Mealey's Intellectual Property : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Intellectual Property

February 23, 2024
Board, In Instituting IPR, Says Task Group Submission Was Publicly Accessible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent directed to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) network will face scrutiny from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which instituted inter partes review (IPR) in response to a petition by Intel Corp.
February 21, 2024
Discovery Rule In Copyright Cases ‘Pretty Solidified,’ Government Tells High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Counsel for two music industry titans faced tough questions Feb. 21 at the U.S. Supreme Court, with some justices suggesting the case be dismissed as improvidently granted (DIG) and others voicing frustration with perceived over-reach by the petitioners regarding the reformulated question presented.
February 21, 2024
Anthropic Opposes ‘Untimely’ Music Industry Amicus Brief In AI Copyright Fight

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music industry groups looking to file an amicus curiae brief argue that a case seeking to enjoin an artificial intelligence company doesn’t threaten the AI industry but that continued copyright violations do harm the industry. But in a Feb. 20 opposition brief, AI company Anthropic PBC calls the brief untimely and says it simply rehashes arguments already raised by the plaintiffs.
February 21, 2024
RICO Claim Dismissed From Clothing Retailer’s AI Design Copyright Theft Case

LOS ANGELES — Allegations that an online clothing retailer’s artificial intelligence rips off copyrighted fashion designs can form the basis of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim, but the designers must dress the claim with additional allegations, a federal judge in California said in dismissing the claim without prejudice.
February 21, 2024
4th Circuit Finds ISP Willful In File-Sharing Suit, Reverses $1 Billion Judgment

RICHMOND, Va. — Although a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a jury’s finding that internet service provider (ISP) Cox Communications Inc. was liable for contributory infringement related to its subscribers’ unauthorized online sharing of copyrighted musical works, the panel on Feb. 20 concluded that the plaintiff record labels did not establish the necessary direct financial benefit to establish vicarious infringement, leading it to vacate that part of a trial court’s judgment and accompanying $1 billion award to the plaintiffs, remanding for a new trial on damages.
February 21, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Denies Dueling Motions To Exclude Experts In Patent Dispute

TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge denied two motions to exclude opposing expert witnesses testifying on how a person of ordinary skill in the art would view the patent infringement dispute involving the design of metal doors.
February 21, 2024
Method For Learning Sex, Health Of Chick Would Be Obvious, Petitioner Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent issued in 2020 that teaches an imaging technique for determining the sex and health of a recently hatched chick should be canceled, petitioners tell the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a Feb. 20 request for inter partes review (IPR).
February 21, 2024
Trademark, Copyright Owner Denied Summary Judgment By Illinois Federal Judge

CHICAGO — Citing a plaintiff’s “trend of under-developing arguments” in trademark and copyright litigation over its continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) filters, a federal judge in Illinois denied summary judgment, finding — among other things — that there is “no case law supporting the proposition that a product itself . . . can constitute a spurious mark for the purposes of establishing a counterfeit.”
February 20, 2024
Google Says UCL, Other Claims In AI Training Lawsuit Fail

SAN FRANCISCO — Vague allegations and hypothetical damages involving the scraping of websites and other sources for data used in the training of artificial intelligence cannot form the basis of California unfair competition law (UCL) and other claims because the potential usage was adequately disclosed and individuals lack a privacy interest in information they themselves publicly disclosed, Google LLC tells a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal.
February 20, 2024
Inventor’s Challenge To Patent Board Reliance On Non-Expert Testimony Fails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 20 revealed in its order list that it will not take up a petition for a writ of certiorari by the inventor of a patented method and apparatus for controlling a ventilator that was deemed invalid by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
In Post-Grant Review Halliburton Defends Fracking Technology As Patent-Eligible

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition for post-grant review (PGR) of a purportedly improved hydraulic fracturing process engages in oversimplification of the claims in making the case for a finding of patent ineligibility, Halliburton Energy Services Inc. contends in a Feb. 16 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
February 20, 2024
Interlocutory Appeal Of Relief In Trade Dress, Patent Case Succeeds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Texas abused his discretion in preliminarily enjoining a patent and trade dress infringement defendant from operating its trampoline park, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 16.
February 16, 2024
In IP Row With Former Firm, Accused Engineer Defends Summary Judgment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Utah correctly rejected on summary judgment a patent and copyright owner’s case in full against a former employee and his new, competing company, the employee and company tell the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellee brief.
February 16, 2024
Federal Circuit Admonishes Patent Counsel Caught Skirting Word Limit Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Feb. 16 sua sponte per curiam order it said it “hoped not to have to write,” a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals clarified that exceeding word limits through an incorporation by reference is a sanctionable offense under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28; although the court stopped short of sanctioning counsel for Comcast Cable Communications LLC for engaging in such conduct, in an opinion released in a companion case the same day, it reinstated infringement allegations against his client.
February 16, 2024
Patent Owner Says Outcome Of IPRs Not Preclusive In District Court Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Wisconsin wrongly concluded that final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that declared certain independent patent claims obvious eliminated the need for a defendant in a subsequent infringement action to establish that its cited prior art satisfies the limitations of dependent claims of the same patents, the patent owner tells the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
February 16, 2024
Meta Handed A Setback When Panel Reinstates Infringement Litigation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A finding on the eve of a planned November 2022 trial that Meta Platforms Inc. does not infringe four patents directed to query results was erroneous, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Feb. 15, reversing and remanding a summary judgment order by a California federal judge.
February 16, 2024
Judge Disqualifies Law Firm From Job Search Sites’ Row Over Prior Representation

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge hearing a lawsuit brought by the operators of a job search and resume-creation website against a competitor for copyright infringement and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) granted the plaintiffs’ motion to disqualify a law firm whose attorneys included the defendant’s general counsel and one defendant’s wife, due to the firm’s prior representation of the plaintiffs.
February 16, 2024
Petition To Cancel ‘Babies’ Magic Tea’ Trademark Reinstated By Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board must revisit its finding of no likely confusion between the “Baby Magic” and “Babies’ Magic Tea” trademarks, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded Feb. 15.
February 15, 2024
Request For Contempt Finding In Trademark, Design Patent Case Denied

HOUSTON — A federal judge in Texas on Feb. 14 rejected as premature allegations that a defendant has violated a stipulated preliminary injunction in a trademark and design patent infringement case by manufacturing and selling a redesigned floating pool chaise.
February 15, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Declares Trading Platform Technology Patent-Ineligible

CHICAGO — A defendant on Feb. 14 secured dismissal of allegations that it infringes three patents owned by a fellow provider of foreign currency trading and information services, with a federal judge in Illinois finding that although the technology improves upon prior art by providing “more accurate and reliable” metrics for traders, “the concepts of obtaining, filtering, and processing data to provide statistical information are abstract regardless of the quality of the process used to do so.”
February 15, 2024
RICO Claim Tossed From Suit Alleging App Captures Data With Cyberpirated Marks

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal judge in California denied arbitration and dismissed a Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act claim from a putative class complaint accusing a software company of collecting and selling personal data from a budgeting application for smartphones and of using cyberpirated trademarks and other information to entice users to enter their banking information but permitted the app user’s remaining claims under Utah and California law to proceed.
February 15, 2024
Panel Preserves Win For Samsung In Smartphone Functionality Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pro se appellant, inventor and patent infringement plaintiff who unsuccessfully sued Samsung Electronics America Inc. has failed to persuade the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to revive the case, which was dismissed with prejudice by a federal judge in California.
February 14, 2024
Consent Decree Entered Under 1 Dismissal In Case Over Alleged Counterfeit Policies

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A variety of claims and parties have been dismissed under agreements in a sprawling suit over allegations of fraud, trademark counterfeiting and trademark infringement involving captive reinsurance programs, with a Kentucky federal court permanently enjoining two defendants “from future infringement of Plaintiffs’ trademarks.”
February 14, 2024
Government: AI-Assisted Invention Patents Require ‘Significant Human’ Role

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patent applicants must be “natural persons” — artificial intelligences cannot be listed as inventors — and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) analysis of applications including artificial intelligence-assisted inventions focuses on whether a significant human contribution exists, according to guidance published in the Federal Register on Feb. 13.
February 14, 2024
Injunction Entered Under Agreement To Resolve Lloyd’s Trademark Infringement Case

HOUSTON — After Lloyd’s America Inc. and Corporation of Lloyd’s and the individual they sued over alleged defamation and trademark infringement reported reaching an agreement to resolve the suit, a Texas federal court entered a permanent injunction according to the terms of their agreement.