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Mealey's Intellectual Property

February 14, 2024
Judge Dismisses Bulk Of Writers’ Copyright-Based Claims Against OpenAI

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion by OpenAI Inc. and its affiliated companies involved in developing the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program to dismiss claims brought against it in two putative class actions filed by authors who say ChatGPT’s development and operations infringe their copyrights.
February 14, 2024
Federal Circuit Declines Call To Construe ‘OFF,’ Declares Patent Indefinite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A system and method for deterring identify theft was correctly deemed indefinite by a federal judge in Illinois because the “specification and claims fail to provide adequate guidance as to the identity” of a recited “transaction partner,” a divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 14.
February 14, 2024
Challenge To USPTO Domicile Address Rule Turned Away By Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A rule that bars reliance on a P.O. Box address in the broader U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requirement that trademark applicants list domestic counsel was not arbitrarily enforced against a law firm, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 13.
February 14, 2024
GitHub, Microsoft, Coders To Confer Over Discovery In AI Copyright Licensing Row

OAKLAND, Calif. — In a dispute over licensing and attribution of computer code in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) collaborations, a California federal judge scolded defendants GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and five John Doe plaintiffs for not complying with the proper procedures for submitting discovery letters, leading him to deny the relief sought by the parties and to once again order them to meet and confer over their remaining discovery disputes.
February 13, 2024
Genericness, Infringement Of ‘Appliance Liquidation’ Mark Debated In 5th Circuit

NEW ORLEANS — An appliance outlet operator maintains in its reply brief to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that there is no evidence that it used the disputed “Appliance Liquidation Outlet” trademark “to identify the origin or sponsorship of its products” and, thus, the infringement claims against it failed and should have been dismissed by the trial court.
February 13, 2024
Claims Hip-Hop Artist Copied Song Dismissed By New York Federal Judge

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York in a Feb. 12 order said no reasonable jury could find that “The Box,” a 2019 rap song that spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard “Hot 100” chart, is substantially similar to “Come on Down (Get Your Head Out of the Clouds),” a song released in 1975 by R&B artist Greg Perry.
February 13, 2024
9th Circuit Upholds Injunction In Trademark Dispute Over Tattoo Ink

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California did not abuse his discretion in preliminarily enjoining a defendant from using the “Advanced Tattoo Ink” tag line or “ZUPER BLACK” and “INTENZE” trademarks while litigation over their potential infringement is pending, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
February 13, 2024
California Artists Want OpenAI Enjoined From Litigating New York Actions

SAN FRANCISCO — Artists urge a federal court in California to enjoin OpenAI Inc. and related companies from litigating similar actions in a New York federal court, saying the defendants are proceeding there in an effort to find a more friendly jurisdiction.
February 13, 2024
RIAA, MPA, Other Amici Back DOJ In DMCA 1st Amendment Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five trade associations teamed up on an amicus curiae brief supporting the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in a dispute over the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), telling the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a trial court was right to enforce the statute’s anti-circumvention provision because technological protection measures (TPMs) serve an important role in protecting copyrights and free speech.
February 13, 2024
Profits On Trademark Claims Affirmed But Punitive Damage Award Do-Over Needed

CINCINNATI — A jury verdict in favor of two trademark plaintiffs and corresponding award of infringer’s profits will not be disturbed, but the jury’s award of punitive damages against defendants on state law unfair competition claims was premised on an incorrect instruction by a Kentucky federal judge, according to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 13, 2024
Dexcom Seeks To Add New Challenge To Abbott Glucose Monitoring Patent

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a new petition filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Dexcom Inc. says that two new claims of the same patent already the subject of inter partes review (IPR) should also be examined after patent owner Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. recently added allegations of their infringement in federal court.
February 12, 2024
New York Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Request In Copyright Row

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has again found that musical artists Shawn Carter, professionally known as Jay-Z, Timothy Mosley, professionally known as Timbaland, and Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, professionally known as Ginuwine, are entitled to summary judgment on allegations of copyright infringement.
February 12, 2024
Frazetta Daughters Lack Standing In Copyright Row, Florida Federal Judge Says

TAMPA, Fla. — Although allegations of direct copyright infringement leveled in connection with a “Frazetta Book Cover Art” book were proven, two of late artist Frank Frazetta’s daughters cannot remain in the case as plaintiffs, a federal judge in Florida indicated in a Feb. 9 summary judgment ruling.
February 12, 2024
Studio To 2nd Circuit: Discovery Rule Applies In Posted Photo Infringement Suit

NEW YORK — In an appellant reply brief, a photography studio tells the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that it sued over the online posting of its copyrighted pictures within three years of learning of the purported infringing use, making its complaint timely under the “discovery rule.”
February 12, 2024
Injunction Is Part Of Agreement To Resolve Lloyd’s Trademark Infringement Case

HOUSTON — Lloyd’s America Inc. and Corporation of Lloyd’s and the individual they sued in Texas federal court over alleged defamation and trademark infringement have reported reaching an agreement to resolve the suit, with terms including entry of a permanent injunction.
February 09, 2024
Panel Issues Mixed Ruling In Appeal Of Post-Grant Review Of Vape Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 9 said that although an obviousness challenge by Philip Morris Products S.A. to patented vaping technology was correctly decided in favor of the tobacco giant, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly found inadequate written descriptive support for two other claims.
February 09, 2024
Photography Company Loses Bid For Home Venue In Copyright Case

SEATTLE — Allegations that a rental homeowner ended negotiations to purchase copyrighted images of his Idaho rental properties but then displayed the images online have been dismissed by a federal judge in Washington.
February 09, 2024
Manuals Wrongly Excluded From Prior Art Analysis, Federal Circuit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Inter partes review (IPR) of two patents relating to a meat and cheese slicer was reinstated Feb. 8 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board not only wrongly found that manuals relied on by the petitioner were not publicly available but also erred in concluding that the remaining prior art failed to disclose two limitations.
February 08, 2024
Petitioner: Integration Of Haptics In Augmented Reality Not New, Novel

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board was urged Feb. 7 to cancel various claims of a patent directed to augmented reality (AR) applications that feature integrated haptics, or touch feedback, in a petition for inter partes review (IPR) by a gaming company.
February 08, 2024
Judge Grants Consolidation In Journalists’ AI Suit Against Microsoft, OpenAI

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted a motion to consolidate two journalists’ copyright infringement suit against OpenAI Inc. and related entities with previously consolidated cases involving fiction and nonfiction authors.
February 08, 2024
Federal Circuit Tells Patent Board To Construe Claims As Proposed By Google

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 7 said an implicit claim construction by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of a disputed term in a climate control patent was unduly narrow.
February 07, 2024
Online News Site Suffers Blow; Panel Says Use Of Copyrighted Photo Not Fair

RICHMOND, Va. — The Independent Journal Review (IJR) must face allegations that it infringed a copyrighted photograph of musician Ted Nugent without a defense of copyright invalidity in place, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 6.
February 07, 2024
Tesla Challenges Patented Vehicle Power Consumption Technology In New Petition

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent that purportedly optimizes vehicle power consumption to yield improved fuel efficiency would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) by November 2005, the patent’s claimed priority date, Tesla Inc. tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 06, 2024
Board Wrongly Shifted Burden During Inter Partes Review, Patent Owner Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented treatment of pre-myopia, myopia or progression of myopia says in a new appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly declared the technology obvious.
February 06, 2024
Motorized Dumbbell Is Patent-Eligible, Appellant Tells Federal Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allowing a Utah federal judge’s determination of ineligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. § 101, to stand “would be fundamentally unfair” and cause the patent owner, a self-described “innovator in weightlifting technologies” and “pioneer of selectorized dumbbells,” to lose valuable ground to market “latecomer” iFIT Inc., the patent owner tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a Feb. 5 appellant brief.