Mealey's Intellectual Property
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January 28, 2025
Judge Tosses Designer’s Copyright Claims For Use Of Character On Album Art
LOS ANGELES — A designer who accused a hip-hop producer of copyright infringement for using a character he designed on multiple album covers since 1999 failed to show that the implied license granted to the producer had any kind of expiration date, a federal judge in California held, granting a motion from the producer and related entities for judgment on the pleadings.
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January 27, 2025
6th Circuit Agrees: No Royalties To Inventor After Patent’s Expiration
CINCINATTI — A federal judge in Michigan was right to find that a health care company owed no further royalties to the inventor of eye-test machines after the expiration of his patent, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, saying that the parties agreed to a royalty rate based on use of the patent itself.
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January 27, 2025
Federal Circuit Reverses Most Noninfringement JMOLs In Packaging Patent Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware provided no rationale to support a decision to conditionally grant a new trial on damages in a patent dispute between two makers of food packaging materials, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Jan. 24, vacating the new trial order.
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January 27, 2025
DISH To High Court: Federal Circuit Got Patent Act Fees Scope Wrong
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court, DISH Network L.L.C. maintains its argument that a Delaware federal judge was wrong to find that it cannot recoup the attorney fees it incurred during a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that was “voluntary” and “parallel” to the district court proceedings.
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January 24, 2025
Judge Says First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To Software Keys
SEATTLE — The first sale doctrine does not apply to software product keys, a federal judge in Washington held Jan. 23, because those keys are not themselves copyrightable works, granting partial summary judgment as to a single affirmative defense in favor of the Microsoft Corp. against a Canadian entity and several individuals Microsoft called “prolific distributors of black market access devices to Microsoft software that they unlawfully advertise to consumers as genuine software.”
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January 24, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB Right To Find Lithium Battery Claims Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 23 said that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err in holding that multiple claims in a company’s patents relating to lithium-ion batteries were unpatentable as obvious.
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January 23, 2025
11th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Architect’s Copyright, Contract Claims
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss copyright infringement and breach of contract claims brought by an architect and firms he controls against multiple entities in a relationship that soured over a condominium construction project, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 22, vacating the judge’s order.
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January 23, 2025
Federal Circuit Again Affirms PTAB Finding That DNA Testing Patent Not Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second time in recent weeks, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 affirmed a finding by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Boar (PTAB) that a biopharmaceutical company’s in utero DNA testing product was not shown to be unpatentable in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding.
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January 23, 2025
Parties Resolve AI Dynamic Batching Patent Fight
WILMINGTON, Del. — Two artificial intelligence companies have reached a confidential settlement resolving a dispute in a Delaware federal court over a patent protecting dynamic batching used to decrease latency in AI transformers.
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January 23, 2025
9th Circuit: No Rehearing For Playwright In Copyright Row With Studio
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 denied a playwright’s motion for en banc rehearing, standing by its affirmation of a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a film studio and related entities the writer accused of copying elements from a stage production she wrote.
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January 22, 2025
Solar-Cell Module Patent Claims Invalid, Federal Circuit Agrees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was right to find that the claims of a solar energy company’s patent on a type of solar-cell module were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 21.
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January 22, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Consider PTAB Use Of APJs In Patent Proceedings
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21 rejected a processor patent holder’s request for certiorari based on the argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is barred by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) from both instituting and deciding on inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, leaving in place a judgment by the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming PTAB’s finding of unpatentability.
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January 22, 2025
OpenAI Isn’t Entitled To Discovery Of All AI Usage, New York Times Says
NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc.’s contention that its fair use defense requires The New York Times Co. (NYT) to produce any and all evidence related to its use of artificial intelligence of any kind and in any manner seeks to “distract from its own massive copyright infringement” and was properly rejected by a magistrate judge, the company says in responding to an objection to a ruling denying a motion to compel.
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January 21, 2025
Magistrate Judge Rejects Meta’s ‘False Dichotomy,’ Faults Some AI Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc.’s “false dichotomy” about the possible answers regarding its use of copyrighted material in an artificial intelligence case is based on minor quibbles about the extent of the copying and does not “justify the hopelessly vague” answers it offered about what its search of the training data revealed, a federal magistrate judge in California said Jan. 17 in partially granting motions to compel.
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January 21, 2025
Supreme Court Rejects Jurisdictional Appeal In Counterfeit Doll Case
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court left in place an opinion by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversing a New York federal judge’s finding that the court lacked personal jurisdiction in a case brought by dollmaker American Girl LLC against a Chinese company for allegedly selling counterfeited goods; the high court denied the Chinese company’s petition for a writ of certiorari on Jan. 21.
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January 21, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Consider If Canadian Codes Are Uncopyrightable ‘Law’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting the petition for a writ of certiorari from a developer of Canadian legal codes on Jan. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a holding from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a publishing company did not infringe on the developer’s copyrights because the codes are effectively uncopyrightable “law” in the country.
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January 21, 2025
Medical Services Provider Accused Of Unlawfully ‘Annexing’ Sports Clinic
LOS ANGELES — Two entities involved in operating a provider of sports medicine and orthopedic surgery and two affiliated doctors filed a complaint in California state court accusing a nonprofit medical services provider and its executives of unlawfully seeking to “absorb . . . and unlawfully control” the sports medicine providers in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), trademark dilution laws and other state laws prohibiting employment-related retaliation.
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January 21, 2025
Sushi Restaurant Could Not Have Been Unaware Of Copyright Claims, Judge Rules
NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey sushi restaurant either recklessly or willfully ignored copyright infringement claims brought against it by an artist who claimed that the restaurant used an unauthorized copy of his work in advertising, a federal judge in the state held, denying the restaurant’s plea to vacate an entry of default.
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January 17, 2025
8th Circuit: Floor Plans Don’t Infringe On Home Designer’s Copyright
ST. LOUIS — Two real estate agents’ use of floor plans of homes in resale listings was a noninfringing fair use, a panel in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held; the panel rejected arguments from the designer and his company that a Missouri federal judge should have found copyright infringement.
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January 17, 2025
2nd Circuit: Judge Erred In Similarity Analysis In Nut Trade Dress Fight
NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 16 reversed a New York federal judge’s dismissal of a trade dress infringement dispute between competing nut companies, holding that the plaintiff company adequately alleged the possibility of confusion between the packaging of the companies’ respective pistachio products.
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January 17, 2025
Split 4th Circuit Finds MOKE Mark Genericness Finding Lacked Evidence
RICHMOND, Va. — A split Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Virginia federal judge’s holding that MOKE is a generic term describing a type of vehicle that is unable to be trademarked, holding that there is a “dearth of relevant evidence in the record” because the matter of genericness was raised only after the conclusion of a trial.
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January 16, 2025
Split Federal Circuit Reverses Noninfringement Finding In Tub Patent Fight
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A largely split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed multiple findings from a Rhode Island federal judge in a patent infringement dispute between two manufacturers of bathtubs for infants, including a finding of noninfringement, with the panel majority holding that there are genuine disputes of material fact as to infringement.
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January 16, 2025
9th Circuit: Kinetic Sculpture Company’s Copyright Claim Survives Dismissal
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a plaintiff company adequately alleged that another company infringed on copyrighted elements of its kinetic sculptures that could be manipulated into various shapes to survive a dismissal motion; the panel reversed a California federal judge’s order dismissing the copyright infringement claim.
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January 15, 2025
Ozempic Maker Sues Seller Of Compounded Drugs, Alleging Trademark Infringement
ATLANTA — The manufacturer of Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus sued a weight-loss center in Georgia that sells and promotes compounded drug products that purport to contain semaglutide for false advertising and trademark infringement in a Georgia federal court.
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January 15, 2025
Bitcoin Miner Doesn’t Show He Invented Crypto Patent, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge was right to reject hearsay evidence regarding a conversation over cocktails at a cryptocurrency conference when holding that a cryptocurrency mining company and its founder failed to show that the founder should be added as the named inventor to another crypto company’s patent, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.