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Mealey's Intellectual Property

December 13, 2023
New York Federal Judge: Copyright, Trademark Claims Barred By Res Judicata

NEW YORK — Allegations by a plaintiff that a beekeeping supply company, its owners, operators and others infringed his copyrighted advertising text and made unauthorized references to his trademark while advertising a competing product were dismissed Dec. 12 by a federal judge in New York, who adopted a 2019 report and recommendation for the same by a New York federal magistrate judge.
December 13, 2023
Amici Back Coders’ Facial Challenge To DMCA’s Anti-Circumvention Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In their second time before the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, this time appealing the dismissal of their facial challenge to the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), two software coders were supported by the filing of four amicus curiae briefs, including one by legal scholars, that are critical of the statute’s technological protection measures (TPMs).
December 12, 2023
Restaurants Voluntarily Dismiss Claims Accusing Grubhub Of Providing Faulty Info

DENVER — A motion for voluntary dismissal filed by restaurants that accused Grubhub Inc. in a putative class complaint of deceiving consumers by offering faulty information regarding restaurants that did not partner with it was granted by a federal judge in Colorado.
December 12, 2023
Outcome Of Inter Partes Review Upheld In Win For Petitioner Apple Inc.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Findings by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the independent claims of a patented system that links words and phrases to other sources, such as annotations, were not limited by their preambles will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded Dec. 11 in a summary affirmance.
December 12, 2023
Jawbone Responds To Meta Petition That Seeks Patent Cancellation

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Allegations by Meta Platforms Inc. that patented noise suppression technology would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) fail, the patent owner maintains in a Dec. 11 preliminary patent owner response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
December 12, 2023
Bid For Cancellation Of Patented Radiation Lamp Fails As Board Denies Review

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Dec. 11 denied institution of inter partes review (IPR) of a patent relating to lamp used to disinfect water.
December 11, 2023
Panel Upholds Win For Zillow On Copyright Claims By Photographer

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in Washington correctly dismissed allegations of copyright infringement leveled against Zillow Inc., the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 8, agreeing that a photographer failed to establish volitional conduct by the online real estate website.
December 11, 2023
Digitization Dispute Belongs In California, New York Federal Judge Concludes

NEW YORK — A group of copyright infringement defendants working to collect, digitize and upload 78 rpm phonographic records won transfer on Dec. 8 of the allegations against them from a federal court in New York to the Northern District of California.
December 11, 2023
Google Can’t Persuade Federal Judge To Revisit Patent Claim Construction

BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts has rejected as untimely a bid by Google LLC for an expansion of the court’s construction of “execution unit” adopted more than a year ago.
December 08, 2023
Moderna: Pfizer Seeking ‘Two Bites At The Invalidity Apple’ With Patent Challenge

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A petition by Pfizer Inc. for inter partes review (IPR) of a Moderna TX Inc. patent directed to the messenger RNA technology used in the COVID-19 vaccine is a “transparent” effort to “double-dip,” Moderna says in a Dec. 7 preliminary patent owner response filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
December 08, 2023
In Texas Dispute Over Computing Patents, Quanta’s Dismissal Bid Fails

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Allegations by Quanta Computer Inc. that a plaintiff patent owner is collaterally estopped from asserting infringement in view of a 2022 ruling by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a case involving a different defendant were rejected by a federal judge in Texas.
December 07, 2023
Michigan Federal Judge Stands By Earlier Rejection Of Copyright Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid for reconsideration of a recent decision granting a copyright infringement defendant judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) was denied Dec. 6 by a federal judge in Michigan.
December 07, 2023
Opposition To Trademark Application Correctly Rejected, Panel Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board did not err in finding that confusion was unlikely to result from the use of “VÉRITÉ DU TERROIR” in connection with “wines made from grapes from Côtes de Provence” and “VÉRITÉ” in connection with “alcoholic beverages except beers,” the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed.
December 07, 2023
New Jersey Federal Magistrate Judge Denies ‘Vast Expansion’ Of Copyright Case

TRENTON, N.J. — A request to add more than 320 copyrighted works to existing copyright infringement litigation was largely denied Dec. 6 by a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey, who said the proposed amendments would be prejudicial.
December 06, 2023
In Appeal Involving Vans Trademarks And Trade Dress, Injunction Upheld

NEW YORK — Writing that “the central issues” presented in an appeal by a trademark infringement defendant of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction “are governed” by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 5 upheld the relief entered by a New York federal judge.
December 06, 2023
Panel Won’t Intervene In Dispute Over Document Request In Patent Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a bid for mandamus by a patent owner who was ordered by a federal judge in Massachusetts to produce various documents requested by an infringement defendant leveling counterclaims of inequitable conduct.
December 06, 2023
Intel Largely Prevails In Patent Appeal; New Damages Trial Ordered

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ordered a new damages trial for infringement of one patent by Intel Corp. that yielded a $1.5 billion award and vacated findings that Intel infringed another patent that formed the basis of a $675 million award in a longstanding dispute over microprocessor technology.
December 04, 2023
Federal Circuit Grants Stipulated Dismissal In Endoscope Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the heels of a joint request filed one day earlier, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 4 agreed to dismiss with prejudice a patent case that hinged on the “permissible repair” defense.
December 04, 2023
New York Federal Judge Rejects ‘Sweeping Attack’ On Jury’s Patent Verdict

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York on Dec. 1 denied a bid to enhance a September $1.85 million jury award in a dispute over the validity, inventorship and infringement of a design patent associated with the “Wallet Ninja” but in the same ruling awarded the patent owner $1,536,644 in attorney fees and costs.
December 04, 2023
Apple Request For Fees As Sanction In Patent Case Denied In California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two months after a patent owner voluntarily dismissed allegations of patent infringement against Apple Inc. in connection with a feature that alerts Apple users to potential COVID-19 exposure, a federal judge in California on Dec. 1 denied the tech titan’s request for attorney fees.
December 01, 2023
In California Patent Row, Defendant Can Amend Invalidity Contentions

SAN JOSE, Calif. — An infringement dispute over a patented telepole will include an allegation of obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) in view of a recent change in the law, a federal magistrate judge in California has ruled.
December 01, 2023
Law Firm Tells 9th Circuit Rival’s Use Of Mark In Keyword Ad Was Infringing

SAN FRANCISCO — Asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court’s summary judgment finding that a competitor’s use of its trademark in a Google keyword advertisement did not infringe, an Arizona law firm in its appellant brief expressed its concern that if the judgment is permitted to stand, it will “severely erode the ability of trademark holders to protect against the misuse of their marks online.”
December 01, 2023
AI Music Copyright Defendant Says Tennessee Jurisdiction Strikes Wrong Beat

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In a motion to dismiss, artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC told a federal court in Tennessee that a copyright suit was a “negotiating tactic disguised as a federal court complaint” with no connection to the jurisdiction and that at the very least, the action should be transferred to California, where almost all of the parties reside.
November 30, 2023
In California Copyright Case, Decision To Strike Expert Testimony Revisited

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California on Nov. 29 said his recent decision to strike the expert testimony of a copyright damages expert witness was error, in a blow to infringement defendants that include The Walt Disney Co.
November 30, 2023
In GitHub AI Copyright Suit, Parties Told To Meet, Confer Not Move To Compel

SAN FRANCISCO — While a California federal court mulls a second round of motions from OpenAI Inc., GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. seeking dismissal of claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) related to allegations of improper attribution in the development of an artificial intelligence tool, a magistrate judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery responses in favor of a directive for the parties to meet and confer about discovery disputes.