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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • October 15, 2025

    Copyright Protection Extends To AI Images, Man Tells Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Copyright protections are in place to ensure dissemination of creative works to the public and are invoked even when a human is not the creator and should apply to artificial intelligence-generated outputs for the same reasons, a man tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.

  • October 15, 2025

    Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid For Dumbbell Abstractness Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 14 denied a company’s request for either panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place its August finding that a Utah federal judge was wrong to hold that a patent was directed to an abstract idea by conflating a “rather simple mechanical invention” for stacking dumbbells with the kind of computerized automation that is often unpatentable as abstract.

  • October 15, 2025

    Willful Infringement Claim Survives Dismissal In Gene Sequencing Patent Dispute

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware denied a biotechnology company’s motion to partially dismiss a patent infringement complaint brought against it by a research institution, finding that the research entity plausibly alleged willful infringement of two of its cancer-detection patents based on related European patent disputes.

  • October 14, 2025

    6th Circuit Affirms Contempt Finding In Kentucky Colonel Trademark Dispute

    CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Oct. 14 that a Kentucky federal judge did not abuse her discretion by holding a pro se appellant in contempt for failing to comply with a permanent injunction barring him from using a mark associated with the honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel.”  The panel also affirmed the judge’s decision to order the man to pay attorney fees and costs.

  • October 14, 2025

    OpenAI, News Plaintiffs Reach Agreement Ending ChatGPT Output Preservation

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI entities will no longer have to preserve all ChatGPT outputs after reaching an agreement with news plaintiffs about the scope of what must be saved for copyright litigation consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

  • October 14, 2025

    11th Circuit Finds Sanctionable Conduct In Energy Drink IP Row But Vacates Award

    ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Florida federal judge’s finding of bad faith against an energy drink maker’s counsel in a trade dress infringement dispute against rival drink makers, agreeing that the attorneys engaged in sanctionable conduct during the discovery process; however, the panel vacated the judge’s nearly $250,000 sanctions award, finding it to have been improperly calculated.

  • October 14, 2025

    Insurance Holding Co. Sues Captive Operator, Seeks Preliminary Injunction

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An insurance holding company seeks a preliminary injunction in a Florida federal court against a captive operator and its associated entities it accuses of counterfeiting its name and trademarks to sell fake commercial insurance policies through two purported captive programs; in a concurrent complaint, the insurance holding company alleges direct, contributory and vicarious trademark infringement under the Lanham Act and unfair competition under several state common laws and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.

  • October 13, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms $4 Million Judgment Against Supplement Counterfeiters

    SAN FRANCISCO — A panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to award a supplement maker and its founder a $4 million judgment and nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after entering default judgment against entities that the supplement maker accused of counterfeiting its products, finding that the appellant entities were not prejudiced by the judge’s decision to enter default judgment without considering the entities’ motions to set aside default.

  • October 13, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Judgment For Car Maker In ‘Lambo’ Cybersquatting Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no error in an Arizona federal judge’s grant of summary judgment to Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Lamborghini) in a cybersquatting dispute with a web domain holder, agreeing that the attempt to sell the domain “lambo.com” to the luxury carmaker for $75 million was indicative of bad faith.

  • October 10, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidation Of Hearing Device Patent Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Across three opinions issued Oct. 9, two panels in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a series of decisions by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated multiple claims in three patents related to hearing devices, with the panels agreeing with PTAB that prior art references rendered the patents’ claims obvious.

  • October 10, 2025

    Judge Finds Plaintiff Owns No U.S. Rights To Mexican Band’s Mark

    DALLAS — A Texas federal judge held that a 2009 agreement regarding the intellectual property rights associated with a band from Mexico concerned trademark rights in that country only and not those in the United States, dooming much of a complaint brought by the son of the band’s longtime manager against the daughter of a founding member and other individuals.

  • October 09, 2025

    More Amici Urge Supreme Court To Take Up Entresto Patent Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Public Interest Patent Law Institute (PIPLI) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 8 amicus curiae brief that it should grant a generic drugmaker’s petition for a writ of certiorari in a dispute over the patent for heart medication Entresto, arguing that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has created conflicting strategies on how to treat after-arising technology.

  • October 09, 2025

    PTAB Erred In Bone Plate Patent Anticipation Finding, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has narrowed a medical device company’s wins before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); while the panel affirmed PTAB’s findings as to one of the patents at issue, it also found that substantial evidence did not support the board’s rejection of arguments regarding whether three other patents at issue were anticipated.

  • October 08, 2025

    Anthropic Must Face Copyright Claims As It Fights For Damages Disclosures

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California said music publishers’ artificial intelligence copyright claims against Anthropic PBC may proceed just days after the company asked for relief from a magistrate judge’s conclusion that the case’s novelty and complexity permitted delaying the disclosure of potential damages.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge Tosses Athletics Fansite Copyright Suit Against Sports Fan Page Company

    ABERDEEN, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge on Oct. 7 dismissed without prejudice a copyright infringement suit alleging that a company that maintains Facebook fan pages for U.S. professional and college sports violated the intellectual property rights of a Mississippi State University internet fansite, finding that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the suit because the fansite failed to show that the fan page company is “subject to personal jurisdiction” in Mississippi.

  • October 08, 2025

    Panel: Patent Organizations Lacked Standing To Sue PTO For Rules Change

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a District of Columbia federal judge’s decision to dismiss a complaint brought against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) by two organizations that represent patent holders, agreeing with the judge that the organizations lacked standing because they could not show they were injured by the PTO’s decision to deny their petition for rulemaking.

  • October 08, 2025

    Judge: Brief Correcting AI Errors May Not Contain New Arguments

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California in a contract and copyright infringement case granted an administrative request to withdraw a summary judgment motion containing artificial intelligence-generated errors, but said that as a sanction, the refiled brief cannot contain new arguments or authorities.

  • October 08, 2025

    Federal Circuit Vacates $20M Patent Award Because Plaintiff Didn’t Own Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a medical device company lacked standing to bring infringement claims against another device maker because it did not own the patents at issue when the suit was filed; the panel vacated a Massachusetts federal judge’s findings of infringement and remanded with instructions to dismiss.

  • October 08, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider If Federal Circuit Erred On Hip Implant Color Mark

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a medical ceramics company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) correctly canceled its marks because the pink color of its artificial hip parts was a functional element of an expired patent.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Certiorari To Crocs In Sprawling Patent, False Ad Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied Crocs Inc.’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals improperly expanded the federal false advertising statute to include intangible concepts, including statements about whether a product is patented.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Hear Device Maker’s Patent Discovery Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a medical product company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which it told the court that a North Carolina federal court violated its due process rights by changing both the time to trial and the time for discovery in a patent infringement case for which the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has already ordered a new trial.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Certiorari For Floor Tape Patent, False Ad Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from entities that make floor-marking tape and argued that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should not have affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s finding that the patent at issue was anticipated by prior art.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider Obviousness Of Oxycontin Patent Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from Purdue Pharma LP and related entities, which told the justices that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has created a rigid nexus test when considering evidence of nonobviousness in a dispute over patents controlling Purdue’s OxyContin drug.

  • October 07, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects USAA’s Petition In Patent Row With PNC Bank

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied the United Services Automobile Association’s (USAA) petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision to invalidate USAA’s mobile banking patents; USAA contended that PTAB arbitrarily rendered opposing decisions on its patents in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings sought by different IPR petitioners.

  • October 07, 2025

    High Court Won’t Review $95M Verdict In E-Cigarette Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by e-cigarette company R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), which sought review of a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s ruling upholding a more than $95 million jury verdict against RJR for infringing three Altria Client Services LLC patents for pod-based e-cigarettes.