Mealey's Intellectual Property
-
February 01, 2024
Appellant: Defendant Wrongly Deemed A Noninfringer Of Pump Deployment Patent
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by a federal judge in Massachusetts that a heart pump product line does not infringe six patents were premised on an erroneous construction of several disputed claim terms, a patent owner argues in a brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
-
February 01, 2024
Home Chef Asks High Court To Standardize Trademark Likelihood-Of-Confusion Test
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After being denied injunctive relief in a trademark dispute with GrubHub Inc., a food preparation firm filed a petition for certiorari, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that courts must consistently consider all of the relevant factors when undertaking a likelihood-of-confusion analysis in an infringement lawsuit.
-
February 01, 2024
Panel Backs District Court, Says Irreparable Harm Unproven In Patent Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware committed no abuse of discretion in denying a patent owner’s request for a preliminary injunction that would bar a competitor from launching its planned 5G in-flight broadband network, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded Jan. 31.
-
February 01, 2024
Harvard Patent, Licensed To 10X Genomics, Should Be Canceled, Petitioner Says
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Nanostring Technologies Inc. in a petition for inter partes review (IPR) tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that although a challenged independent claim of a patented method for imaging nucleic acids is “lengthy and detailed,” “length and detail should not be mistaken for inventiveness.”
-
January 31, 2024
Dismissal Bid Denied In Rare Criminal Trademark Counterfeiting Case
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Jan. 30 said that criminal charges against the operator of a website where the trademarks of brand name drugs were used in connection with the sale of “prop” pills will remain in place.
-
January 31, 2024
5th Circuit Issues Limited Remand Over Typos In Trademark Injunction
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Texas properly declared the “Rolex” trademarks infringed by a watch reseller, but two typographical errors in a subsequent permanent injunction render the ordered relief “vague and unqualified,” the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded.
-
January 30, 2024
9th Circuit Stays Mandate Reversing Court’s Dismissal In FCA Drug Pricing Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a 90-day stay of the mandate reversing and remanding a district court’s dismissal of a relator’s qui tam suit alleging violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) against pharmaceutical companies related to their alleged fraud by artificially inflating drug prices.
-
January 30, 2024
Celebrity Tattoo Artist Cleared By Jurors In Copyright Infringement Case
LOS ANGELES — A jury empaneled in California federal court has resoundingly rejected allegations that Katherine Von Drachenberg, better known as Kat Von D, infringed a copyrighted photograph of the late jazz musician Miles Davis with a tattoo she created in 2017.
-
January 30, 2024
Novo Nordisk Tells Patent Board Mylan Petition Is Procedurally Improper
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A “copycat” challenge to a patent associated with the weight loss drug Ozempic filed 18 months after the petitioners were accused of infringement — and that seeks joinder to an existing and timely inter partes review (IPR) initiated by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. — falls outside the time limits proscribed in federal patent law, Novo Nordisk A/S tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
-
January 30, 2024
Halliburton Defends Patent Board’s Anticipation, Obviousness Determinations
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Substantial evidence supports a final written decision (FWD) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that technology directed to the automation of hydraulic fracturing processes is unpatentable, Halliburton Energy Systems Inc. maintains in a recent appellee brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
-
January 29, 2024
No Laughing Matter: Dudesy AI Sued Over George Carlin Comedy Video
LOS ANGELES — Individuals using an artificial intelligence created and publicly posted a “click-bait” video of deceased comedian George Carlin without authorization for the use of his likeness or any license to use copyrighted material, the comedian’s representatives allege in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
-
January 29, 2024
Honeywell Wins Mandamus Relief; Panel Orders Transfer Of Patent Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Because several factors favor a North Carolina venue for allegations that Honeywell International Inc. infringed patented radio frequency identification (RFID) technology while “nothing of significance” ties the case to Texas, a federal judge there wrongly denied Honeywell’s motion to transfer, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 26.
-
January 26, 2024
Widow’s Bid To Terminate ‘Funny Girl’ Copyrights Rejected By 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — A lawsuit by the widow of a lyricist who sought a declaratory judgment that she can terminate rights to songs from the Broadway musical “Funny Girl” was properly rejected on summary judgment by a federal judge in Connecticut, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled.
-
January 26, 2024
N.Y. Federal Judge Voices Skepticism Over Viability Of Atari Trademark Claims
NEW YORK — Three months after entering a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the case, a federal judge in New York on Jan. 25 denied a bid by Atari Interactive Inc. to obtain a preliminary injunction against a print-on-demand company, questioning whether the video game maker is likely to succeed on the merits of its trademark infringement claims.
-
January 26, 2024
Patent Case Over YouTube Live Streaming Features Tossed In Washington
SEATTLE — Google LLC has secured dismissal with prejudice of allegations that YouTube violates a patent relating to a web conferencing system with “time shifting” capabilities, with a federal judge in Washington concluding Jan. 25 that the claimed technology is ineligible for patenting.
-
January 25, 2024
American Airlines’ Trademark Case Against Travel Company Survives Dismissal Request
FORT WORTH, Texas — Allegations that a travel company inflated the costs of airline tickets by charging customers more than the actual ticket price and, in so doing, infringed the American Airlines (AA) trademark will proceed, a federal judge in Texas ruled in denying a motion to dismiss.
-
January 25, 2024
California Federal Judge: No Trial On Intel Patent License Defense, For Now
SAN FRANCISCO — Citing a recent agreement to dismiss two patents from a longstanding row over microchips combined with her earlier summary judgment of noninfringement and/or invalidity of two other patents, a federal judge in California on Jan. 24 denied a bid by Intel Corp. to proceed to trial on an affirmative defense that its use of the patented technology was authorized by a license.
-
January 25, 2024
Damages Expert Admissible In Lanham Act Case For Aftermarket Pool Products
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An expert retained to opine on damages a company incurred due to consumer confusion about aftermarket products for a pool can testify after a North Carolina federal judge rejected two companies’ motion to exclude and ruled that their objections go to weight, not admissibility.
-
January 25, 2024
Appeal Of Adverse Ruling In APA Case Against USPTO Heads To Federal Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A July determination by a District of Columbia federal judge that a nonprofit corporation representing inventors lacks standing to press a lawsuit over the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) process for deciding when to institute inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) will proceed before the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled.
-
January 24, 2024
Insurers Have No Duty To Defend Against Copyright Suit, California Panel Affirms
LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel on Jan. 23 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of professional liability and excess insurers, finding that the insurers have no duty to defend or indemnify their investment adviser insured against an underlying copyright lawsuit.
-
January 24, 2024
Copyright Act Protects AI-Generated Artwork, Man Says On Appeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Precedent governing application of the Copyright Act doesn’t require a human creator, and the law’s very purpose supports granting its protections to art created by an artificial intelligence, a man tells the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
-
January 24, 2024
2-Pronged Challenge To Folder Sharing, File Requesting Patent Launched
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a pair of petitions for inter partes review (IPR), a cloud storage company seeks cancellation by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of a technique for allowing a user to share folders or request that a file be uploaded by a different user.
-
January 24, 2024
In Colorado Patent Row, Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Request
DENVER — Assertions by a patent infringement defendant that an order construing the disputed claim term “sperm cells” in a method patent for producing sex-sorted animal sperm constituted an intervening change in law because it is broader than the construction offered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a related inter partes review (IPR) were rejected Jan. 23 by a federal judge in Colorado.
-
January 24, 2024
Authors In OpenAI Copyright Fight Praise Joint Stipulation, Oppose Stay
NEW YORK — Parties’ carefully crafted stipulation creates “tremendous efficiencies” while removing the threat of dismissal motions and attempts to transfer a pair of class action copyright lawsuits against OpenAI Inc., and the court should reject an outside party’s request that it be stayed and a steering committee be formed, authors tell a federal judge in New York in a Jan. 23 letter.
-
January 23, 2024
Music Publishers Say Proposed Amicus Brief In AI Case Is Off Key
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers on Jan. 22 said a proposed Jan. 19 amicus curiae brief by groups comprising artificial intelligence investors is unnecessary at this stage of their copyright infringement lawsuit and is unlikely to add much to the dispute other than costs and time.