GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge on Sept. 3 dismissed with prejudice a putative class action against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. (RJR) for allegedly sending marketing text messages to a consumer whose telephone number was listed in the national Do Not Call (DNC) registry, writing that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) “does not create a private cause of action based on unwanted text messages.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a determination from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that certain claims of a patent describing a vitamin D treatment held by a couple were unpatentable as obvious, determining that substantial evidence supported PTAB’s underlying prior art factual findings and that the couple failed to properly develop certain theories before the board.

PITTSBURGH — An oil and gas producer sued by a class of leaseholders seeking allegedly unpaid royalties didn’t abandon its arbitration rights related to unnamed class members when it waited until after class certification to move to compel arbitration against those with arbitration clauses in their leases, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in an interlocutory appeal, vacating the trial court’s ruling and remanding.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a District of Columbia federal judge’s finding that a medical device repair exemption that allows for the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) to access clinical-operation software to diagnose, maintain or repair a device was reasonable, saying the Library of Congress reasonably concluded that such access is likely fair use.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A panel of the Washington Division III Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s summary judgment rulings on breach of contract and extracontractual claims entered in an auto insurer’s favor because the insurer acted reasonably when it told the insureds it could not evaluate their underinsured motorist (UIM) benefits claim until it knew the liability limits of the tortfeasor’s insurance policy.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge on Sept. 2 rejected proposed remedies that would have required Google LLC to divest portions of its advertising technology business but accepted most of the parties’ proposed behavioral remedies as modified by the court in a suit by the U.S. government and 17 states asserting that Google violated the Sherman Act by monopolizing the publisher ad server market and the ad exchange market and by unlawful tying.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man who says he developed cancer after exposure to the active ingredient in Roundup and who was awarded a $28 million combined award against the herbicide manufacturer filed a three-page brief on Sept. 2 responding to Monsanto Co.’s petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court stating that he “does not oppose the disposition the petition requests, which would leave it to the California Court of Appeal to apply [Monsanto Co. v. Durnell] to this record in the first instance.”

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Sept. 2 dismissed a church insured’s appeal of a Texas federal court’s final judgment dismissing with prejudice its claims against its commercial property insurer for breach of contract, bad faith, unfair or deceptive acts or trade practices and violations of the Texas Prompt Payment Claims Act in a coverage dispute over hailstorm damage, finding that the insured failed to timely file its appellant brief and record excerpts.