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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • April 23, 2024

    California Federal Judge Disqualifies Defense Counsel In Trademark, Antitrust Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — The nearly decade-long assistance to HDMI Licensing Administrator Inc. (HDMI LA) by members of a law firm’s Beijing office bars the firm’s New York office from representing a trademark infringement defendant that has leveled antitrust counterclaims against HDMI LA, a federal judge in California ruled April 22.

  • April 23, 2024

    Judge Notes Importance Of Music Industry’s AI Suit, Won’t Provide Timeline

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge said two motions, one seeking a preliminary injunction and another seeking dismissal, in music publishers’ case alleging copyright infringement against Anthropic PBC over the training of its artificial intelligence remain “a priority” and that he was aware that the plaintiffs hoped for expedited disposition but said he would provide no timeline for a decision.

  • April 23, 2024

    Challenge By Meta To Eligibility Of Object Detection Patent Fails

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A partial motion to dismiss by Meta Platforms Inc. was granted in part on April 22 by a visiting judge in Delaware federal court, who said that although one of the two patents being challenged by the social media giant is ineligible for patenting, allegations that Meta infringed the other patent will proceed.

  • April 23, 2024

    Briefing Complete In Row Over Digital Imaging Patents Declared Ineligible

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appellee brief by Google LLC “incorrectly diminishes” the role of a patent specification in “providing guidance” on whether the claims of the patent “recite a computing improvement” and in so doing “manufactures its own facts as a substitute,” the owner of four invalidated digital image processing patents tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an April 22 reply brief.

  • April 22, 2024

    Rejecting Recommendation, Delaware Federal Judge Deems Patent Ineligible

    WILMINGTON, Del. — An objection to a February report and recommendation by a federal magistrate judge was sustained April 19 by a Delaware federal judge, who agreed with a defendant that the patent it stands accused of infringing recites the abstract idea of “communicating identification information using an image” and lacks sufficient inventiveness at step two of the eligibility inquiry.

  • April 22, 2024

    Vanda Bid For Clarification On Obviousness Standard Turned Away By High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 22 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari by Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., which sought to undo findings that four patents relating to the use of tasimelteon to treat the sleep-wake disorder known as “non-24” would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).

  • April 19, 2024

    Aptiv Says Patent Was ‘Designed To Resolve’ Deficiencies In Cited Art

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Global technology company Aptiv Technologies AG is defending its patented module, used in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which allows a mobile device to connect to an automotive system having a Universal Serial Bus (USB) hub, urging the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on April 18 to deny a petition for inter partes review (IPR).

  • April 19, 2024

    Bank Of America Beats Trademark Claims By Search Engine Operator

    DENVER — Almost three years after reinstating a trademark infringement action against Bank of America Corp. (BofA), the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 18 affirmed a Colorado federal judge’s decision on remand to again reject the allegations.

  • April 19, 2024

    California Federal Judge Limits Damages, Patents In Aprisa Patent Litigation

    SAN FRANCISCO — Siemens Industry Software Inc. has secured a finding that it did not infringe one of two patents asserted against it by a rival, as well as a determination that failure by the patent owner to mark its products and present evidence of foreign sales will limit the reasonable royalty calculation at an upcoming trial over the “Aprisa” place-and-route platform.

  • April 19, 2024

    Patent Row Over Coca-Cola ‘Freestyle’ Dispenser Back At Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented beverage dispensing system that saw its infringement case against Coca-Cola Co. reinstated by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2020 is again seeking appellate review, this time of what it calls a “frankly disturbing” summary judgment ruling by a Georgia federal judge on remand.

  • April 18, 2024

    Natera Method For Genetic Mutation Analysis Should Be Canceled, Petitioner Says

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Despite recognition that three steps outlined in a Natera Inc. patent for analyzing mutations in cell-free DNA were not new on their own or in combination, a patent examiner wrongly allowed the claims based on two amendments that would also be obvious to a person skilled in the art (POSA), a petitioner for inter partes review (IPR) maintains in an April 17 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

  • April 18, 2024

    Laches Presumption Not Rebutted, 3rd Circuit Says, Barring Relief, Award

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in New Jersey in a case on remand for a second time failed to properly apply the presumption in favor of laches, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 17 in a win for a nonprofit ordered to pay more than $7.8 million in disgorged trademark infringer’s profits it earned in Texas.

  • April 18, 2024

    Judge Won’t Rethink Dismissal Ruling In GitHub AI Copyright Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Five Doe defendants who claim that they did not receive proper attribution for use of their licensed materials on GitHub Inc.’s online collaboration platform failed in their quest for reconsideration of dismissal of their claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when a California federal judge ruled that they did not “show reasonable diligence in bringing the motion” and did not establish any of the prerequisites for justifying reconsideration.

  • April 18, 2024

    ‘Top Gun’ Movie Sequel Did Not Infringe Copyrights; Experts On Similarities Barred

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted Paramount Pictures’ motion for summary judgment after finding that the “Top Gun:  Maverick” film did not infringe on any copyrights held by the author of a 1983 magazine article on the experiences of F-14 pilots and radio intercept officers training at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun, and that certain expert witnesses are inadmissible.

  • April 17, 2024

    Florida Federal Judge Stands By Summary Judgment In Frazetta Copyright Case

    TAMPA, Fla. — A bid by the publisher of a book chronicling the work of late artist Frank Frazetta to undo a recent summary judgment of direct copyright infringement failed April 16, when a federal judge in Florida denied a motion for reconsideration.

  • April 17, 2024

    In Trademark Row Over Conference Name, 2nd Circuit Vacates Injunction

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York abused her discretion in preliminarily enjoining New York City and Fire Department of New York (FDNY, collectively) from using the “Medical Special Operations Conference” trademark, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled April 16, deeming the term descriptive.

  • April 17, 2024

    2 Claims Of 2 Fortinet Patents Declared Ineligible By California Federal Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A defendant won partial judgment on the pleadings on April 16 when a California federal judge agreed that two claims of two Fortinet cybersecurity patents recite the abstract ideas of disabling security for trusted communication and performing tasks in a sequential order, while both lack sufficient inventiveness to be considered patent eligible.

  • April 17, 2024

    Toyota: Automobile User Profiles Were Already Taught By Prior Art

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for inter partes review (IPR) by Toyota Motor Corp. takes aim at a patent that purportedly was the first to teach setting and transferring a user profile, including preferred radio, seat and temperature settings, to a “compatible” vehicle.

  • April 16, 2024

    California Plaintiffs Appeal Denial Of Intervention In New York OpenAI Suits

    NEW YORK — California plaintiffs whose motion to intervene in New York artificial intelligence copyright infringement cases filed a notice of appeal after the federal judge overseeing the New York cases concluded that the similar but different defendants and claims required denying the request.

  • April 16, 2024

    Microsoft, OpenAI Defend Using News To Train AI In Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A news organization never explains how any use of its material to train ChatGPT could have injured it, that copyright management information was removed in anything but a private setting or that the artificial intelligence reproduces protected works, Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI Inc. entities told a federal court in New York in a pair of April 15 motions to dismiss.

  • April 16, 2024

    Panel: Features Singled Out In Trade Dress Application Lack Distinctiveness

    RICHMOND, Va. — An application to register the tube-shaped ankle collar, hexagonal eyelets and other features of Timberland boots was properly rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for lacking the distinctiveness required for trade dress protection, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided April 15 in a case that drew the interest of the International Trademark Association (INTA) as amicus curiae.

  • April 16, 2024

    Panel: Ad Use Of Flag, Plea To Buy American Is Not Literally False

    DENVER — A request for damages in connection with the use of a construction equipment company’s copyrighted photographs in alleged false advertisements that implored consumers to buy a competitor’s American-made products was rightly rejected by a federal judge in Oklahoma, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.

  • April 16, 2024

    Music Industry Seeks Expedited Review Of AI Infringement Action

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers asked a federal judge in Tennessee for the status of their request for a preliminary injunction enjoining Anthropic PBC’s training of its artificial intelligence, saying expedited review of the motion and details on when the court plans to hold oral arguments will allow for an efficient presentation.

  • April 15, 2024

    Corrected Judgment Entered After $525M Awarded In Patent Case

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 12 entered a corrected judgment two days after jurors awarded a plaintiff $525 million in damages for infringement by Amazon Web Services Inc. of three information storage and retrieval patents.

  • April 15, 2024

    Leap Year Dooms Bid For Certiorari In Vans Trademark Litigation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An opposed motion for leave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari out of time by the maker of “Wavy Baby” shoes accused of infringing Vans Inc.’s trademarks and trade dress was denied April 15 by the U.S. Supreme Court.