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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

September 19, 2024
Judge: Professor Violated Dow Jones Copyrights With Article Distribution Emails

AUSTIN, Texas — In a mixed result for both parties on competing motions for summary judgment, a federal judge in Texas held that a professor infringed on copyrights held by Dow Jones & Co. Inc. by emailing his students, former students and others PDFs of stories from Dow Jones publications and breached the contract formed by his subscription to the publications but that Dow Jones failed to show that the professor violated the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
September 19, 2024
Federal Circuit: Judgment In Patent Case Wrongly Based On Points Not Made At Trial

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware abused his discretion by issuing a ruling after a bench trial in a patent dispute between pharmaceutical manufacturers over a drug for overactive bladders by determining that the plaintiff company’s patent was invalid based on an invalidity defense the parties stipulated not to invoke, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 18, reversing the judge’s June 2023 decision.
September 18, 2024
2nd Circuit: No Jurisdictional Issues In American Girl’s Trademark Suit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York was wrong to hold that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over a Chinese company accused by dollmaker American Girl LLC of selling counterfeited products, a panel of judges in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held on Sept. 17; the panel said American Girl adequately showed that the Chinese company sold the alleged counterfeits in New York.
September 18, 2024
Judge Consolidates Suits By Journalists Challenging AI, Denies Motions To Compel

NEW YORK — In a six-page order addressing more than 20 outstanding motions and letter briefs in six artificial intelligence copyright cases, a federal judge in New York consolidated two suits brought by news entities and others, granted motions to set and extend deadlines and otherwise generally denied requests to compel certain evidence, including a request that The New York Times Co. produce evidence demonstrating that its stories were original works.
September 18, 2024
Federal Circuit: Tech Company’s Patent Suit Against Meta Properly Dismissed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in California was correct to dismiss with prejudice a technology company’s patent infringement suit against Meta Platforms Inc. involving digital tagging technology because the plaintiff company did not claim patent-eligible subject matter in its suit, a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Sept. 17.
September 17, 2024
Parties To Music Publishers’ AI Suit Brief Injunction, Motion To Dismiss

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Music publishers said an artificial intelligence company’s motion to dismiss is “rife with misdirection” and urged a court to impose a narrow preliminary injunction that would protect their rights while not unduly imposing restrictions on the company. But in its own briefing, Anthropic PBC said there is no evidence that its AI ever produced copyrighted works as portrayed by the plaintiffs and that there is certainly no evidence that its newest models would do so while urging the court to dismiss ancillary claims it says have not fared well in similar cases.
September 17, 2024
Federal Circuit: Judge Erred When Finding Patent Claims Mutually Exclusive

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Minnesota incorrectly held that that varying claims about the location of an opening in a catheter were mutually exclusive, which forced the judge “into a later conclusion of indefiniteness, which it did not have to do” in a patent dispute over the catheter, a panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Sept. 16.
September 17, 2024
Judge Orders Wind-Down Of Use Of Infringing Mark In Trademark Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California granted a plaintiff advertising company’s motion for a preliminary injunction barring defendant advertising firms from using marks that the plaintiff says infringe on its word mark “MARS”; the judge gave the defendant companies six months to wind down their use of the allegedly offending marks.
September 17, 2024
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Want Midjourney’s Trade Dress Clarification Reply Stricken

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiff artists asked a federal judge in California to strike a reply brief that artificial intelligence creator Midjourney Inc. filed in support of its motion for clarification about what “concrete elements” the judge saw in the plaintiffs’ trade dress claim, with the artists saying local rules do not permit such a filing.
September 16, 2024
Parties To GitHub AI Suit Involving DMCA Ruling Brief Need For Immediate Appeal

OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence copyright suit involving code posted to online coding repository GitHub and related defendants wrapped briefing over whether a federal judge in California’s ruling requiring identicality under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) warrants interlocutory appeal of a federal California judge’s ruling.
September 16, 2024
Google, Author Wrap Briefing On Dismissal Of Trimmed AI Copyright Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — An author and Google LLC grappled in briefing on a motion to dismiss filed in a federal court in California, with the woman saying her amended complaint sufficiently alleges that the company illegally took and used her copyrighted work to train artificial intelligence. However, Google responded by saying that while the second amended complaint appears to try to strip away irrelevant allegations, it only serves to point out the ongoing problems with the Copyright Act claims.
September 16, 2024
Judge: Trump Liable For Infringing Use Of ‘Electric Avenue’ In Campaign Video

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Sept. 13 granted singer Eddy Grant’s partial motion for partial summary judgment against former President Donald J. Trump and his re-election campaign, holding that the singer adequately showed that Trump’s use of Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” in a video on Twitter does not constitute fair use; the judge also denied a motion for partial summary judgment from the Trump team.
September 16, 2024
Company Agrees To Drop References To Lilly Drugs In Compound Medication Ads

DENVER — Eli Lilly and Co. and HydraMed IV LLC have reached a settlement to end a trademark infringement dispute, with the mobile IV treatment company HydraMed agreeing to a permanent injunction barring the company from advertising or selling compounded medications that lead consumers to believe that they are generic versions of Lilly’s weight loss medications.
September 12, 2024
Nevada Federal Judge Dismisses Invalidity Defense In Dispute Over LED Patents

LAS VEGAS — The owner of several light-emitting diode (LED) technology patents is entitled to summary judgment on an affirmative defense of invalidity raised by a group of companies accused of infringing upon the patents because the prior art referenced in the defendants’ expert testimony does not quality as prior art in this instance.
September 12, 2024
Federal Judge Enjoins Trump Campaign From Further Uses Of Soul Song

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia on Sept. 11 partially granted a motion from the estate of a songwriter and the company that manages his works to bar former President Donald J. Trump and associated entities from using a soul tune from the 1960s at future campaign appearances, but the judge held that the estate and the company are not harmed by videos of the song being used at past campaign stops.
September 12, 2024
Judge Won’t Bar Nonprofit From Using Contested Trademark In Economic Report

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California denied a plaintiff nonprofit organization’s bid for a temporary restraining order against another nonprofit organization, saying “there are significant questions regarding ownership” of the trademark LATINO GDP, which the plaintiff organization claims to own.
September 12, 2024
Federal Circuit: GoPro Not Entitled To Summary Judgment In Camera Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal trial court erred in finding that patents disclosing a portable video camera are directed toward an abstract idea because the patents improve upon previous technology, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in reversing the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to GoPro Inc.
September 12, 2024
Federal Circuit: Patent Expert Didn’t Need Requisite Skill At Time Of Invention

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An expert was not required to have the requisite level of ordinary skill in 1999 when a 3D modeling system was invented to later testify before a jury about the invention in a patent dispute because the expert sufficiently acquired the requisite skill before testifying, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in ruling that the jury’s verdict of infringement was supported by substantial evidence.
September 12, 2024
11th Circuit: Marvel Did Not Infringe On Artist’s Hero Design

ATLANTA — For the second time, a panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s dismissal of a copyright infringement suit brought by a comic book artist against Marvel Entertainment and its parent the Walt Disney Co., holding that the artist failed to show how designs of two Marvel characters themed around birds infringe upon his owl-themed superhero.
September 11, 2024
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Oppose Midjourney’s Request For Trade Dress Clarification

SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs in an artificial intelligence image copyright suit told a court its ruling on several motions to dismiss already rejected AI creator Midjourney Inc.’s arguments, leaving nothing to address in the company’s motion for the court to clarify what “concrete elements” are in the plaintiffs’ trade dress.
September 11, 2024
Ohio Federal Judge Tosses Trademark Dispute Over Use Of Word ‘Chipotle’

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio dismissed a man’s trademark infringement suit against a food manufacturing company, holding that the company did not infringe the man’s registered trademarks on phrases related to a type of pepper in salsas because the company used the words descriptively without a risk of confusion with the man’s products.
September 11, 2024
Birkenstock’s Design Patent And Trade Dress Infringement Claims Survive Dismissal

BOSTON — The makers of Birkenstock sandals and clogs plausibly stated all the necessary elements of their claims for patent and trade dress infringement brought against a competitor who allegedly copied their designs by showing that the competitor’s reportedly infringing products are sufficiently similar and have acquired a secondary meaning with the public, a Massachusetts federal judge found in denying the competitor’s motion to dismiss.
September 11, 2024
Federal Magistrate Judge Declines To Stay Discovery In DNA Detection Patent Row

SAN DIEGO — Two companies that are alleged to have violated patents relating to DNA detection are not entitled to a stay of discovery pending the resolution of their motion for judgment on the pleadings because the motion is not necessarily dispositive of the entire case, a California federal magistrate judge found in denying the two companies’ request.
September 11, 2024
Federal Circuit: Method For Tipping During Media Viewing Is Patent Ineligible

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err in finding that a method and system for eliciting and receiving tips during media consumption was directed at an abstract idea because the idea is simply a method of organizing human economic activity, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the PTAB’s decision on Sept. 10.
September 11, 2024
11th Circuit: Real Estate Company Not ‘Prevailing Party’ In Copyright Case

ATLANTA — A Florida federal judge was correct to deny attorney fees to a real estate company accused by a photography company of infringing a photo’s copyright, a panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in an unpublished opinion, saying that the real estate firm is not the “prevailing party” as defined by the Copyright Act because the photography studio voluntarily dismissed its claims.