Squires Institutes 7 AIA Reviews, Denies 12 Other Petitions

By Ryan Davis

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has instituted seven America Invents Act reviews in the second round of cases where he has found that patent challenges warrant consideration since taking over the institution process.

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Anthropic Judge Rebuffs Bid For 'Sweeter' Part Of $1.5B Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California federal judge overseeing Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors gave a terse response to notice that a Canadian publisher's counsel contacted the AI company looking for a better deal, saying the publisher could opt out but couldn't "seek a sweeter deal than other class members."

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1st Circ. Affirms Ex-ADI Engineer's Trade Secrets Conviction

By Julie Manganis

The First Circuit has affirmed a former Analog Devices Inc. engineer's trade secrets conviction, ruling that the indictment's reference to a specific microchip model did not preclude a guilty verdict based on his possession of schematics for its prototype.

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11th Circ. Says 'Worlds' Faces Long Odds As Cheerleading TM

By Elliot Weld

Two Eleventh Circuit judges appeared to believe that a competitive cheerleading governing body likely has a stronger chance of reviving its trademark infringement claims against two other cheerleading organizations with regard to the term "The Cheerleading Worlds" than simply "Worlds" during oral arguments Friday. 

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No New Trial After Disney Win In 'Moana' Copyright Case

By Adam Lidgett

A California federal judge has shot down an animation artist's bid for a new trial after a Los Angeles federal jury earlier this year rejected his copyright claim that the 2016 Disney blockbuster "Moana" ripped off his own Polynesian adventure story.

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Judge Tosses 'Problem Solver' TM Suit In Calif. Gov. Race

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge has dismissed a trademark complaint from gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck, ruling that his effort to stop Democratic primary opponent Antonio Villaraigosa from saying he is a "proven problem solver" in his campaign could stifle political expression.

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Fed. Circ. Says PTAB Was Right To Ax Tracking Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to revive claims in a group of patents for tracking items during surgeries and other uses, rejecting challenges to how the Patent Trial and Appeal Board interpreted key claim terms.

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Judge Orders Fastener Co. To Pay $17K For Misleading Ads

By Matthew Santoni

A Philadelphia federal judge permanently barred industrial fastener company Peninsula Components Inc. from using a competitor's trademark "PEM" product name in its online ads, and ordered it to pay $17,866 in damages.

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Authors Suing Meta Seek New Copyright Claim For Torrenting

By Ivan Moreno

A group of bestselling authors has asked a California federal judge for a chance to update its copyright complaint against Meta Platforms, saying it wants to add a contributory infringement claim based on Meta's alleged use of peer-to-peer file-sharing to download material for artificial intelligence training.

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Brief

Bill Would Let Fed Workers Use Uniformed Services Works

By Elliot Weld

Federal lawmakers have introduced a copyright bill to the U.S. House of Representatives that would give employees of the federal government permission to use literary works produced by civilian members of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences for work and other purposes.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Dropped FTC Complaint: Pepsi Gave Walmart A 'Price Gap'

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission's newly unsealed New York federal court complaint confirms that the agency had accused Pepsi of favoring Walmart, until the newly Republican-controlled FTC abandoned the lawsuit alleging the soda giant both gave Walmart discounts denied others and actively sought to raise Walmart's rivals' own prices.

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Patent Disclaimers Ruling Offers Restriction Practice Insights

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Focus Products v. Kartri confirms that prosecution disclaimers can extend to examiner-defined species in restriction practice, making it important for patent practitioners to manage restriction requirement responses carefully to avoid unintended claim scope limitations, say attorneys at BCLP.

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Opinion

Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Analysis

2025 Sees State Courts Diverge From Federal Criminal Norms

By Brandon Lowrey

Some of this year's most notable criminal appellate rulings homed in on differences between state and federal constitutional protections against the most serious punishments, with movement in Michigan, bucking the trend in Wyoming, and an ambiguous but potentially earthshaking decision out of Texas.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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Alex Jones Atty's Pared-Down Suspension Upheld On Appeal

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut appeals court on Friday upheld the two-week suspension of former Alex Jones lawyer Norm Pattis, agreeing that a trial court judge was within her discretion to bench the attorney over his law firm's handling of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims' medical records.

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DOJ Shake-Up Keeps Criminal Tax Meetings, Ex-Official Says

By Kat Lucero

The U.S. Department of Justice — despite recently eliminating its Tax Division as part of a broad restructuring — continues to meet with practitioners representing clients who may face federal criminal tax charges, the former division chief said Friday.

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Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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