Mealey's Intellectual Property
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March 04, 2025
High Court Won’t Hear Arguments From Google Accuser On Patent Infringement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a tech company that a partly split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in affirming a federal judge’s summary judgments against the company and in favor of Google LLC, which it accused of infringing on seven of its patents.
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March 04, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Copyright Judgment In Software Ownership Dispute
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed all of a California federal judge’s findings on copyright infringement in a dispute between a software company and a logistics company over the ownership rights to a software product, including the judge’s refusal to impose contempt sanctions on the defendant entity.
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March 04, 2025
Google, Alphabet Say AI Copyright Claims Lacking, Seek To Strike Class
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Whether plaintiffs satisfactorily registered copyrights, sufficiently detail their claims and could possibly justify injunctive relief in their consolidated action against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. sits with a federal judge in California after briefing on motions to dismiss and strike class claims wrapped up in the artificial intelligence case.
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March 03, 2025
Federal Circuit: Judge Must Recalculate Prejudgment Interest In Patent Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 28 said a Nevada federal judge did not err in denying a plaintiff company its request for enhanced damages or a new trial on damages in a long-running patent infringement case now before the Federal Circuit for the fifth time.
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March 03, 2025
Microsoft Identifies Individuals Allegedly Involved In Unlawful AI Conduct
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Microsoft Corp. filed an amended complaint identifying four individuals previously listed as anonymous defendants who allegedly used the company’s artificial intelligence systems for unlawful purposes, including creating images of misogyny and deepfake intimate images of celebrities.
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March 03, 2025
Judge: Photo Company Can’t Show Infringement By Real Estate Firm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A photography company fails to point to any evidence that a real estate company intentionally participated in the infringement of two copyrighted photos that were posted on the social media accounts of an individual affiliated with the real estate firm, a federal judge in Florida ruled after considering dueling motions for summary judgment from the parties.
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March 03, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Trademark Settlement ‘Fraud’ Arguments
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by four companies that argued the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly allowed to stand a New York federal judge’s denial of a request to vacate a 2011 settlement in a trademark case due to an allegedly fraudulent document submitted as evidence.
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February 28, 2025
Judge Won’t Let AI Copyright Plaintiffs Set Search Terms
SAN FRANCISCO — Plaintiffs’ efforts at relitigating issues they lost undermines rulings designed to prevent delays, and the parties appear to be “taking turns to simply conjure up something about which to fight,” a judge overseeing consolidated federal copyright litigation in California involving artificial intelligence said Feb. 27 in denying requested discovery.
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February 28, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Finding In Netflix’s Favor On Streaming Patent
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 27 rejected an appellant’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was wrong to rule in favor of Netflix Inc; according to the panel, there was no error in the board’s analysis of the claims in the appellant’s patent that led it to find that all challenged claims in the patent are invalid as obvious.
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February 28, 2025
Record Labels Seek Rehearing In Copyright Row With Vimeo Before 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — A group of record labels asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, arguing in a petition for panel rehearing that the decision was in part undergirded by an erroneous reading of the labels’ argument.
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February 27, 2025
Federal Circuit Won’t Reverse Discovery Order In Memory Chip Patent Fight
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A California federal judge did not err when ordering a defendant-appellant technology company to turn over 73 pages of source code to plaintiff-respondent entities in a patent infringement dispute over flash memory chips, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Feb. 26, denying a petition for a writ of mandamus.
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February 27, 2025
Patent Holder Tells High Court Federal Circuit Wrongly Held Appeals Were Mooted
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The assignee of patents related to wireless earphones tells the U.S. Supreme Court in its petition for a writ of certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals inappropriately adopted “a novel and expansive rule of collateral estoppel” when it held that two appeals it brought were moot because it failed to appeal a federal trial court order holding that the patent claims at issue were invalid in a separate case.
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February 27, 2025
Judge Nixes Breach But Not Patent Claims From Dispute Over Resort Lagoon
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Utah delivered mixed results to a defendant resort company and related entities accused of violating a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and infringing on a patent with the construction of a large manmade lagoon at the resort; the judge granted the defendant entities’ summary judgment motion on the contract claims against it but largely allowed infringement claims to survive.
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February 26, 2025
Infant Probiotic Patent Holder Appeals Invalidity Finding To Federal Circuit
CHICAGO — A biopharmaceutical company and a related entity on Feb. 25 appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a decision by an Illinois federal judge that claims of two patents related to probiotic infant products are invalid.
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February 26, 2025
High Court: Lanham Act Doesn’t Support $43M Disgorgement From Nonparties
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 26 held that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a $43 million disgorgement award entered in a real estate company’s favor in a trademark infringement dispute with an entity it said infringed its marks; the court held that the Fourth Circuit and a Virginia federal judge should not have included profits from entities affiliated with the alleged infringer in damages calculations.
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February 26, 2025
5th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Injunction In Real Estate Trademark Fight
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Louisiana federal judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement dispute between two real estate companies with the word “Rampart” in their name, agreeing with the judge that the plaintiff company had failed to show a substantial likelihood of confusion between the companies’ respective names.
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February 26, 2025
Federal Judge: Musician Owes More Than $286K In Fees In Rap Copyright Battle
NEW YORK — A musician who sued rapper Donald Glover, who performs as Childish Gambino, and multiple related entities for allegedly copying one of his songs in the 2018 hit “This Is America” owes more than $286,000 in attorney fees, a federal judge in New York ruled.
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February 25, 2025
Judge: Media Outlet Alleges Injury, Copyright Removal For Single DMCA Claim
NEW YORK — While Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) protections don’t exactly match with historical analogs, the act hews closely enough to protected property rights to provide injury, and a news organization adequately alleges that OpenAI entities removed copyright management information (CMI) from articles during the training of artificial intelligence, a federal judge in New York said while dismissing the remainder of the DMCA claims against OpenAI and Microsoft.
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February 25, 2025
Federal Circuit Vacates IPR Decision On Meat Curing Patent, Citing Analysis Errors
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 24 vacated a finding of obviousness from the U.S. Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB) in a patent dispute between food packaging companies; the panel held that PTAB failed to adequately address elements of arguments presented by the appellant company.
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February 25, 2025
Supreme Court: No Certiorari In Patent Dispute Over Meat Slicing Products
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 rejected a food equipment company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, leaving in place findings by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the company’s theory of patent infringement was based on allegations without evidence and that the defendant companies were entitled to judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) and for a new trial on damages.
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February 25, 2025
Supreme Court Leaves 5th Circuit Copyright Infringement Affirmation In Place
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting a petition for a writ of certiorari on Feb. 24, the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear arguments from a distribution company that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to uphold a finding of copyright infringement against it for its use of another company’s software.
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February 24, 2025
Generic Drugmaker To High Court: Federal Circuit Patent Opinion Poses Risks
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to reverse a Delaware federal judge’s finding of no induced infringement in a patent dispute involving a generic bioequivalent of a prescription cardiovascular drug, the maker of the bioequivalent told the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.
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February 24, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear DISH’s Patent Dispute Attorney Fees Arguments
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from DISH Network LLC, leaving in place a decision from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny the company’s bid for attorney fees in a patent dispute that spanned a federal court and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
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February 21, 2025
NBA Teams, Others To High Court: Take Up Copyright ‘Discovery Rule’ Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of eight teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) filed one of three amicus curiae briefs in support of a design company’s argument before the U.S. Supreme Court that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a New York federal judge’s finding that copyright claims against it were time-barred.
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February 21, 2025
Citing ‘Glacial Pace,’ Plaintiffs In AI Copyright Suit Seek To Compel Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO — While the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence promises to produce discovery before upcoming deadlines, its “glacial pace” over the last four months necessitates a court order compelling the production by certain deadlines to ensure that it doesn’t benefit from further delay, plaintiffs in a copyright suit tell a federal judge in California in a Feb. 20 letter brief.