Trump Sued Over Ending Patent Office Bargaining Rights

By Elliot Weld

A union representing workers from the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, which is part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, sued President Donald Trump's administration Wednesday over an executive order that stripped federal workers of collective bargaining rights.

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Tech, Small Biz Groups Push Against Value-Based Patent Fees

By Adam Lidgett

An array of groups representing tech companies, small businesses and more wrote a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, urging them to oppose the Trump administration's reported plan to charge patent owners a new fee based on the value of their patents.

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TikTok, Chinese Co.'s $845M IP Fight Heads To October Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge refused to fully grant TikTok Inc. summary judgment or a terminating-sanctions win in a Chinese company's $845 million lawsuit accusing the social media giant of stealing video-editing tool trade secrets and infringing its copyrights, finding that the dispute must go to an October jury trial.

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Special Master Says Sherwin-Williams' Conduct Merits Fees

By Elliot Weld

A special master has recommended that a Pennsylvania federal court require paint maker Sherwin-Williams to pay fines, including attorney fees, due to its "unreasonably aggressive litigation strategy" in a patent dispute with a rival.

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Patent Company Fights Baker Botts Atty's Bid To Trim Suit

By Elliot Weld

A patent licensing company and its owner asked a Florida federal judge to reject a bid from a Baker Botts LLP attorney seeking to trim their defamation case, saying the motion was premature as discovery had not been completed.

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Radio Host Hit With IP Suit Over Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Doc

By Adam Lidgett

Florida radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem has been hit with an intellectual property lawsuit in federal court to try to stop him from releasing a documentary about the Hulk Hogan sex tape scandal.

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Fed. Circ. Upholds Zynga PTAB Win Axing IGT Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that mobile game maker Zynga was able to show claims in an IGT patent were invalid, handing another loss to the gambling technology company.

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Samsung Argues New PTAB Memo Can't Undo Its Patent Win

By Ryan Davis

A new memo from the patent office's acting director that limits arguments available to patent challengers cannot be used to overturn a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision invalidating a patent at issue in a $279 million verdict against Samsung, the tech giant has argued.

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Amazon Targets 3 Groups Over Alleged 'Refund Abuse' Scams

By Ben Adlin

International crime rings have fleeced Amazon for nearly $1 million in cash and merchandise through sophisticated manipulation of the company's return process, the retail giant has claimed in a trio of lawsuits filed in Washington federal court.

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Covington IP Atty Joins WilmerHale In San Francisco

By Adrian Cruz

WilmerHale announced Wednesday that an experienced intellectual property attorney has joined the firm's San Francisco office after nearly 15 years at Covington & Burling LLP.

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Indivior Attorney Rejoins McGuireWoods In Virginia

By Christine DeRosa

A former associate general counsel for global pharmaceutical company Indivior Inc. has returned to private practice at her former firm, McGuireWoods LLP.

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You're Out?: Rooftop Views Of Sports Games Raise IP Issues

A high-profile dispute between the Chicago Cubs and a rooftop business adjacent to Wrigley Field strikes at the intersection of sports, intellectual property and Chicago neighborhood tradition, highlighting novel questions that could significantly affect IP rights in the context of live events generally, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

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5 Key Steps To Prepare For Oral Arguments

Whether presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court or a local county judge, effective preparation includes the same essential ingredients, from organizing arguments in blocks to maximizing the potential of mock exercises, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

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Axinn Veltrop Raises Salaries, Offers Bonuses Up To $25K

By Kevin Penton

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is bumping up its pay scale for its associates by $25,000 along with paying them special bonuses of up to $25,000, the firm announced Thursday.

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Admonished For 'Entitlement,' Pillsbury Atty Ducks Sanction

By Bryan Koenig

A Nevada federal judge opted against sanctions for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP partner Mark Krotoski, and instead issued a formal admonishment on the "entitlement" behind "misleading arguments and representations" about the reason an expert witness was unavailable during a wage-fixing and wire fraud trial.

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'Tone Matters,' Justice Kavanaugh Tells Fellow Judges

By Carolyn Muyskens

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the judiciary should recommit to using cool-headed and civil language in their writing and spoke about the difficulties the court faces in handling a flood of emergency relief cases at a conference Thursday. 

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Geragos Strikes At $100K Verdict Over Nike Extortion Role

By Craig Clough

Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos asked a California judge to strike a $100,000 jury verdict that found he aided and abetted disbarred lawyer Michael Avenatti in a failed attempt to extort Nike, saying award of damages without an underlying finding of liability "is impermissible as a matter of law."

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OnlyFans' Parent Says AI-Tainted Briefs Are Unsalvageable

By Adrian Cruz

The online platform OnlyFans' parent company said that a bid to correct legal briefs in a proposed class action against the company should be denied, arguing that the decision to use artificial intelligence to create mistake-riddled documents is severe misconduct and the briefs should be struck instead.

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Ex-Pandemic Office Inspector General Tapped To Be US Atty

By Courtney Bublé

Brian Miller, the former special inspector general for pandemic recovery, has been quietly tapped to be a U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

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Ex-Judicial Nominee To Challenge Senator Who Blocked Him

By Courtney Bublé

A district attorney in Mississippi who was nominated for a federal judgeship, but blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., has launched a Senate bid against her.

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Atty Can't Duck TCPA Suit Over Camp Lejeune Calls

By Jonathan Capriel

A North Carolina federal judge will not trim a proposed class action accusing a plaintiffs firm of making unsolicited calls to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry in an effort to secure a client in the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune toxic drinking water case, saying it doesn't matter if the lead plaintiff "invited" later calls.

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Analysis

Why The Harvard Funding Case Is 'Clear As Mud' On Appeal

By Chris Villani

A sweeping Harvard University victory in a suit challenging President Donald Trump's block on $2.2 billion in grant funding tees up a high-stakes appeal that experts say may turn on a wonky jurisdictional issue on which the U.S. Supreme Court seems to lack any sort of consensus.

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Analysis

Courts' Curb Of Fast Removals Shows Due Process Concerns

By Britain Eakin

Two D.C. federal court rulings that curbed the Trump administration's use of an expedited process to deport noncitizens, as well as high court rulings on removals in general, show judges are keen to preserve due process rights for immigrants.

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EEOC Hit With LGBTQ+ Bias Charge From Ex-Official

By Anne Cullen

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's walkback on enforcing sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination protections has fostered a hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people within the agency, a former commission senior official said in a discrimination charge announced Thursday.

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Donna Adelson Found Guilty Of Plotting To Murder Law Prof

By David Minsky and Carolina Bolado

A Florida state court jury on Thursday convicted Donna Adelson of killing law professor Dan Markel, finding her guilty of masterminding a plot to have hit men commit the murder in 2014.

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Which GCs Sold Stock In August? Carlyle Group And More

By Sue Reisinger

General counsel Jeffrey W. Ferguson, who has been with the Carlyle Group for 26 years, cashed in some $19 million worth of stock in August.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

The Justice Department settled a challenge to UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion home hospice acquisition while Democrats called for a judge to reject a different government settlement and the Federal Trade Commission moved against medical technologies transactions for heart valves and device coatings.

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EPA Touts 'Ambitious' New Deregulatory Agenda

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday laid out its regulatory agenda for the coming months, and said it intends to revisit or roll back Biden-era initiatives in several areas, including water, climate change and chemical regulations.

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SEC, CFPB Rulemaking Agendas Show Deregulatory Push

By Aislinn Keely

Federal regulators overseeing the financial services sector on Thursday unveiled new rulemaking agendas that they say will return their agencies to their core missions with policies to define authority and limit compliance burdens.

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