAS — A federal judge in Washington did not clearly err when finding that an exotic dance bar could not show that a “bikini barista” coffee shop’s use of marks containing the phrase “Foxy Lady” were sufficiently similar to the bar’s own marks containing the phrase, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the judge’s denial of the bar’s request for default judgment and the subsequent dismissal.

  • April 07, 2026

    Patent Invalid For Failing To Name Unreachable Inventor, Appeals Court Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In what it described as a matter of first impression, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Indiana federal judge’s findings that a fencing manufacturer could not correct a patent to add the name of an undisputed co-inventor who could not be contacted because the co-inventor was a “party concerned” for correction proceedings; the panel also agreed that the patents were invalid for omitting the co-inventor.

  • April 06, 2026

    Supreme Court Grants ISP’s Cert Request, Vacates 5th Circuit Ruling In Wake Of Cox

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6 granted an internet service provider’s (ISP) petition for a writ of certiorari and then immediately vacated a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that held that the ISP was vicariously liable for copyright infringement through its internet customers’ behavior.  The high court pointed to its recent opinion that reversed a similar ruling by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals against a different ISP.

  • April 06, 2026

    8th Circuit Affirms Fees Against Plaintiff Firm In Floor Plan Fair Use Case

    ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Missouri federal judge’s holding that a design company owed two real estate agents and affiliated entities a combined total of more than $230,000 in attorney fees, noting the lack of evidentiary support for many of the design company’s claims that the realtors had infringed copyrighted floor plans in resale listings.

  • April 03, 2026

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Partly Erred In Consideration Of Tesla-Led IPR

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wrongly construed some claims but correctly construed others during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Tesla Inc. regarding a patent describing electric vehicle charging systems, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, leading the panel to affirm some of PTAB’s findings but vacate and reverse others.

  • April 03, 2026

    Partly Split 4th Circuit Agrees Earlier Settlement Bars Trademark Claims

    RICHMOND, Va. — A partly split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a South Carolina federal magistrate judge’s finding that a plaintiff technology company’s federal trademark claims, filed only weeks after the settlement of state breach of contract claims, were barred by res judicata due to the “wide scope of the settlement agreement” in a dispute over marks containing the word “touch.”

  • April 02, 2026

    Patent Applicant Explicitly Disclaimed Prior Art Reference, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge rightly granted summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of defendant-appellee entities accused of infringing a patent describing air purifying technology because the patent applicant explicitly narrowed the scope of patent claims during prosecution history to exclude the type of reflective surfaces present in the accused devices, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled April 1.

  • April 02, 2026

    Judge Denies NCAA TRO Request For Trademark Claims Against DraftKings

    INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge in Indiana denied the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining DraftKings Inc. from using a series of marks related to the annual “March Madness” basketball tournament, holding that while the NCAA had established likelihood of confusion regarding DraftKings’ use of the marks, it had failed to show the likelihood of irreparable reputational harm.

  • April 01, 2026

    Appellee, Amicus: Rehearing Needed To Pin Down Patent Witness Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An amicus curiae public interest law firm argues in its March 31 brief that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should grant a petition for rehearing en banc by DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and related DePuy entities, echoing DePuy’s claims that a split panel’s decision to reverse a Pennsylvania federal court’s exclusion of two expert witnesses’ testimony on induced infringement constitutes a departure from recent Federal Circuit en banc precedent.

  • April 01, 2026

    Personalized Ads Patent Claim Invalid As Abstract, Appeals Court Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 31 held that a California federal judge correctly ruled that the asserted claim of a technology company that accused TikTok Inc. and related entities of infringement was invalid as abstract for lack of details on how to implement the claim; the panel agreed that the asserted claim does no more than describe the abstract concept of personalizing content based on a user’s profile.

  • April 01, 2026

    Judge: No Personal & Advertising Injury Coverage Owed For Trademark Infringement Suit

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an insured’s lawsuit seeking personal and advertising injury coverage for an underlying action alleging the insured unlawfully used another company’s trademark in its online advertising, holding that the underlying claims fail to establish an offense that falls under policy coverage and that an intellectual property exclusion further bars coverage.

  • April 01, 2026

    Lack Of Valid Copyright Sinks Claims Against Government, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An electronic health records company failed to show that it held valid copyright registrations related to software it accused the U.S. government and another entity of infringing, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ grant of summary judgment in the government’s favor on the plaintiff-appellant’s copyright infringement claim.

  • March 31, 2026

    High Court Rejects Certiorari In Counterfeiting Row With $9.3M Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from supplement makers accused of counterfeiting who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s entry of a $4 million judgment and award of nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after the judge entered default judgment against the petitioners; the justices will not consider arguments that the Ninth Circuit wrongly held that mere registration can satisfy the trademark infringement standard.

  • March 31, 2026

    Amici Medical Companies To High Court: Affirm ‘Skinny Label’ Infringement Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Biopharmaceutical company Sanofi was one of multiple entities to file amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of respondent biopharmaceutical entities in a dispute over the standard for the inducement of infringement to be applied in medical patent cases, including “skinny label cases” involving allegedly noninfringing use.  Sanofi tells the court that a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that the patent holders plausibly stated an infringement claim should be affirmed.

  • March 30, 2026

    Judge Blocks Enforcement Of Copyright Deposit Copy Requirement In Lawsuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia held that a publisher of rare and out-of-print books is entitled only to limited relief based on a 2023 ruling by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the U.S. Copyright Office’s demand that the publisher deposit physical copies was an unconstitutional uncompensated taking of property; while the publisher is entitled to see the demand letter be declared null and void, it is not entitled to injunctive relief as to hypothetical future demands, the judge determined.

  • March 30, 2026

    Supreme Court Rejects Cert Bid For CRISPR Patent Validity Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from a biotechnology company that told the high court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly shifted the burden of proof to the patentee; the Supreme Court thus left in place the Federal Circuit’s affirmaance of a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that rendered claims of the company’s patents describing gene-editing technologies invalid as anticipated.

  • March 30, 2026

    PTAB Right To Find Email Filter Patent Obvious, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a final written decision by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that multiple claims of an inventor’s patent describing a system for filtering electronic messages are unpatentable as obvious, finding substantial evidence to support a finding that a prior art system teaches relevant claim limitations.

  • March 27, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Patent Plaintiff Can’t Refile Suit To Avoid ITC Deadline

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held on March 26 that a biopharmaceutical company cannot circumvent missing a 30-day deadline to seek a mandatory stay of a declaratory judgment patent suit it brought under statutes governing the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by dismissing and then refiling its complaint.

  • March 27, 2026

    Panel Affirms Trademark Dispute Award, Will Consider Fees For ‘Frivolous’ Filing

    PHOENIX — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 affirmed the confirmation of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award issued in favor of an Italian wine company involved in a dispute over trademark rights with its American distributor and ordered the distributor and its counsel to show cause why an award of attorney fees should not be imposed against them for bringing a “self-indulgent appeal” based on procedural defects and translation issues.