Q&A

She Has A Point: Foley & Lardner's Laura Ganoza

By Theresa Schliep

Laura Ganoza's representation of her client in an infringement suit over a resort's trademarks was notable for being particularly vigorous, according to opposing counsel Sarah Ring of Porter Hedges LLP, who said the Foley & Lardner LLP partner "was a strong advocate" in the case.

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Fed. Circ. Partly Undoes Amazon Digital Photo Frame IP Win

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to reboot a trio of digital picture framing patents Amazon was accused of infringing but reversed a California federal judge's finding that another patent was invalid.

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Firm Must Share Sanctions In Door IP Suit, Fed. Circ. Says

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Thursday refused to let a law firm off the hook for about $23,000 in sanctions implemented by a federal judge for not complying with a discovery order in a door manufacturing patent case, ruling that the judge did not improperly rely on a letter the firm said he did.

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9th Circ. Urged To Keep Reddit Moderator Subpoenas Alive

By Ivan Moreno

A YouTube creator's production company has pressed the Ninth Circuit to reject a bid by anonymous Reddit moderators to block subpoenas seeking their identities, arguing that a federal judge properly found the company presented sufficient evidence that they facilitated alleged copyright infringement by directing people to livestreamed "watch parties" of its content.

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PTAB Eligibility Affirmance Rate Fell After Squires Took Over

By Theresa Schliep

Early data on Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on patent eligibility determinations by examiners shows a slight dip in the affirmance rate under U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires, according to an analysis by McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP.

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EBay Cleared Under Alice In Website Patent Dispute

By Adam Lidgett

A Delaware federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit accusing eBay Inc. of infringing a pair of patents on customizing access to websites, finding the patents only covered abstract ideas without any inventive concept to save them.

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Samsung Seeks $1B Bond If Pictiva's Injunction Bid Granted

By Craig Clough

Three Samsung entities urged a Texas federal judge on Wednesday to reject Pictiva's motion for a preliminary injunction to ban them from selling high-end QD-OLED TVs while a suit over Pictiva's patents plays out, but said if such extraordinary relief is granted, it should come with a $1 billion bond.

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Web Scraper Seeks Toss Of Reddit Copyright Claims

By Elliot Weld

SerpApi, a company that scrapes online content, asked a New York federal judge Thursday to let it out of a copyright lawsuit from Reddit alleging it illegally looted content at the behest of Perplexity for AI training, contending Reddit doesn't own copyrights on the bulk of the user content on its website and that the protective measures the suit alleged were circumvented belong to Google.

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Patent Atty Sues USPTO Over 'Flawed' Disciplinary Procedure

By Hailey Konnath

An Ohio patent lawyer Thursday accused the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of using an unlawful "pay for play" system for its disciplinary proceedings against attorneys, claiming the disciplinary proceedings are "inherently biased" and rigged against him and others facing discipline.

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Squires To Review 2024 PTAB Ax That Followed Vidal Ruling

By Adam Lidgett

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires on Thursday said he is going to review a 2-year-old Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision that found claims in an EagleView Technologies patent on measuring roofs to be invalid.

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Pictiva's $93M Trial Win Doesn't Moot Invalidation, PTAB Says

By Dani Kass

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has again invalidated claims of a Pictiva organic light-emitting diode patent, telling U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires that Samsung's invalidity argument differs from one rejected by a Texas federal jury.

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PTAB Revives Ioengine Data Patent In Roku Reexam Case

By Theresa Schliep

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has reversed an examiner's decision to strike claims in an Ioengine LLC data processing patent that was challenged by Roku, faulting the examiner's reading and application of relevant pieces of prior art.

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Lenovo Wants 'Bad Faith' Infringement Claims Shut Down

By Hailey Konnath

Lenovo on Wednesday asked a North Carolina federal judge to step in and halt a "coordinated campaign of bad faith patent assertions" from Longhorn IP, claiming that the state's Abusive Patent Assertions Act was designed to protect Lenovo from "precisely this kind of conduct."

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NY Exterminator Prevails In 'Black Widow' TM Settlement

By Aaron Keller

A New York exterminator has prevailed in a settled dispute with a competitor over which party is allowed to use the phrase "black widow" to advertise pest control services, according to a consent judgment filed in Connecticut federal court.

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8th Circ. Says Vendor Didn't Show Major Harm In Bank IP Fight

By Ivan Moreno

The Eighth Circuit on Thursday upheld a Missouri federal judge's refusal to block Commerce Bank from using software that a vendor alleges was developed with its trade secrets, ruling the vendor failed to show it was likely to suffer harm that could not be remedied later.

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Apple Can't Get BigTech AI Voice Suits Under Same Ill. Judge

By Lauren Berg

Apple cannot get eight similar proposed class actions alleging BigTech companies exploited the voices of journalists and voice actors to train their artificial intelligence reassigned to the same judge overseeing its case, an Illinois federal court ruled.

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Google Must Face Ex-NPR Host's AI Voice Suit In State Court

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge ruled Thursday that former NPR "Morning Edition" co-host David Greene's claims that Google misappropriated his voice in an artificial intelligence podcasting product could proceed in state court, rejecting Google's contention that his claims arose under the Copyright Act and thus belong in federal court.

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USTR Says EU's Google Actions Cast Cloud On US Trade Deal

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. trade deal with the European Union may be undermined by European Commission actions against Google owner Alphabet, including penalties totaling over $1 billion and claims that the U.S. technology giant unfairly favored its own services in certain applications, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Thursday. 

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Series

Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

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The Risks And Rewards Of 3 Patent Review Pilot Programs

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new pilot programs seek to reduce the patent examination backlog by offering opportunities for faster review, but applicants should proceed carefully to avoid an application losing its accrued patent term adjustment award — or being involuntarily abandoned, says David Gass at Marshall Gerstein.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Simpson Thacher Warned Co. About Deal Terms, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A retired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner who handled the fundraising vehicle alleged to have destroyed Patriot National Inc. told a Florida jury Thursday that he flagged deal terms that later became detrimental to the insurance services company.

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ABA Rips DOJ's 'Absurd' Firm Subpoenas In Documents Fight

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association has blasted as "absurd" the government's move to subpoena law firms as an attempt to avoid a documents request from the organization amid allegations the Trump administration worked to intimidate law firms into conforming with his policy goals through executive orders last year.

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Judge's Deportation Probe 'Off The Rails,' DOJ Tells DC Circ.

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration urged the full D.C. Circuit to either order U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to terminate his criminal contempt inquiry into the administration's Alien Enemies Act removals last year, or order him to forgo live testimony in the probe.

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Jack Smith's Lawyers Say Criminal Referral Twists Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith's legal team has said the criminal referral a U.S. Congress member sent the Department of Justice to investigate Smith is based on a "spurious claim."

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500-Member NYC Public Defender Union Ends Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The first and so far only New York City public defender union to go on strike this year announced on Wednesday that its approximately 500 members are returning to work after reaching a tentative agreement with their managers.

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Senate Confirms 2 Judges, Advances Ohio And Colo. Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday voted 48-47 to confirm Judge Daniel Traynor of the District of North Dakota to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and 49-44 to confirm Antonio M. Pozos, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, as a judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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