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Mealey's Intellectual Property

January 23, 2024
Authors, OpenAI Entities Stipulate To Case Guidelines In Copyright Lawsuit

NEW YORK — Parties to class action copyright lawsuits against OpenAI Inc. and related entities brought by fiction writers and nonfiction authors have agreed to consolidate the two cases and that the defendants will not seek transfer or dismissal of existing claims, among other framework for the cases to proceed, a federal judge in New York said in a Jan. 22 order adopting the stipulation. Meanwhile, two journalists who recently filed a similar suit asked the court on Jan. 23 to hold the stipulation in abeyance until the court decides whether to include their suit in the consolidated actions.
January 23, 2024
Panel Rejects Mandamus Bid By Musician Seeking Cancellation Of Apple Mark

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition for a writ of mandamus by an applicant for the “Apple Jazz” trademark directing the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board to decide his request for cancellation of the “Apple” trademark for entertainment services in class 41 was denied Jan. 23 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 23, 2024
Panel Grants PTO Request, Reissues Trademark Ruling As Precedential

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A recent nonprecedential ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a trademark application containing informational matter is refusable when the applied-for mark is not perceived as a source-identifier of the applicant’s goods or services was reissued Jan. 22, this time as precedential.
January 23, 2024
Panel Upholds Win For BMW, Affirms Patent Board Obviousness Holding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patented remote start system that also activates a vehicle’s climate control system and operates the vehicle brake was correctly deemed obvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded Jan. 22.
January 23, 2024
Technology Underlying 3D Pointer Is Obvious, Federal Circuit Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling various claims of a patented three-dimensional pointing device has been upheld by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which deemed the board’s findings supported by substantial evidence.
January 22, 2024
Meritless Publicity Claims In AI Copyright Suit Warrant Fee Award, Company Says

SAN FRANCISCO — Because the plaintiffs dropped right-to-publicity claims from their amended complaint challenging artificial intelligence’s use of their works, it is clear that those claims were meritless, and the court should grant a motion to strike and award fees under the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, Stability AI Ltd. tells a federal judge in California in a reply brief.
January 22, 2024
Pixel Shifting Method Is Ineligible For Patenting, Federal Circuit Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations of infringement leveled against the maker of an app that allows users to animate pixels were correctly rejected by a federal judge in Texas because “changing the position of components in an image to create the appearance of movement, i.e., animation” is “clearly an abstract idea,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 22.
January 22, 2024
High Court Grants Bid By Solicitor General To Argue U.S. Views In Copyright Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ten days after U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar moved to participate as amicus curiae in the upcoming oral argument in a case that poses the question of whether damages can be recovered for infringement occurring before the three-year statute of limitations under the Copyright Act’s discovery accrual rule, the request was granted Jan. 22 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
January 22, 2024
High Court Won’t Review Owner’s Individual Liability In Tobacco Trademark Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a wholesale company and its owner seeking review of whether the owner may be held individually liable under the Lanham Act for an $11 million trademark infringement judgment despite his argument that he did not knowingly commit an act of infringement, which they claimed is the subject of a circuit split.
January 18, 2024
Inventor Tells High Court ‘Expert’ Was Not Person Of Ordinary Skill In The Art

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting her petition for certiorari, an inventor counters the respondent’s suggestion that she failed to raise any issues of law that would merit review by the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that she sufficiently alleged that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred “by declaring a non-expert as a” person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) “and by relying on his unsupported testimony” in affirming a judgment by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that invalidated her ventilator technology patent.
January 18, 2024
Anthropic Defends Use Of Copyrighted Lyrics, Says Injunction Unnecessary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers filed suit in the wrong jurisdiction, but besides that, no evidence suggests that Anthropic PBC’s Claude artificial intelligence will produce copyrighted lyrics going forward absent “special attacks” designed to get it to do so, that the use of those works for training is anything other than fair use or that any use of the copyrighted works caused an injury, the company argues in opposing a preliminary injunction.
January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
January 18, 2024
Law Firm To 9th Circuit: ‘Common Practice’ Of Keyword Ads Infringed No Trademarks

SAN FRANCISCO — Asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s judgment that its purchasing of a competitor’s trademark in Google keyword ads was not trademark infringement, an Arizona law firm contends in its appellee brief that the purchasing of such online advertisements is a “common practice” that, at best, resulted in de minimis consumer confusion.
January 17, 2024
On Remand, Judge Awards Fees To Copyright, Trademark Defendants

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan on Jan. 16 rejected the “quixotic” positions advanced by a copyright and trademark owner and his company in opposing a request for attorney fees by prevailing infringement defendants, declining what he said was a call to “unwind the entire litigation and revisit almost every substantive ruling that has been rendered to date.”
January 17, 2024
Government Wants To Argue In Supreme Court Copyright Discovery Accrual Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar filed a motion on behalf of the U.S. government in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to participate in upcoming Feb. 21 oral arguments in a dispute over whether copyright damages can be recovered for infringement that occurred prior to the three-year statute of limitations under the Copyright Act’s discovery accrual rule.
January 17, 2024
9th Circuit Sets Oral Argument In Coverage Dispute Arising From Gold Treasure

SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals set oral argument for March 29 of its review of a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an ocean marine general liability insurer in a declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying $7.5 million covenant judgment that resolved claims that the appellant was denied possession and use of the tangible and intangible work product that was created during gold salvage expeditions.
January 16, 2024
Ericsson Seeks Cancellation Of 2 Surviving Patent Claims In New Petition

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A wireless patent that already saw its first 27 claims canceled in an earlier inter partes review (IPR) is under siege yet again in a new IPR petition by Ericsson Inc. filed Jan. 12 with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
January 16, 2024
7th Circuit Upholds Fee Award, Judgment In Favor Of Copyright Defendants

CHICAGO — A determination by a federal judge in Illinois that documents relating to bond offerings do not qualify for copyright protection was affirmed Jan. 12 by the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, finding in the same ruling no abuse of discretion in a subsequent award of more than $1.5 million in attorney fees to two prevailing infringement defendants.
January 16, 2024
Per Jack Daniel’s Ruling, 9th Circuit Reverses In ‘Punchbowl’ Trademark Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products LLC “altered the law that governed” when it previously found that an online news service’s use of the “Punchbowl” mark did not dilute a party-planning firm’s trademark, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 12, leading it to, after rehearing, issue a revised opinion reversing a trial court’s dismissal and remanding for further consideration under the traditional likelihood of confusion test.
January 12, 2024
Appellant: Dismissal Of Patent, Copyright, Lanham Act Claims Was Error

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner is seeking reinstatement of its lawsuit against a former employee and his new company, asserting in an appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a Utah federal judge wrongly construed “positioned between” and “formed between” in relation to a claimed air gap in the steel core of a buckling-restrained brace (BRB).
January 12, 2024
Parties Continue To Spar Over Patent At Center Of Since-Vacated $1.5B Verdict

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a flurry of filings with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Intel Corp., VLSI Technology Inc. and Patent Quality Assurance LLC (PQA) dispute how to move forward in an appeal of an inter partes review (IPR) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that canceled a patent that served as the basis for a $1.5 billion infringement verdict, following a mid-December sanction order by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
January 12, 2024
Fintiv Defends Patented Mobile Financial Services System Before Board

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — All three grounds for inter partes review (IPR) of a mobile financial services (mFS) system fail, Fintiv Inc. asserts in a Jan. 11 patent owner response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
January 11, 2024
Apple Fights Off Bid To Undo Patent Board Obviousness Holding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that a single challenged claim of a patented pulse oximetry system is obvious were affirmed Jan. 10 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a win for inter partes review (IPR) petitioner Apple Inc.
January 11, 2024
Patented Radiofrequency Microneedling Method, Apparatus Challenged

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A new petition for inter partes review (IPR) urges the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to cancel a patent that relates to radiofrequency microneedling, asserting that a prior art patent not considered by a patent examiner discloses “most” of the claims.
January 10, 2024
Failed Bid For Correction Of Patent Inventorship Won’t Result In Fee Award

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware has concluded that a lawsuit seeking a correction of patent inventorship that failed on every count alleged was not so meritless as to qualify as “exceptional” for an award of attorney fees.