NJ, Del. Judges Stress Value Of Local Counsel For IP Attys

By Dani Kass

Six judges with significant experience overseeing pharmaceutical patent litigation in the districts of New Jersey and Delaware urged litigators on Tuesday to rely on the expertise of local counsel if they're hoping to impress the court.

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Skinny Labels, Orange Book Take Center Stage In IP Talks

By Dani Kass

Patent litigators focused on pharmaceuticals and biotechnology met Tuesday to work through the biggest issues in their industries, including possible reform to skinny label law, frustration with position-switching in litigation, concerns about when to list patents in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book and data on the relatively low impact of new policies at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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PTAB Discretionary Denials, Reexam Bids Way Up: Report

By Ryan Davis

The number of Patent Trial and Appeal Board petitions that were denied for discretionary reasons reached a record level in the third quarter of 2025 — more than 200% higher than in all of last year — and patent reexamination requests also spiked, according to a new report from Unified Patents.

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Attempts To Revive Stroke Treatment Patents Fail At Fed. Circ.

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday tossed without analysis a challenge to Patent Trial and Appeal Board rulings that invalidated patents covering a stroke treatment system, letting stand one of the decisions deemed precedential by a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director.

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Blood Test Co. Can't Escape Willful Infringement Claims

By Elliot Weld

A company that makes diagnostic medical tests has been denied a bid to escape from a medical research firm's claims that it willfully infringed patents when a judge held that reading the allegations in combination creates a plausible basis that the company had knowledge of the patents.

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Squires Calls For 2nd Look At PTAB Wins By Visa

By Ryan Davis

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has ordered Patent Trial and Appeal Board officials to review final decisions largely backing Visa Inc. in challenges to three credential verification patents, after patent owner Cortex MCP Inc. argued the holdings were flawed.

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Rakoff Irked By 'Kindergarten-Like' Depo In 'Top Gun' IP Case

By Elliot Weld

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff admonished attorneys representing Paramount Pictures Corp. and a man who claims he wasn't credited for writing key scenes in the 2022 film "Top Gun: Maverick," saying the numerous objections, colloquies and accusations on both sides devolved into "kindergarten-like behavior."

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Hytera 'Can't Be Trusted,' Motorola Says In Push For Payment

By Lauraann Wood

Motorola Solutions argued Tuesday that Chinese rival Hytera Communications Corp. should pay the full $371.7 million it still owes on a 2020 judgment and be permanently blocked from selling any mobile two-way radios using stolen source code so their long-running trade theft dispute in Illinois federal court can be brought to a just close.

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Full Fed. Circ. Won't Revisit Dumbbell, Database Patent Cases

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday issued orders rejecting requests for full court scrutiny of separate panel decisions that saved a dumbbell patent owned by PowerBlock Holdings Inc. and that revived Google's challenges to patent claims covering database systems.

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Whirlpool Says Samsung Infringed Dishwasher Rack Patent

By Dorothy Atkins

Whirlpool Corp. has hit competitor Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with a patent infringement suit in Texas federal court, alleging Samsung infringed its patented "enhanced top rack" dishwasher technology, which includes separate third racks with dedicated sprayers at the top of its dishwashers.

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Full 3rd Circ. Won't Rethink $45M CareDx False Ad Case

By Emily Field

The Third Circuit on Tuesday turned down medical testing company CareDx's request to have a full panel mull whether to reinstate a $45 million jury award in a false advertisement case over genetic testing technology against rival Natera.

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Law Firm Seeks Court Order To End Trademark Dispute

By Abigail Harrison

Personal injury law firm CR Legal Team LLP has asked a North Carolina federal court to rule that it did not infringe another law firm's trademarks, arguing that the two firm's legal services are dissimilar and don't cause client confusion.

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Smucker Sues To Squash Trader Joe's 'Uncrustables' Copycat

By Lauren Berg

J.M. Smucker, whose "Uncrustables" sandwiches have been a staple in countless school lunchrooms, is taking Trader Joe's to the courtroom, accusing the grocery chain of swiping Smucker's intellectual property to market its own copycat version of the crustless PB&Js.

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Campbell's Sues Mich. Candidate Over Soup Can Images

By Danielle Ferguson

The Campbell's Co. has sued a Michigan congressional candidate for using the soup maker's iconic can design in her campaign, saying her "Soup for Change 2026" and "Campbell for Congress" images create a false impression that the company endorses her candidacy.

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Knicks, Raptors Agree That Data 'Mole' Case Is Closed

By David Steele

The New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors have agreed to call off their legal dispute of more than two years involving a video assistant the Knicks accused of being a "mole" who took proprietary data with him when he left them for the Raptors.

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Exec Tells Fla. Jury He Wanted To Protect Nicklaus Brand

By David Minsky

An executive for the company bearing Jack Nicklaus' name denied making alleged defamatory statements in emails to clients regarding the golf legend's interest in a competing Saudi Arabian league, telling a Florida state court jury on Tuesday that he received contradicting information and wanted to protect the business' brand name.

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Sirius XM Can't Yet Ditch Proposed Class Action Over Pricing

By Hailey Konnath

An Oregon federal judge on Tuesday refused to toss a proposed class action claiming Sirius XM concealed a royalty charge from subscribers, ruling that the subscribers have adequately alleged they did not know about the fee or the true cost of their subscription when they signed up.

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Enter The Wu-Tang Ruling That May Change Trade Secret Law

A New York federal court's recent holding that a Wu-Tang Clan album qualifies as a trade secret provides the first federal framework for analyzing trade secret claims involving assets valued primarily for exclusivity, potentially reshaping Defend Trade Secrets Act jurisprudence for the digital economy, says Jason Bradford at Jenner & Block.

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As Shutdown Drags On, Judiciary To Face Belt-Tightening

By Courtney Bublé

With no end in sight to the government shutdown, the situation for the federal judiciary will get worse after Friday.

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Analysis

Has The 9th Circ.'s Rightward Shift Ended Bids To Split It?

By Cara Bayles

Republican lawmakers have long dreamed of breaking up the nation's largest appellate court. But that fervor has diminished as the Ninth Circuit's balance of Democratic and Republican appointees has evened out in recent years, upending the circuit's status as a culture war lightning rod.

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Analysis

Voting Rights Case Could Further Chief's 'Central Project'

By Katie Buehler

As a 20-something special assistant in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice, John G. Roberts Jr. argued a test focused on the discriminatory effects of legislative redistricting on minority voters would be unconstitutional. Now, four decades later and as chief justice of the United States, he has a chance to make that view the law of the land.

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Judge Denies Gov't's 'Overbroad' Comey Discovery Proposal

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge has shot down prosecutors' recommendations for a protective order covering discovery material such as law enforcement documents and private communications in its case against ex-FBI Director James Comey, calling the proposal "overbroad" as it would have kept Comey's attorneys from leaving discovery material with Comey himself.

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Florida Supreme Court Rejects Bid For Bondi Ethics Probe

By Madison Arnold

The Supreme Court of Florida has ended an attorney's attempt to force the Florida Bar to investigate U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct after finding that he failed to show a clear legal right to do so.

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Brief

California Bans Fee Sharing With 'Alternative' Law Firms

By Bonnie Eslinger

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill into law that blocks Golden State lawyers and firms from sharing contingency fees with out-of-state firms owned by non-lawyers.

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Feature

Attys Suspect AI In Police Surveillance Could Lead To Bias

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A panel of Pennsylvania attorneys speaking on advances in the use of artificial intelligence in criminal justice and surveillance expressed concern over the potential misuse of such technologies, predicting they could result in rights violations on both individual and mass scales.

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Ex-Fujitec Atty May Sue Over Defamation But Not Race Bias

By Emily Sawicki

A Cincinnati federal judge has ended racial discrimination claims brought by the former top lawyer for Fujitec America against the elevator company, while leaving intact a defamation claim the attorney is pursuing against a colleague who he said made bogus allegations leading to his firing.

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Calif. Bar Won't Tweak Scores Despite Accommodation Errors

By Emily Sawicki

The committee in charge of overseeing the California bar exam has announced it will not be seeking further score adjustments for test-takers whose approved accommodations were not provided in the fraught February 2025 exam.

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Wash. To Launch Portal For Entities Applying To Practice Law

By Ben Adlin

Applications for businesses and nonprofits to provide legal services in Washington state will go live next week, the Washington State Bar Association announced Tuesday, a major milestone in a state Supreme Court-approved plan to expand who can practice law.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz and Jeff Montgomery

Last week at the Delaware Chancery Court, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will ruled that Carlos Vasallo remains the CEO of Caribevision TV Network LLC, finding that majority investors' attempt to remove him under a defective 2019 agreement was invalid for lack of proper notice.

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