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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • January 16, 2026

    High Court Agrees To Hear Pharma Entities’ ‘Skinny Label Infringement’ Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 granted a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker’s petition for a writ of certiorari, agreeing to consider its challenge to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the petitioner’s “skinny label” generic version of a prescription cardiovascular medication constituted reverse infringement (Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., et al. v. Amarin Pharma, Inc., et al., No. 24-889, U.S. Sup.).

  • January 16, 2026

    6th Circuit Rejects Parent’s Fair Use Argument For Obtaining School Survey Copy

    CINCINNATI — A Kentucky federal judge was correct to dismiss a parent’s pursuit of a declaratory judgment that the fair-use exception of the Copyright Act permitted her to request a copy of a mental health survey that was to be administered to students at a Kentucky public high school, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held; the panel agreed that the parent’s claims did not arise under copyright law.

  • January 15, 2026

    Comcast To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Consider Waived Issue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Comcast Cable Communications LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a Florida federal judge’s judgment of noninfringement in its favor, arguing that the finding was based on deciding sua sponte a nonjurisdictional issue that was deliberately waived by the patent holder.

  • January 15, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Pet Food Packaging Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 14 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that the claims of a pet food company’s packaging container patent application were unpatentable as obvious.

  • January 15, 2026

    TTAB Right To Refuse ‘Sazerac Stitches’ Mark, Federal Circuit Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was right to refuse a design entity’s request to register a trademark for the phrase “Sazerac Stitches” because the mark is confusingly similar to registered mark “Sazerac,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • January 15, 2026

    Federal Circuit: No Infringement By Apple Of Device Setting Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a short opinion issued Jan. 14, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement to Apple Inc. in a patent infringement suit brought against it by another technology entity, agreeing that Apple’s accused product does not meet claim limitations required under the judge’s unchallenged claim constructions.

  • January 15, 2026

    Business-Focused Copyright Owner’s AI Suit Fails, Meta Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — A business magazine and book publisher never adequately alleges that any third party directly infringed on its copyrights as a result of the Llama artificial intelligence or that the company knew such conduct was occuring, Meta Platforms Inc. told a federal court in California in seeking dismissal of the action.

  • January 14, 2026

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Failed To Consider Apple’s Obviousness Arguments In IPR

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly construed a claim phrase requiring bidirectional antennas during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Apple Inc., the board erred by failing to address alternate arguments raised by Apple in response to the patent holder’s proposed claim construction, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 13.

  • January 14, 2026

    5th Circuit: Songwriter Terminated Copyrights For Song Around The World

    NEW ORLEANS —  A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with a Louisiana federal judge’s determination that a songwriter and his corporation, and not a music publication company, own the worldwide copyrights associated with the early rock ‘n’ roll song “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love).”

  • January 13, 2026

    PTO Designates 4 Orders On Discretionary Decisions As Precedential

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) designated as precedential four discretionary decisions issued last summer concerning when to approve or deny petitions for inter partes review (IPR) or post-grant review (PGR); among the findings now designated precedential is the advice that petitions from “time-barred parties should proceed only in exceptional circumstances.”

  • January 13, 2026

    PTO Sets 2 More Decisions As Precedential Regarding PTAB Discretion

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) issued two decisions on Jan. 12 that it designated as precedential; both decisions concern the PTO and the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) discretion in granting petitions.

  • January 12, 2026

    Federal Circuit: ITC Rightly Found No Infringement In Importation Investigation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) was correct to issue a summary determination against a patent holder that accused technology companies of wrongfully importing allegedly infringing two types of network service devices, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 9.

  • January 12, 2026

    Judge: Salt-N-Pepa Never Owned Copyrights For Music, Tanking Ownership Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge held that the artists who form hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa could not reclaim copyrights or master recording from UMG Recordings Inc. because, as per a 1986 agreement, the copyright interests were vested in their original record label before eventually being transferred to UMG.

  • January 12, 2026

    Federal Circuit: TTAB Right To Reject Marks Punning On Yankee Player’s Name

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was correct to reject a man’s request to register trademarks based on the name of New York Yankees player Aaron Judge because the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and Judge established they had priority of use, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • January 09, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Judgment For Apple In Apple Watch Heart Rate Tracking Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 8 affirmed a district court order granting Apple Inc.’s motion for summary judgment on claims that it violated federal antitrust law and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by impairing a competitor’s heart rate tracking app tailored for the Apple Watch to monopolize the market, finding that Apple’s refusal to share algorithm data with third-party app developers was considered a “refusal to deal” and the competitor failed to show an exception to the antitrust principle that there is no duty to deal.

  • January 09, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Crocs Untimely Appealed ITC Finding Of No Import Violation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) did not abuse its discretion by granting a limited exclusion order (LEO) and not a general exclusion order (GEO) to Crocs Inc. against defaulting respondents the company accused of importing products that infringed or diluted trademarks related to its shoes, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 8.

  • January 09, 2026

    11th Circuit: YouTube Protected By DMCA Safe Harbor In Piracy Suit

    ATLANTA — A Florida federal judge was correct to grant summary judgment to YouTube Inc. and related entities in a copyright infringement suit brought by an entity that owns the rights associated with many films from Mexico and Latin America, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing that the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) applied because YouTube was not shown to have knowingly allowed infringing material to be hosted on the platform.

  • January 08, 2026

    Juul Reaches ‘Agreement’ With NJOY Over Disputed Docs In Vape Patent Case

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Jan. 7 ordered Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), NJOY LLC, Altria Group Inc. and affiliates to file a joint statement under seal “that describes the resolution” of a discovery dispute in a patent lawsuit after JLI said the parties reached “an agreement” relating to allegedly privileged documents JLI “inadvertently” uploaded to a public database, which NJOY described as “evidence of the fraud [JLI] committed to obtain its patents from the Patent Office.”

  • January 08, 2026

    PTAB’s Invalidation Of Memory Correction Patent Affirmed By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Substantial evidence supported a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that certain claims in a patent describing a system for error correction in flash memory devices were invalid as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held in a nonprecedential Jan. 7 opinion.

  • January 08, 2026

    Federal Circuit Orders New Trial On Obviousness For Parking Lot Camera Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 largely affirmed findings by a California federal judge and a federal jury that a patent-owning technology company failed to show that a defendant entity directly infringed a patent describing camera-assisted parking management technology; however, the panel ordered a new trial on the on-sale bar and a federal unfair competition claim.

  • January 08, 2026

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment To Defendants In Sunroom Brochure IP Fight

    WORCESTER, Mass. — A Massachusetts federal judge granted two sunroom construction entities’ motions for summary judgment, finding that a graphic designer’s copyright claims against one of the entities failed because of an implied license to use a brochure she designed; the judge also found the designer failed to establish that the other entity had successor liability.

  • January 07, 2026

    Judge Orders Author Who Accused Netflix Of Copying Book To Pay Fees

    ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida federal judge granted a request for attorney fees from Netflix Inc. and related entities, calling an author’s claims that the 2021 disaster comedy “Don’t Look Up” copied elements of two of his novels “objectively unreasonable, if not frivolous.”

  • January 07, 2026

    Citing Fraud On The Court, Federal Judge Tosses ‘Reverse Domain Hijacking’ Suit

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed with prejudice a suit against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Universal City Studios alleging breach of contract and “reverse domain hijacking in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (‘ACPA’)” related to the defendants’ purported efforts to divest an alleged former UMG intern of a domain name, finding that “[t]here is clear and convincing evidence” that the alleged former intern committed fraud upon the court.

  • January 07, 2026

    Judge Rightly Found Data Patent Claims Abstract, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge was correct to find that two claims in a patent describing systems for decoding wireless transmissions are invalid as abstract, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 6, holding that the claims point only to abstract ideas without the necessary inventive element to make them patent eligible.

  • January 06, 2026

    Judge Grants Summary Judgment To HDMI Licenser In IP Row With Component Maker

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc.’s (HDMI LA) motion for summary judgment on a breach of contract claim it brought against a technology company it said failed to pay royalties related to HDMI technology; the judge also held that the defendant entity failed to show that HDMI LA’s licensing agreement violated antitrust, patent or trademark law.