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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • September 22, 2023

    Trademark Infringement Dispute Between Clothing Boutiques Is Reinstated

    CINCINNATI — A divided panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 21 said a federal judge in Kentucky wrongly dismissed allegations of trademark infringement leveled by a boutique children’s clothing designer but rightly ruled in favor of a defendant with regard to functionality of the plaintiff’s claimed trade dress.

  • September 21, 2023

    Fee Request In Trademark Row Is ‘Meritless,’ Kentucky Federal Judge Concludes

    FRANKFORT, Ky. — Upon finding that a plaintiff did not “show exceptionally problematic behavior” in seeking a declaration of trademark infringement, a federal judge in Kentucky on Sept. 20 denied a bid for attorney fees by two prevailing defendants.

  • September 21, 2023

    Best-Selling Fiction Writers Sue OpenAI For ‘Systematic Theft On A Mass Scale’

    NEW YORK — The Authors Guild and 17 of its members, who are best-selling fiction writers, filed a putative class complaint against OpenAI Inc. and related companies (OpenAI, collectively) in New York federal court, accusing the artificial intelligence research and deployment firm of “flagrant and harmful” infringement of their copyrighted works in the training of its large language models (LLMs) without obtaining licenses or permission.

  • September 21, 2023

    False Copyright Notice Case Dismissed In Pennsylvania On Jurisdiction Grounds

    PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that allegations of intentional interference with prospective economic advantage against a record company that allegedly sent false copyright notices to Amazon.com and others will not proceed.

  • September 21, 2023

    Federal Circuit:  Clotting Factor Patent Not Sufficiently Enabled

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its second ruling in the case, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 20 affirmed findings by a fellow member of its own court, sitting by designation in a federal court in Delaware, that a patent allegedly infringed by the hemophilia drug Hemlibra is invalid for lack of enablement.

  • September 20, 2023

    Patent Board:  Change In Inventors Has ‘No Impact’ On Final Written Decisions

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 19 ruling on remand from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board said that a correction of inventorship executed while the patent owner appealed two adverse final written decisions (FWDs) has no bearing on the FWDs.

  • September 20, 2023

    Trump, Eddy Grant Argue Infringement Of ‘Electric Avenue’ In Tweeted Video

    NEW YORK — In competing summary judgment motions filed in New York federal court, former president Donald J. Trump and singer Eddy Grant dispute whether the inclusion of Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” in a campaign video posted to Trump’s Twitter account constituted fair use, with the parties also disagreeing as to whether the musician can maintain separate copyright infringement claims for the song’s composition and recording.

  • September 20, 2023

    Florida Federal Magistrate Judge: Trademark Owner Entitled To $284K Fee Award

    ORLANDO, Fla. — Alan Parsons, co-founder of The Alan Parsons Project rock band, should be awarded $284,919.05 in attorney fees in connection with his successful litigation of a trademark infringement action against a former business associate, a federal magistrate judge in Florida found.

  • September 20, 2023

    Texas Federal Magistrate Judge: Meta Owes Patent Owner $138,004 In Costs

    AUSTIN, Texas — A patent owner is entitled to recoup $138,004 in deposition and copying costs from Meta Platforms Inc., a federal magistrate judge in Texas has found nearly one year after a jury awarded $174,530,785 in connection with infringement by the “Facebook Live” feature.

  • September 19, 2023

    Judge Grants AI Image Company Default Judgment In Trademark Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California adopted a report and recommendation granting default judgment in a trademark case involving the “brazen conduct” of a “trademark pirate,” enjoining the defendants from infringing on artificial intelligence image generator Midjourney Inc.’s trademark and awarding $72,972 in attorney fees but denying a request for damages.

  • September 19, 2023

    New York Federal Judge: RPI Has Standing In Patent Row With Amazon

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A bid by Amazon.com Inc. for dismissal of allegations that it infringes a patent owned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has failed, with a federal judge in New York concluding that the school and a licensee of the technology have standing to pursue their claims.

  • September 19, 2023

    Bid For Trademark Cancellation Was Properly Dismissed, Panel Rules

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 18 upheld dismissal of a lawsuit seeking cancellation of the “LEFT CENTER RIGHT” trademark, agreeing with a federal magistrate judge in New York that there is no case or controversy between the parties.

  • September 18, 2023

    Government Urges High Court To Uphold ‘Bedrock Principle’ Of Chevron Deference

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. secretary of Commerce, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the government) urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 15 brief to not overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference in a challenge to fishery regulations that were upheld by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, writing that doing so could “cause disruption” to complex federal regulatory schemes.

  • September 18, 2023

    Panel Articulates Standard For Comparison Prior Art In Design Patent Disputes

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four years after vacating a summary judgment of infringement in a dispute over a patented heat reflecting material, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 15 vacated a jury’s verdict, on remand, of noninfringement in the same dispute.

  • September 18, 2023

    Defaulting Trademark Defendant Won’t Be Ordered To Pay Plaintiff’s Fees

    MINNEAPOLIS — Although granting permanent injunctive relief and deeming a trademark defendant’s infringement willful, a federal judge in Minnesota on Sept. 15 denied the trademark owner’s request for attorney fees.

  • September 18, 2023

    Wal-Mart Prevails In Challenge Of Ceiling Light Retrofit Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Sept. 15 agreed with Wal-Mart Inc. that various claims of a patented kit that allows for the installation of a light emitting diode (LED) ceiling light in place of a previously installed fluorescent light fixture should be canceled.

  • September 15, 2023

    Declaratory Judgment Action Over ‘Impossible’ Trademark Reinstated

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California erred in dismissing, for lack of personal jurisdiction, a request by Impossible Foods Inc. for a declaration of noninfringement with regard to the “IMPOSSIBLE” trademark, a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.

  • September 15, 2023

    Panel Confirms Patentability Of E-Cigarette Technology In Blow To Philip Morris

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Sept. 15 that substantial evidence supports a final written decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that rejected Philip Morris Products S.A.’s assertions that a patented e-cigarette would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).

  • September 15, 2023

    Credit Union To High Court: Noninfringement Ruling Does Not Moot Invalidity Claim

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting its petition for certiorari, a California credit union asks the U.S. Supreme Court to take up “important trademark questions” related to whether a federal district court retains jurisdiction over a declaratory validity claim when an accompanying infringement allegation has been resolved.

  • September 15, 2023

    Claim Added In Coverage Dispute Over Loss Of Patent Litigation Counsel

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Mostly granting two motions, a Tennessee federal magistrate judge on Sept. 14 implemented the parties’ proposed schedule in a coverage dispute over loss of patent litigation counsel, also allowing the plaintiffs to add allegations and a promissory estoppel claim.

  • September 14, 2023

    Adidas Says Jury Instructions, Expert Testimony Rulings Require New Trademark Trial

    NEW YORK — A trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on the proper trademark infringement standard and its errant conclusion on expert witness methodologies necessitate a new trial in a dispute over whether designer Thom Browne Inc. infringed or diluted its longtime “Three-Bar Signature” trademark, adidas America Inc. argues in a reply brief in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • September 14, 2023

    After Zillow Prevails In Copyright Case, Fee Award Partly Granted

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington on Sept. 13 agreed with Zillow Inc. that a photographer’s allegations of copyright infringement were so deficient that they justify an award of attorney fees under federal copyright law.

  • September 13, 2023

    D.C. Circuit: Publication Of Industry Standards Protected By Fair Use

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia correctly concluded that the noncommercial publication of industry standards for incorporation by reference into law cannot form the basis of a copyright infringement action, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Sept. 12.

  • September 13, 2023

    Award-Winning Writers Sue AI Developers For Unfairly Using Copyrighted Books

    SAN FRANCISCO — Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, his wife and fellow author Ayelet Waldman and three other writers on Sept. 12 filed a putative class action in California federal court against Meta Platforms Inc. accusing it of copyright infringement and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by integrating their copyrighted written works into a dataset it uses to train artificial intelligence software, days after they sued OpenAI for similar conduct.

  • September 13, 2023

    After Review Denied, Patent Challenger Seeks PTO Director Intervention

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Citing the “rare” nature of a “split decision” by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of a patented system for “cashing out” of a wager before an event has ended, the petitioner requested review by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.