Moderna Inc. will have to face most of a rival mRNA vaccine developer's $5 billion patent suit over the company's COVID-19 vaccines at a trial in Delaware, a federal judge ruled on Monday, invoking "Star Trek" in a summary judgment order that left issues like patent invalidity up to the jury.
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

'Star Trek'-Citing Judge Says Moderna Can't Ax $5B Vax IP Suit

By Lauren Berg

Moderna Inc. will have to face most of a rival mRNA vaccine developer's $5 billion patent suit over the company's COVID-19 vaccines at a trial in Delaware, a federal judge ruled on Monday, invoking "Star Trek" in a summary judgment order that left issues like patent invalidity up to the jury.

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Fed. Circ. Grapples With AI Patent Eligibility In Amazon Case

By Ryan Davis

A Federal Circuit panel on Monday expressed skepticism about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's argument that an artificial intelligence-related patent it sued Amazon over was wrongly invalidated as abstract, though the court seemed wary of issuing a ruling that could render all AI unpatentable.

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Split Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Massager Design Patent Case

By Dani Kass

A Maine federal judge properly found Armaid Co. Inc. didn't infringe Range of Motion Products LLC's design patent covering a personal massage device, a divided Federal Circuit held Monday.

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Fed. Circ. Backs CIT's Objection To ITC Wholesale Redactions

By Jack McLoone

A Federal Circuit panel on Monday affirmed a U.S. Court of International Trade ruling finding the U.S. International Trade Commission was out of line in automatically making all questionnaire responses confidential, saying the CIT "struck the appropriate balance" between confidentiality and public access concerns.

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Tracy Anderson Workouts Are Copyrightable, 9th Circ. Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to reverse a ruling that invalidated copyrights to her "Tracy Anderson Method" workout routines, arguing that her routines are expressive protectable works distinct from yoga poses at issue in the Ninth Circuit's Bikram ruling.

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Pandora Settles IP Suits By Robin Williams, Other Comedians

By Gina Kim

Pandora Media has resolved yearslong copyright infringement litigation by Robin Williams' estate, Lewis Black and other comedians, who alleged the streaming service owes millions for wrongfully profiting off their performances and works without licensing agreements, following a settlement conference in California federal court Friday.

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Judge Skeptical Of XAI's Claims In OpenAI Trade Secrets Suit

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge has said she's inclined to grant OpenAI's motion to dismiss a trade secrets complaint from Elon Musk's xAI "in full," saying the plaintiffs have not provided enough facts to support claims that OpenAI poached employees and stole source code.

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Modelo, Constellation Seek Permanent Ban On Fake Beers

By Ivan Moreno

Constellation Brands, the exclusive licensee of Modelo's beer brands in the U.S., has asked a Texas federal judge for a permanent injunction against a beer distributor accused of importing and selling counterfeit beers that use labels that copy major Mexican beer brands.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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PATENTS

Judge Clears Apple Of Some Haptic Patent Claims

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has allowed Apple to escape some patent claims brought by a company that accused the tech giant of infringing the business's vibration technology patents, letting Apple escape literal infringement allegations related to its "monolithic products."

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PTAB Sinks Samsung Challenge To Ouraring Patent

By Adam Lidgett

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has shot down Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.'s challenge to an Ouraring Inc. smart ring patent amid an ongoing legal dispute that has spanned the board, federal district court and the U.S. International Trade Commission.

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ITC Issues Rechargeable Battery Import Ban On Chinese Co.

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. International Trade Commission has issued an order blocking a Chinese company from importing rechargeable batteries that infringe a pair of LithiumHub patents, after the foreign manufacturer was found to be in default in the case.

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Wireless Charger Rivals Settle Patent Suit On Eve Of Trial

By Adam Lidgett

An Israeli wireless power technology company has agreed to settle its suit alleging a Chinese electronics manufacturer infringed various power transmission patents, a move that came the day before trial was set to commence.

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COPYRIGHTS & TRADEMARKS

Nvidia Faces New Class Action Over AI YouTube Scraping

By Elliot Weld

Chipmaker and artificial intelligence company Nvidia has been hit with more claims of improperly scraping data from YouTube for training material for its AI model Cosmos.

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Songwriter Says He Was Never Paid For Song In 'Smurfs' Film

By Elliot Weld

A musician has sued Paramount Pictures, claiming he was never compensated for a song he wrote that was recorded by singer Rihanna and was used in the "Smurfs" movie and that the studio tried to blame the singer when confronted.

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BANKRUPTCY

Businessman Fights Sanctions In $500M Miss America Feud

By Carolina Bolado

Attorneys for a Florida businessman locked in a $500 million dispute over the ownership of the Miss America pageant urged a federal judge Monday not to sanction their client for filing allegedly false documents, arguing they withdrew the documents once they were notified of questions about their authenticity.

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PEOPLE

Mintz Adds Winston & Strawn ITC Practice Co-Leader In DC

By Emily Johnson

Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC has grown its Washington, D.C., office by bringing a Winston & Strawn LLP equity partner as its International Trade Commission practice co-chair, strengthening the firm's intellectual property services with a patent litigator with two decades of experience.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Assessing Factors Behind Biosimilar Uptake And Competition

As biosimilar uptake remains uneven and questions linger over whether the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act can deliver robust competition between biologics and biosimilars, a case study of Humira and its biosimilars illustrates how many factors, including payor reimbursement and formulary strategy, collectively shape competitive dynamics, say analysts at Analysis Group.

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FTC Focus: Testing Joint Enforcement Over Loyalty Programs

The Federal Trade Commission's case against Syngenta can be understood both as a canary for further scrutiny over loyalty-discount practices and a signal of the durability of joint federal-state antitrust enforcement, with key takeaways for practitioners and those subject to regulatory antitrust scrutiny alike, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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How 2 Tech Statutes Are Being Applied To Agentic AI

The application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the California Invasion of Privacy Act to agentic artificial intelligence is still developing, but recent case law, like Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity in California federal court, provides some initial guidance for companies developing or deploying these technologies, say attorneys at Weil.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

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NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Habeas Cases Flood Courts After Immigrant Detention Shift

By Jack Karp

Federal courts have been inundated with a flood of cases stemming from the Trump administration's revised approach to the detention of unauthorized immigrants, with judges routinely ruling against the government as immigration attorneys scramble to keep up.

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Baker McKenzie Describes Client Fallout After Assault Claims

By Alison Knezevich

Several clients asked the leader of Baker McKenzie's Washington, D.C., office to stop handling work for them after he was accused of sexual assault, according to a new filing in a defamation case against the former firm associate who made the allegations.

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Goldstein Knew What Was On His Returns, Accountant Claims

By Jared Foretek

The top outside accountant handling tax returns for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein and his law firm said Tuesday that Goldstein wasn't forthcoming about his gambling records and that he firmly believed the former U.S. Supreme Court attorney knew what was in his allegedly false tax returns when they were filed.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Yew Warns Of Deepfake Evidence

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

After decades on the bench of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, Judge Erica Yew began to regard the future of courtroom evidence with some trepidation, as the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence made it easier to falsify documents, photos and videos.

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4 Attys Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Legal Brief

By Elliot Weld

A Kansas federal judge has issued sanctions against a group of lawyers representing a technology company in a patent dispute and has referred one attorney for disciplinary action over case citations hallucinated by ChatGPT appearing in a legal brief.

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Pretti Killing Highlights Free Speech And Gun Rights Tension

By Marco Poggio

The killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and lawful gun owner, by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis last month brought to the fore a long-standing tension between two constitutional rights that the U.S. Supreme Court has never resolved, legal experts say.

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Floyd Prosecutor, Defense Atty To Represent Pretti's Family

By Lynn LaRowe

The relatives of a Minnesota intensive care nurse killed by ICE agents have secured legal representation from a former federal prosecutor who helped secure the conviction of an ex-police officer in the killing of George Floyd, and a criminal defense attorney coming off a high-profile murder case.

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Feds Fight Cyberstalking Atty's Bid For Pretrial Release

By Adrian Cruz

The U.S. government has asked a Texas federal judge to reject a bid for pretrial release from a currently detained attorney charged with cyberstalking other attorneys at BigLaw firms.

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Queens Defenders Ex-Director Admits Embezzling Over $100K

By Pete Brush

The former longtime head of Queens Defenders copped to a count of fraud conspiracy in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday after prosecutors said she diverted over $100,000 intended for indigent residents and used the money for a lavish lifestyle.

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Analysis

Squires And Stewart's Patent Office, By The Numbers

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen sweeping changes under Director John Squires and Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart, ranging from pro-patent owner policies at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to employment shake-ups that have prompted departures from the agency.

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Senate Confirms Picks For Texas, Ark. District Court Seats

By Courtney Buble

The Senate confirmed two U.S. district court judges, for Texas and Arkansas, on Tuesday.

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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arnold & Porter

Avanti Law Group

Baker Botts

Baker McKenzie

Bartkowski PLLC

Bracewell LLP

Brann & Isaacson

Buether Joe

DLA Piper

Dority & Manning

Fish & Richardson

Fisher Patterson

Gividen Law

Goodwin Procter

Hunton Andrews

Husch Blackwell

Jackson Lewis PC

King & Ballow

King & Spalding

Kinsella Holley

Kirkland & Ellis

Kluger Kaplan

Knobbe Martens

Kuchler & Cotton

Lambert Shortell

Latham & Watkins

Leach & Walker

Lippes Mathias

Manatt Phelps

Marshall Gerstein

Maslon LLP

Mayer Brown

Michael Best & Friedrich

Mintz Levin

Morgan Lewis

Morris Nichols

Morrison & Foerster

Munger Tolles

Napoli Shkolnik

O'Melveny & Myers

Patton Tidwell

Prokosch Law

Proskauer Rose

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Robins Kaplan

Romanucci & Blandin

Schwegman Lundberg

Seyfarth Shaw

Shaw Keller

Sheppard Mullin

Sidley Austin

Smith Gambrell

Sullivan & Cromwell

Weil Gotshal

Williams & Connolly

Wilson Robertson & VanDeventer

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AbbVie Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

Analysis Group Inc.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV

Apple Inc.

Arbutus Biopharma Corp.

Assurance IQ LLC

Bass Pro Shops

Baylor University

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.

Burke Inc.

CVS Health Corp.

Cabela's Inc.

Cato Institute

Chevron Corp.

Constellation Brands Inc.

Cornell University

Corteva Inc.

Duke University

Equinox Holdings Inc.

Everytown for Gun Safety

Express Scripts Holding Co.

Fox Corp.

Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman

Google LLC

Grupo Modelo SAB de CV

Kochava

LinkedIn Corp.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Moderna Inc.

NVIDIA Corp.

New York City Bar Association

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Overstock.com Inc.

Pandora Media Inc.

Paramount Pictures Corp.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Second Amendment Foundation

Spotify Technology SA

Syngenta AG

U.S. News & World Report LP

Varsity Brands LLC

Vizient Inc.

YouTube Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Alaska Department of Law

Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade

California Commission on Judicial Performance

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Internal Revenue Service

International Trade Commission

Minnesota Attorney General's Office

National Labor Relations Board

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Tennessee Attorney General's Office

U.S. Army

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Kansas

Utah Legislature