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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

January 10, 2024
Clothing Retailer Rejects Claims Its AI Systematically Steals

LOS ANGELES — Claims involving a clothing retailer’s use of artificial intelligence implicate ordinary business practices and cannot form the basis of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and copyright claims, Shein Distribution Corp. says in a reply brief rebutting designers’ claims that the company systematically duplicates and steals protected and commercially valuable designs.
January 10, 2024
Copyright Claims Tossed With Leave To Amend In California Software Row

SAN FRANCISCO — Counterclaims of direct and contributory copyright infringement leveled by a software developer against a former licensee were dismissed as “too conclusory” on Jan. 9 by a federal judge in California.
January 10, 2024
Panel Reinstates Unfair Competition Claim, Opens Door To Trade Dress Claim

NEW YORK — A dispute over alleged knock-off coats was revived Jan. 9 by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which said that although the owners of the fashion label Mackage cannot assert trade dress infringement and dilution by a defendant, their claim of common-law unfair competition was wrongly dismissed by a New York federal judge.
January 10, 2024
All Challenged Claims Of 2 Reissue Patents Are Obvious, Panel Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two reissue patents relating to a system for improving the integrity of a fastening assembly were correctly deemed obvious by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 9 in a win for General Motors LLC and others.
January 09, 2024
Early Challenge To Validity Of ‘Beverly Hills Hotel’ Trademark Rebuffed

LOS ANGELES — Allegations made in a motion to dismiss that “Beverly Hills Hotel” is aesthetically functional and thus unprotectable as a trademark have been rejected by a federal judge in California.
January 09, 2024
California Federal Judge: Plaintiff Lacks Standing In Patent Fight With Netflix

SAN FRANCISCO — A co-inventor’s claim that he regained ownership via appropriation of an abandoned patent application under Finnish common law was rejected Jan. 8 by a federal judge in California, who clarified, “Finnish common law does not matter here.”
January 09, 2024
Microsoft, OpenAI Face Journalists’ Suit Over AI Training

NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI are no better than any run-of-the-mill thief after they “systematically pilfered” copyrighted works despite enjoying both the means and ability to pay, two journalists allege in a class action filed in federal court in New York.
January 08, 2024
Supreme Court Turns Away Latest Request For Section 101 Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by a technology company for clarification from the U.S. Supreme Court on the proper standard for determining patent eligibility was turned away Jan. 8 with a denial of a petition for a writ of certiorari.
January 08, 2024
High Court Won’t Weigh In On Trade Dress Row Between Furniture Companies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several months after requesting a response from a high-end furniture designer and trade dress owner, the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 8 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in the case, which posed the question of when intentional copying constitutes evidence of secondary meaning and warrants a finding of infringement.
January 08, 2024
Intel Bid For Certiorari Denied In Patent Dispute Over Fintiv Instructions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A March 2023 ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely rejecting a challenge by tech leaders to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) guidance for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute inter partes review (IPR) will stand, in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jan. 8 denial of a petition for writ of certiorari.
January 08, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing, Files Amended Opinion In FCA Drug Pricing Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 5 denied a petition for a panel rehearing and a rehearing en banc, issuing an amended opinion of its decision reversing a district court’s dismissal of a relator’s qui tam suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) against pharmaceutical companies related to their alleged fraud by artificially inflating drug prices, finding “that the qualifying public disclosures here do not collectively disclose a combination of facts sufficient to permit a reasonable inference of fraud.”
January 08, 2024
Hip Hop Artist Awarded Summary Judgment On Copyright Infringement Claim

CHICAGO — A hip-hop artist who performs as “French Montana” has prevailed in Illinois federal court in a copyright infringement action over music created by a plaintiff when he was 16 years old.
January 08, 2024
Pet Brush Maker May Subpoena Meta To Obtain Online Counterfeiters’ Identities

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of website operators accused of selling and advertising counterfeit goods lost their bid to quash a discovery subpoena on Meta Platforms Inc., with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiff demonstrated that good cause exists to obtain the defendants’ identifying information for the purpose of serving them with its complaint for intellectual property infringement and unfair competition.
January 05, 2024
Panel: Discretion Not Abused In Denial Of Preliminary Injunction In Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An interlocutory appeal of a determination that preliminary injunctive relief is not warranted in a dispute over glucose monitoring patents has failed, with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding no abuse of discretion.
January 05, 2024
False Patent Marking Counterclaim Dismissed By Alabama Federal Judge

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A dispute over carpenter bee traps will proceed in Alabama federal court without a counterclaim for false patent marking, a judge there has ruled.
January 05, 2024
Amicus Asks 2nd Circuit To Clarify Fair Use Standard In Digital Library Suit

NEW YORK — Filing a brief in support of neither party in an appeal by Internet Archive (IA) of a New York federal court’s finding that the “controlled digital lending” practiced in its digital library did not constitute fair use under the Copyright Act, amicus curiae HathiTrust asks the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to specify that fair use, “as an ‘equitable rule of reason,’” should be decided on a case-by-case basis “to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when . . . it would stifle the very creativity” protected by the statute.
January 05, 2024
Caesars Wins Dismissal Of ‘Suite Series’ Trademark Infringement Claims

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California has granted a motion by Caesars Entertainment Inc. to dismiss allegations that it infringed a common-law trademark, rejecting a plaintiff’s claim that its use of “Suite Series” in a 2018 press release qualifies it as trademark owner.
January 04, 2024
‘A La Carte Approach’ To Patentability Challenge Fails, Owner Contends

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A patent owner in a Jan. 3 preliminary response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board says that its “innovative technology” “has transformed the burgeoning field of light detection and ranging” (LIDAR) and that a petition for inter partes review (IPR) should be rejected.
January 04, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Entered In Alien Costume Copyright Litigation

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that a United Kingdom-based costume company will likely suffer irreparable harm if multiple China-based defendants are not enjoined from selling a knockoff product.
January 03, 2024
Challenge To Trademark Validity Survives Dismissal Bid In Hair Product Row

SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington has denied a motion by a plaintiff to dismiss a declaratory judgment counterclaim by Bosely Inc., a provider of hair loss treatments, that a federal trademark registration for “ADVANCED HAIR RESTORATION” is invalid.
January 03, 2024
Petitioner Seeks Director Intervention In Denial Of Inter Partes Review Request

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A recent denial of a petition for inter partes review (IPR) of a genomic sequencing patent was premised on misapprehension by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the relevant prior art, the petitioner argues in a Jan. 2 request for rehearing by the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
January 03, 2024
Ford Makes ‘Flawed,’ ‘Unsustainable’ Claims, Patent Owner Alleges

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner asserts that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board wrongly declared its technology for improved driver safety obvious based upon an erroneous construction of a disputed claim limitation and several other terms.
January 02, 2024
Claims Of Method For Making Steviol Glycoside Affirmed As Invalid, Patent-Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California did not err in granting a patent infringement defendant summary judgment that the claims asserted against it fail for lack of written description because “the one enzyme disclosed in the patents here has not been shown to be typical of the entire genus,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 2.
January 02, 2024
Latest AI Copyright Suit Sees New York Times Target Microsoft, OpenAI

NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. (NYT) sued ChatGPT owners Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI entities for copyright infringement, saying there is nothing transformative about using valuable and protected materials to create a substitute product.
January 02, 2024
Injunction Denied In ‘Flora’ Cannabinoid-Infused Beverage Case

CHICAGO — A plaintiff that makes a cannabinoid-infused beverage under the “Flora” trademark must litigate its common-law infringement claim against a competitor without a preliminary injunction in place, a federal judge in Illinois has ruled.