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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

August 13, 2024
PTO Director’s Former Role In Case Didn’t Affect Due Process Rights, Panel Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of three computer data patents was not deprived of its due process rights when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted inter partes review after opposing counsel in a dispute over the patents was nominated and appointed as director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) because the director properly recused herself from the case and the administrative law judges of the PTAB had no pecuniary interest in agreeing with the arguments she formerly presented before them, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming three final written decisions from the PTAB.
August 13, 2024
In COVID-19 Vaccine Case, Federal Judge Says Patent Preambles Must Be Considered

WILMINGTON, Del. — The term “vaccine” within the preamble of a patent that was allegedly infringed upon by the manufacturing of various COVID-19 vaccines is a limitation of the patent’s claims because the term describes the intended use of the patent itself, a Delaware federal judge found in issuing a claim construction order interpreting the patent at issue.
August 13, 2024
Patent Trial And Appeal Board Panel Says Blood Pooling Method Was Not Obvious

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent examiner erred in finding that a method of separating blood components by pooling blood samples together from multiple donors was obvious because none of the prior art mentions pooling blood together, a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel found Aug. 12 in rejecting the examiner’s findings.
August 13, 2024
2nd Circuit: Judge Correct To Deny Vacatur Of 2011 Trademark Dispute Settlement

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York correctly denied a request from a series of companies to vacate a 2011 issuance of judgment in a trademark infringement case because a settlement in the case was allegedly built upon a fraudulent document, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the lower court judge that the companies had ample opportunity to discover the alleged fraud when it occurred.
August 12, 2024
New York Times Says Judge Nixed Ruling OpenAI Cites Ordering Discovery Of Prompts

NEW YORK — A judge recently overruled a magistrate judge’s order that was cited by OpenAI Inc. and related entities in their effort to obtain prompts and other material related to presuit testing of ChatGPT, the New York Times Co. (NYT) told a federal judge in New York on Aug. 9 in its copyright infringement action against the creators of the artificial intelligence.
August 12, 2024
Judge: No Deadline Extension In AI Company’s Battle Over Sci Fi-Based Name

NEW YORK — A 10-day delay in the holding of a settlement conference does not warrant a months-long extension of several case deadlines, and any failure to conduct discovery and settlement negotiations simultaneously as requested by the court lies with the parties, a federal judge in New York said in a trademark infringement case involving a dispute between an artificial intelligence chipmaker and a health care company it accuses of poaching its science fiction-based moniker.
August 12, 2024
11th Circuit: No Fees In Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Florida’s Outline In Logos

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 9 affirmed a Florida federal magistrate judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a company that prevailed in a trademark infringement case over a restaurant it said infringed its trademarked logo designs, agreeing with the magistrate judge that the case does not reach the “exceptional” level required for attorney fees under the Lanham Act.
August 12, 2024
Animal Drug Patent Owners Had No Notice Of Methodology Change, Federal Judge Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by changing, without notice, the methodology it uses to calculate regulatory review periods for new animal drug patents that are later used to extend the terms of such patents, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting a patent owner’s motion for summary judgment.
August 12, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Singer’s Copyright Claim Against Rolling Stones

NEW ORLEANS — In a per curiam opinion, a panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Louisiana federal judge was correct to dismiss a Spanish singer’s copyright infringement complaint against The Rolling Stones, its members and associated record labels because the singer failed to establish that the court had personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
August 12, 2024
Panel: Knowing Violation Of Rights Exclusion Relieves Insurers Of Duty To Defend

BOSTON — A Massachusetts appeals court affirmed a lower court’s judgment in favor of insurers in a coverage dispute arising from underlying trademark infringement and other claims brought against insureds, finding that the policy’s knowing violation of the rights of another relieved the insurers of their duty to defend.
August 09, 2024
Examiner Failed To Show Fragrance Delivery Claims Were Obvious, PTAB Panel Finds

WASHINGTON — A Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel on Aug. 8 reversed a patent examiner’s decision to reject as obvious a patent application that described a delayed chemical delivery system because the prior art referenced by the examiner failed to contain the same weight ratio as disclosed in the application.
August 08, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Obviousness Findings In Dispute Over Robot Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) did not err in finding that all but one of several challenged patent claims concerning a docking method for a robotic cleaning device were unpatentable in light of prior art, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the PTAB’s final written decision on Aug. 8.
August 08, 2024
Restaurants’ Lanham Act Claims Against Grubhub Largely Survive Dismissal Motion

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois said seven of nine restaurants who brought trademark violation claims in a putative class complaint against Grubhub Inc., alleging that the company included their names and logos on its food delivery app without the restaurants’ permission, failed to show that they have a protectible trademark interest, while the claims from the remaining two restaurants are adequately pleaded.
August 07, 2024
Federal Circuit Agrees That Image Information Claims Are Patent Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court did not err in finding that patent claims describing a method for storing information that relates to a captured image were patent ineligible because they are directed at an abstract idea and fail to present an inventive concept, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment on Aug. 6.
August 07, 2024
Genetically Modified Corn Patent Claims Will Move Ahead In Delaware Federal Court

WILMINGTON, Del. — The owner of a genetically modified corn patent did not grant the public or a competitor unrestricted authorization to use its patented seeds by placing them in a deposit because such deposits can be used to disclose patent specifications in furtherance of a patent application, a Delaware federal judge found in denying the competitor’s motion to dismiss claims brought against it by the patent owner.
August 07, 2024
Judge Relates Pair Of AI Copyright Actions As Briefing On Dismissal Begins

SAN FRANCISCO — Arguments about differences in parties and the specificity of claims in two copyright suits might stand in the way of consolidation of the actions but do not prevent relating the cases, which involve artificial intelligence created by defendant Google LLC, a federal judge in California said in a docket entry.
August 07, 2024
D.C. Circuit Affirms Finding That DMCA Does Not Run Afoul Of 1st Amendment

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected two technologists’ challenge to the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), holding that a federal district court rightly enforced the statute’s anti-circumvention provision with regard to technological protection measures (TPMs).
August 06, 2024
Remote Access Voice Invention Was Obvious, Federal Circuit Says In Affirming PTAB

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err in ruling that a patent describing a method of remotely accessing a computer via voice commands issued through a mobile device was obvious in light of prior art because the PTAB’s findings were supported by substantial evidence and expert testimony, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the PTAB’s final written decision.
August 06, 2024
Federal Judge Tosses Singer’s ‘Shotgun’ Copyright Suit Targeting Music Companies

MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida dismissed a copyright claim brought by a Venezuelan musician claiming that several music companies illegally uploaded his music to online music streaming platforms, adopting a federal magistrate judge’s report wherein the magistrate judge found that the musician’s complaint is an impermissible shotgun pleading and that the musician failed to substantiate some of his claims.
August 05, 2024
11th Circuit: Court Must Reconsider If Tech Company’s Full Code Is Copyrightable

ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Florida federal magistrate judge failed to fully consider the copyrightability of the code of a company that makes a software comparing life insurance quotes in a case the company brought against competitors it said stole its trade secrets by taking portions of its database, ordering the judge to make a new finding of facts for the company’s copyright claim
August 05, 2024
Judge: No New Trademark Trial For Adidas Despite Withheld Discovery Emails

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge issued an opinion explaining in detail a May order in which he denied a motion from adidas America Inc. for a new trial in its trademark dispute with Thom Browne Inc., saying that adidas did not adequately show that newly discovered emails from Thom Browne suggesting the company was aware one of its designs could be infringing on adidas’ signature stripe design were likely to have changed the outcome of the trial.
August 02, 2024
Parties To OpenAI Secondary Meaning Trademark Ruling Wrap Briefing

SAN FRANCISCO — Two entities battling over the rights to the Open AI trademark wrapped up briefing in a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals case involving a judge’s ruling finding that the mark acquired a secondary meaning with the release of OpenAI Inc.’s Dall-E website.
August 02, 2024
Judge Grants Summary Judgment To Airline On Copyright Claim Against Reseller

FORT WORTH, Texas — A federal judge in Texas held that American Airlines Inc. was entitled to summary judgment on copyright infringement claims it brought against a company that exploits an airline ticket loophole to save customers money on tickets, finding that the company failed to show that its use of the American Airlines flight symbol on its website was a fair use of the flight symbol.
August 01, 2024
Slide Designer Failed To Allege That Its Design Patent Was Knowingly Infringed

SANTA ANA, Calif. — In asserting a claim for inducement of design patent infringement against a trampoline and recreational park franchisor, a slide designer failed to allege that the franchisor had actual knowledge that the slides it sold to its franchisees infringed upon the design patent at issue, a California federal judge found in granting the franchisor’s motion to dismiss without prejudice.
August 01, 2024
1st Circuit Orders New Copyright Infringement Damages Trial For Guitar Maker

BOSTON — A panel of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered a new jury trial on the issue of infringing profits on a copyright claim brought by a guitar manufacturer who said a guitar seller used a copyrighted photo of guitar headstocks on its website, holding that a New Hampshire federal judge did not accurately explain the manufacturer’s burden of proof in jury instructions.