WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 21 affirmed a Minnesota federal judge’s refusal to grant a patent owner’s posttrial request for judgment as a matter of law of infringement and patent validity, but the panel vacated portions of the judge’s final order that improperly applied to unasserted patent claims.

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois applied the wrong legal standards for genericness and fair use when issuing a preliminary injunction barring the companies behind the Little Caesars pizza chain from using the phrase “Pizza Puff” when advertising a new cupcake-like pizza product, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held; the panel determined that the judge failed to adequately analyze whether another food entity’s “Pizza Puff” mark was protectible.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The solicitor general told the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21 that the justices should stay a preliminary injunction that reinstated Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa D. Cook after she was purportedly removed by President Donald J. Trump in August via a social media post as the removal was proper since it was due to “deceit[ful]” or “gross[ly] negligen[t]” mortgage applications Cook submitted in 2021, prior to her being nominated to that post, and that the Federal Reserve has been given over the years what “is clearly quintessential executive power.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 20 denied a petition filed by the Spokane Airport Board seeking review of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) emergency amendment requiring certain airport security programs to include specified cybersecurity measures, finding in part that TSA’s regulatory authority includes the addition of cybersecurity plans to airport security programs.

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court on Jan. 20 partly granted a retirement communities owner insured’s petition seeking review of a Colorado appeals court majority’s opinion that partly reversed a lower court’s ruling in favor of the insurer in the insured’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from the coronavirus pandemic.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 20 reversed a Pennsylvania federal judge’s decision to exclude two expert witnesses in a dispute brought by a physician who claims DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and related DePuy entities induced surgeons to infringe certain claims of his patents; the panel majority held that the judge wrongly treated claim construction and survey methodology questions as admissibility issues and not questions for a jury.

CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a biomedical research company and its controlling members in a suit brought by its founder alleging they violated securities laws and breached their fiduciary duties by not informing him that they were considering private-equity financing when he sold his stake in the company, finding a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to the founder’s fiduciary duties claim but not as to his securities law claims.

BOSTON — A partially split First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel largely affirmed a Puerto Rico federal judge’s decision to dismiss a suit against Puerto Rican government entities brought by the sons of legendary baseball player Roberto Clemente for putting his image on license plates without their authorization, but the panel majority held that Clemente’s heirs had adequately raised Lanham Act claims against the government officials in their personal capacity to survive a motion to dismiss.