Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • March 28, 2024

    Federal Circuit: WesternGeco Framework Controls In Cases With Foreign Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Illinois did not abuse her discretion in denying a patent owner a new damages trial, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 27, rejecting an appellant’s claim that it was entitled to recover hundreds of millions of dollars, not the $6,610,985 it was awarded, but that its efforts to be awarded a higher amount were thwarted when a defendant refused to elaborate on how it was counting infringements.

  • March 27, 2024

    Panel: Evidence Supports Finding That Copyright Action Was Retaliatory

    NEW YORK — A decision by a federal judge in New York to award the author of a novella upon which “Mafietta” was based $44,496.05 in attorney fees was upheld March 26 by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said there was “a sufficient basis in the record to support” findings that a copyright infringement lawsuit by the producers of the film “was frivolous and retaliatory.”

  • March 27, 2024

    Patented Static Seizure Treatment Is Obvious, Petitioner Tells Board

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent owner maintains in a March 26 petition for inter partes review (IPR) that it was the first to disclose, via inherency, a daily dose of ganaxolone for the treatment of status eliepticus (SE), or static seizure, and not a competitor.

  • March 26, 2024

    AI Prompts Are Merely ‘Copyright-Laundering Facility,’ Artists Claim

    SAN FRANCISCO — Artificial intelligence prompts used to create images are a “copyright-laundering facility designed to produce low-cost knockoffs of copyrighted images,” the plaintiffs argue in four wide-ranging oppositions to motions to dismiss filed in California federal court.

  • March 26, 2024

    Modelo Loses Appeal; 2nd Circuit Affirms ‘Beer’ In Contract Is Ambiguous

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 25 it will not disturb a summary judgment ruling by a federal judge in New York that a trademark license to make and sell “beer” in the United States under the “Modelo” and “Corona” trademarks was not shown to be violated by a sublicensee’s use of the marks in connection with fermented sugar-based hard seltzer drinks.

  • March 26, 2024

    UCL, Declaratory Judgment Counterclaims Tossed In Dispute Over Marks, Logo

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Trademark infringement and false advertising plaintiffs secured dismissal on March 25 of allegations that they violated the California unfair competition law (UCL), with a federal judge in Connecticut ruling that complained-of securities transactions took place overseas.

  • March 26, 2024

    Deficiencies Cured By Amended Complaint In ‘Wicked Fish’ Mark Row

    TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey on March 25 denied dismissal of trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition claims leveled in a dispute between the owner of the “Wicked Fish” trademark and its former licensee, nearly one year after dismissing the case with leave to amend.

  • March 26, 2024

    Rapper To 7th Circuit: Evidence Shows His Song Was Sampled, Infringed

    CHICAGO — Hip-hop artist Eddie Lee Richardson, known professionally as Hotwire, tells the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in his opening appellant brief that a trial court erred in finding that he did not establish that French Montana’s hit 2012 song “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’” (AWAN) directly sampled and, therefore, infringed the copyright in his song “Hood Pushin Weight” (HPW).

  • March 25, 2024

    In Dispute Over DNA Sequencing ‘Tag’ Technology, Appellants Seek Extension

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A molecular diagnostics company and its subsidiaries deemed liable by a jury for willfully infringing a patented method of preparing nucleic acids say they need more time to reply to a recent cross-appellant brief, in which the patent owners say there is “no support in the record” for the appellants’ “entire argument on appeal” that “a sequencing primer can only be a primer used to read out a sequence.”

  • March 25, 2024

    Patent Owner Tells Board Fintiv Factors All Support Denying Petition

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Citing the stage of its Texas federal infringement litigation against a petitioner for inter partes review, the owner of an anti-pestware patent on March 22 urged the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to pass on a newly filed invalidity challenge.

  • March 25, 2024

    Safe Harbor Ruling In Patent Row Affirmed On Appeal To Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 25 upheld findings by a California federal judge that an India-based medical device company is immunized from patent infringement liability for its importation of two transcatheter heart valve systems.

  • March 25, 2024

    Publishers Ask 2nd Circuit To Find Internet Archive’s EBook Lending Infringing

    NEW YORK — The “wholly manufactured” practice of “controlled digital lending” in which Internet Archive (IA) digitizes books and lends them online “is radical and unlawful,” book publishers tell the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in their appellee brief, seeking affirmance of a trial court’s finding that the practice infringed their copyrights.

  • March 22, 2024

    On Remand From Federal Circuit, Board Reverses Course, Sides With Netflix

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on March 21 issued a new final written decision (FWD) that canceled eight claims of a patented method of decoding encrypted content, nearly one year after the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals sent the case back to the agency.

  • March 22, 2024

    Panel: ‘Skill-Based’ Game Technology Correctly Deemed Patent-Ineligible

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent claim directed to an electronic game that is intended to lessen the likelihood of winning by chance and increase the likelihood of winning by skill was correctly deemed ineligible for patenting by a federal judge in Pennsylvania, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 21.

  • March 22, 2024

    Copyright Defendants Again Awarded Fees, This Time By 7th Circuit Panel

    CHICAGO — A little over two months after their successful defense on appeal of a $1.5 million attorney fee award from an Illinois federal judge, an investment banking company and its managing director won $260,219.25 in fees and costs incurred in the appeal, despite the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that the factors for such an award are in “equipoise.”

  • March 22, 2024

    New York Times: Copyright Violations, Not Hacking, At Heart Of ChatGPT Case

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. knew that ChatGPT would produce material protected by copyright, not only because of well-publicized incidents where artificial intelligences output protected works but because it was told as much and discussed the issue internally, the New York Times Co. (NYT) says in opposing a motion to dismiss.

  • March 21, 2024

    Board ‘Stripped,’ ‘Ignored’ Key Limitation In Patent Claims, Owner Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pharmaceutical company is disputing findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or board) that its patented form of polymorphic fingolimod hydrochloride is anticipated by prior art, telling the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that along the way, the board “ignored” a key limitation which is “indisputably absent from the prior art.”

  • March 21, 2024

    Panel Preserves Win For Teleflex, Joins Board In Rejecting Patent Challenge

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board committed no error in confirming as patentable various claims of a method for “using a coaxial guide catheter in interventional cardiology procedures” owned by Teleflex Life Sciences Ltd., the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 21.

  • March 21, 2024

    Accrediting Group Certifies 1st Large Language Model Trained On ‘Clean’ Data

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nonprofit Fairly Trained on March 20 announced certification of the first large language model (LLM) trained with a consent-based approach to data, saying the step proves that artificial intelligence (AI) can be trained while treating creators fairly and ethically.

  • March 21, 2024

    Decision To Set Aside Jury Award Of Royalties Upheld By Federal Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California correctly determined that a patent owner failed to establish the amount of a reasonable royalty, requiring vacatur of a jury’s damages award, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 20; however, in the same ruling, the panel said the judge must revisit the question of permanent injunctive relief.

  • March 20, 2024

    Panel Affirms: Confusion Unlikely Between ‘Jackpot,’ ‘Jackpocket’ Trademarks

    NEW YORK — Findings by a federal judge in New York at the conclusion of a bench trial that consumers are unlikely to be confused by “Jackpot.com” and a lottery courier services company operating as “Jackpocket” have been upheld by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • March 20, 2024

    Samsung Seeks Joinder To Meta-Initiated IPR In ‘Understudy’ Role

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With the apparent blessing of Meta Platforms Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is seeking joinder to an inter partes review of a targeted advertising patent initiated by the social media giant, asserting that its petition contains “substantively identical” grounds and prior art and vowing to assume the role of an “understudy” that will step in only if Meta “ceases to participate.”

  • March 20, 2024

    4th Circuit Stands By Contributory Copyright Liability Findings For ISP

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 19 denied dual petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel decision one month earlier that vacated a $1 billion award for vicarious copyright infringement by an internet service provider (ISP) while also upholding findings that the ISP is liable for contributory infringement.

  • March 19, 2024

    Parties Await Ruling On Reconsideration Requests In Trademark Row

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — Briefing is complete in a bid for reconsideration of a wide-ranging Feb. 6 opinion by a Pennsylvania federal judge that, among other things, granted The Pennsylvania State University summary judgment on an apparel maker’s affirmative defense that its use of historical images incorporating the trademarks of others is ornamental in nature and thus nonactionable.

  • March 19, 2024

    Plaintiffs Fire Back In UCL, Copyright Case Involving Google AI Training Data

    SAN FRANCISCO — Individuals enjoy a property right in their personal information, and a complaint alleges unlawful and unfair conduct sufficiently enough for claims under all three prongs of the California unfair competition law (UCL), plaintiffs in a copyright and privacy class action accusing Google LLC of “wide-scale data theft” in the training of its artificial intelligence tell a federal court in opposing dismissal.