Mealey's Intellectual Property
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March 08, 2024
Trade Secret Disclosed In Patent Is Public Knowledge, Interlocutory Appellant Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In corrected opening and response briefs in an interlocutory appeal of a Massachusetts federal judge’s preliminary injunction, two makers of competing insulin patch pumps square off on several issues including whether purported trade secrets were made public in filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
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March 08, 2024
Panel Rejects Finding That Patent Limitations Are Contradictory, Indefinite
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of a patented rechargeable lithium-ion battery has won reinstatement of infringement litigation against a competitor by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that a federal judge in Texas wrongly declared claim language indefinite.
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March 07, 2024
Petitioner Seeks Burden Shift For Rule 105 Requests During Patent Prosecution
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Crossing the “PH1VNA” and “PH1D84” corn varieties to arrive at a newly claimed “1PFHC43” corn variety was “well within the level of skill for a person of ordinary skill” in 2021, the effective date of a patent issued in 2023 to Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., a competitor tells the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in a March 6 petition for covered business method (CBM) review.
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March 07, 2024
Fee Award Slashed, But Dismissal Of Lanham Act, Copyright Claims Upheld
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 6 did not reach allegations by two appellants that the “idea-expression dichotomy” under federal copyright law is unconstitutional, deeming the position waived in view of their failure to raise it before an Oregon federal magistrate judge.
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March 07, 2024
Apple, Corephotonics Jointly Move To Terminate Multiple Inter Partes Reviews
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On remand from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Apple Inc. and Corephotonics Inc. have reached a confidential settlement and jointly moved March 6 to terminate five inter partes reviews (IPRs) pending before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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March 07, 2024
X Corp. Wins Dismissal Of Most, But Not All, Copyright Claims By Music Industry
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee dismissed allegations that X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, directly and vicariously infringes copyrighted musical works and partly dismissed allegations of contributory infringement but said a subset of the latter claim will go forward, in view of plausible evidence that the social media giant does not go far enough to police infringement on its platform in certain situations.
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March 07, 2024
Summary Judgment That Graco Baby Swing Doesn’t Infringe Patent Will Stand
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bid by an inventor to overturn a California federal judge’s finding that Graco Inc. and its parent company do not infringe a patented infant soothing device failed March 6, with a summary affirmance by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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March 06, 2024
IBM Largely Loses Appeal In Clash With Chewy Over Online Advertising Patents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An appeal by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) of a New York federal judge’s summary judgment of patent noninfringement and ineligibility was partly successful March 5 when the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said Chewy Inc. must face allegations that it infringed a single claim of a patent directed to online advertising.
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March 06, 2024
YouTube Video Of Waffle Sandwich Dooms Design Patent Plans, Panel Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Efforts by two inventors to patent an ornamental design for a waffle featuring one smooth side were properly rejected as anticipated by a widely disseminated video on YouTube, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said March 6; in a separate opinion issued the same day, the same panel upheld a rejection of a similar utility patent application, this time on obviousness grounds.
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March 06, 2024
Michigan Federal Judge: Fish Illustrator’s Copyright Case ‘All Bait And No Hook’
DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on March 5 granted dismissal of allegations that a since-shuttered, print-on-demand website incurred infringement liability when it allowed internet users to upload copyrighted illustrations of freshwater fish for printing on various merchandise.
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March 06, 2024
Board Must Reconsider Amendments To 2 Patent Claims Proposed By Pfizer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a review of five inter partes reviews (IPRs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of patented pneumococcal vaccine technology, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled March 5 that although the board correctly deemed 45 claims obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) and properly denied a bid by Pfizer Inc. to add five substitute claims, it must revisit its denial of two other newly proposed claims.
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March 06, 2024
Parties Spar Over When Obviousness Type Double Patenting Doctrine Applies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a recent reply brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a group of patentees urges rejection of a suggestion by various appellees that the obviousness double patenting (ODP) inquiry can be reduced to a comparison of patent expiration dates.
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March 05, 2024
Appellants Drop Dispute With Board Over Application Of ‘Fintiv Factors’ To PGRs
WASHINGTON, D.C — An unopposed motion to dismiss an appeal of a Virginia federal judge’s determination that jurisdiction is lacking over a challenge to the “Fintiv instructions” — a set of nonexclusive factors considered by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board when deciding whether to institute post-grant review (PGR) of certain patents — was granted March 4 by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
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March 05, 2024
Google Beats Bid By Patent Owner To Lift Stay Of Texas Litigation
AUSTIN, Texas — On the heels of winning cancellation or disclaimer of 38 of 40 claims it challenged in an inter partes review (IPR) of two patents, Google LLC’s stated intention to appeal the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s findings for at least one of the two claims that survived IPR means a stay of Texas infringement litigation will stay in place, a federal judge there ruled March 4.
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March 05, 2024
Minnesota Federal Judge: Product And Product Trademark Are Distinct
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota federal judge on March 4 rejected a plaintiff’s claim that a contractual provision directing a distributor to “discontinue use of any and all . . . trademarks” in the event of termination “encompasses an obligation to stop selling” its remaining inventory.
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March 04, 2024
Patent Owner Prevails In Appeal Of Adverse Inter Partes Review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a March 4 ruling, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said final written decisions (FWDs) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceling all claims of four patents relating to closure of an incontinence diaper relied on “unsupported assumptions,” necessitating vacatur and remand.
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March 04, 2024
Claimed Circuit Split Over Fee Presumption In Copyright Cases Stays In Place
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Efforts by Hasbro Inc. to obtain review of a 2023 holding by the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that affirmed a denial of its request for attorney fees in a copyright case have failed, with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 4 denying the gamemaker’s petition for writ of certiorari.
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March 04, 2024
3 More Media Outlets Launch Copyright Actions Over Artificial Intelligence
NEW YORK — Three media outlets filed two new lawsuits in New York federal court targeting OpenAI Inc. and related entities associated with the use of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence ChatGPT-4.
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March 04, 2024
Both Parties Win Interim Relief, But More Briefing Sought In Trademark Row
NEW YORK — On remand from the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for a second time, a federal judge in New York on March 1 tweaked her earlier preliminary junction but directed a bridal gown company and its former designer to further brief the “issues raised” in a recent appellate decision.
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March 01, 2024
Denial Of Fee Request In Copyright Case Affirmed By 11th Circuit Panel
ATLANTA — “Even if” a prevailing copyright infringement defendant preserved its argument that an award of fees on its behalf was mandated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 68 by a copyright owner’s voluntary dismissal of the case, an award is not warranted because the defendant is not a “prevailing party” under federal copyright law, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled.
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March 01, 2024
Panel Reinstates Contract Case Against MasterCard Over Patent Royalties
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a case the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said “illustrates the importance of carefully reviewing the language in a covenant not to sue when entering a license agreement,” the court has again reversed summary judgment in favor of MasterCard International Inc., which stands accused of breaching its contract with a patent owner.
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March 01, 2024
Machine Company Tells High Court Petition Does Not Necessitate Rethinking Alice
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals correctly found that a competing machine company’s patent discloses an abstract process that is not patentable, a respondent tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief opposing a petition for certiorari that raises multiple questions about the abstract idea standard, contending that the case does not provide a vehicle for the court to reconsider the decade-old standard in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l.
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February 20, 2024
COMMENTARY: Diverging International Approaches To The Copyrightability And Authorship Of AI-Created Works
By Christopher W. Savage and James Rosenfeld
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February 29, 2024
OpenAI Says New York Times Used ChatGPT Hack To Produce Copyrighted Work
NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. (NYT) — using a known bug — hacked ChatGPT, and tens of thousands of attempts tricked it into producing “highly anomalous results” that it now uses as the basis for a copyright suit, the company behind the artificial intelligence tells a federal judge in New York in seeking dismissal of the suit.
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February 29, 2024
9th Circuit Says Zillow Entitled To Fees But Questions Amount Requested
SAN FRANCISCO — In a one-page order issued Feb. 28, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with Zillow Inc. that an award of fees for its successful defense of a Washington federal judge’s dismissal of copyright infringement litigation is warranted.