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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • April 02, 2026

    Judge Denies NCAA TRO Request For Trademark Claims Against DraftKings

    INDIANAPOLIS — A federal judge in Indiana denied the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining DraftKings Inc. from using a series of marks related to the annual “March Madness” basketball tournament, holding that while the NCAA had established likelihood of confusion regarding DraftKings’ use of the marks, it had failed to show the likelihood of irreparable reputational harm.

  • April 01, 2026

    Appellee, Amicus: Rehearing Needed To Pin Down Patent Witness Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An amicus curiae public interest law firm argues in its March 31 brief that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should grant a petition for rehearing en banc by DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. and related DePuy entities, echoing DePuy’s claims that a split panel’s decision to reverse a Pennsylvania federal court’s exclusion of two expert witnesses’ testimony on induced infringement constitutes a departure from recent Federal Circuit en banc precedent.

  • April 01, 2026

    Personalized Ads Patent Claim Invalid As Abstract, Appeals Court Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 31 held that a California federal judge correctly ruled that the asserted claim of a technology company that accused TikTok Inc. and related entities of infringement was invalid as abstract for lack of details on how to implement the claim; the panel agreed that the asserted claim does no more than describe the abstract concept of personalizing content based on a user’s profile.

  • April 01, 2026

    Judge: No Personal & Advertising Injury Coverage Owed For Trademark Infringement Suit

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted a commercial general liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment in an insured’s lawsuit seeking personal and advertising injury coverage for an underlying action alleging the insured unlawfully used another company’s trademark in its online advertising, holding that the underlying claims fail to establish an offense that falls under policy coverage and that an intellectual property exclusion further bars coverage.

  • April 01, 2026

    Lack Of Valid Copyright Sinks Claims Against Government, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An electronic health records company failed to show that it held valid copyright registrations related to software it accused the U.S. government and another entity of infringing, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ grant of summary judgment in the government’s favor on the plaintiff-appellant’s copyright infringement claim.

  • March 31, 2026

    High Court Rejects Certiorari In Counterfeiting Row With $9.3M Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from supplement makers accused of counterfeiting who argued that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s entry of a $4 million judgment and award of nearly $5.3 million in attorney fees after the judge entered default judgment against the petitioners; the justices will not consider arguments that the Ninth Circuit wrongly held that mere registration can satisfy the trademark infringement standard.

  • March 31, 2026

    Amici Medical Companies To High Court: Affirm ‘Skinny Label’ Infringement Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Biopharmaceutical company Sanofi was one of multiple entities to file amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of respondent biopharmaceutical entities in a dispute over the standard for the inducement of infringement to be applied in medical patent cases, including “skinny label cases” involving allegedly noninfringing use.  Sanofi tells the court that a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that the patent holders plausibly stated an infringement claim should be affirmed.

  • March 30, 2026

    Judge Blocks Enforcement Of Copyright Deposit Copy Requirement In Lawsuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia held that a publisher of rare and out-of-print books is entitled only to limited relief based on a 2023 ruling by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the U.S. Copyright Office’s demand that the publisher deposit physical copies was an unconstitutional uncompensated taking of property; while the publisher is entitled to see the demand letter be declared null and void, it is not entitled to injunctive relief as to hypothetical future demands, the judge determined.

  • March 30, 2026

    Supreme Court Rejects Cert Bid For CRISPR Patent Validity Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 30 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from a biotechnology company that told the high court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly shifted the burden of proof to the patentee; the Supreme Court thus left in place the Federal Circuit’s affirmaance of a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that rendered claims of the company’s patents describing gene-editing technologies invalid as anticipated.

  • March 30, 2026

    PTAB Right To Find Email Filter Patent Obvious, Federal Circuit Holds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a final written decision by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that multiple claims of an inventor’s patent describing a system for filtering electronic messages are unpatentable as obvious, finding substantial evidence to support a finding that a prior art system teaches relevant claim limitations.

  • March 27, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Patent Plaintiff Can’t Refile Suit To Avoid ITC Deadline

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held on March 26 that a biopharmaceutical company cannot circumvent missing a 30-day deadline to seek a mandatory stay of a declaratory judgment patent suit it brought under statutes governing the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by dismissing and then refiling its complaint.

  • March 27, 2026

    Panel Affirms Trademark Dispute Award, Will Consider Fees For ‘Frivolous’ Filing

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 affirmed the confirmation of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award issued in favor of an Italian wine company involved in a dispute over trademark rights with its American distributor and ordered the distributor and its counsel to show cause why an award of attorney fees should not be imposed against them for bringing a “self-indulgent appeal” based on procedural defects and translation issues.

  • March 27, 2026

    Judge: Copyright Act Preempts Certain Arguments In Ancestry Photo-Use Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge held that plaintiffs in a putative class complaint plausibly allege misappropriation-based injuries because of Ancestry.com Operations Inc. and related entities using their yearbook photos without their permission, but the judge held that certain theories of misappropriation are preempted by federal copyright law.

  • March 26, 2026

    Judge Again Finds Patent Claims Against Sirius XM Estopped

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge ruled after a bench trial that Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SXM) reasonably relied on silence from a German research entity to believe it would not bring claims regarding its patents covering satellite radio technology; a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel determined last year that the silence was misleading.

  • March 26, 2026

    Company To High Court: Federal Circuit Used Wrong Standard For Sanctions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent-holding company is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming more than $250,000 in attorney fees and other sanctions for filing a patent infringement suit against Google LLC that a California federal judge dismissed as frivolous; the technology company argues that the Federal Circuit affirmed the sanctions under the incorrect standard.

  • March 26, 2026

    Biotech Company To Federal Circuit: Rehearing Needed For DNA Eligibility

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The maker of a gene therapy product is seeking en banc rehearing of a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that a Delaware federal judge wrongly concluded that a patent’s claims involving genetically engineered cultured host cells containing a recombinant nucleic acid molecule were directed to a natural phenomenon; the petitioner tells the Federal Circuit that its opinion creates a sweeping rule regarding the patentability of creation that stems from natural DNA.

  • March 25, 2026

    Federal Circuit Rejects Bid To Rethink Claims Nintendo Infringed Handheld Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a gaming company’s petition for rehearing en banc or panel rehearing, leaving in place a panel’s January opinion that held that Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe the plaintiff-appellant’s patent.

  • March 25, 2026

    Supreme Court Reverses Finding That ISP Is Liable For Users’ Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 held that an internet service provider (ISP) could not be found contributorily liable for users’ piracy of material from a group of record labels and music publishers without a showing of intent through inducement of infringement or providing of a service designed for infringement, reversing a finding by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that drew warnings from the U.S. government of potential negative impacts to widely available internet access.

  • March 25, 2026

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider Revival Of Antitrust Claims To Copyright Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a real estate entity’s petition for a writ of certiorari, declining to hear arguments that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly revived antitrust counterclaims filed against the entity in response to copyright claims it brought against another real estate entity; the petitioner had also argued that the Ninth Circuit wrongly created a novel theory of exclusive dealing based on customer misunderstanding.

  • March 24, 2026

    High Court Won’t Consider Federal Circuit-Affirmed Sanctions In IP Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 rejected a patent-holding company’s request that it consider the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of a Florida federal judge’s entry of sanctions against it in a false advertising and unfair competition dispute.

  • March 24, 2026

    6th Circuit OKs Injunction Denial In Pet Service Row For Unclean Hands

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Michigan federal judge did not abuse his discretion in largely denying a pet care services company’s request for a preliminary injunction against former franchisees the company said misappropriated proprietary methods, client data and trademarks; the panel saw no error in the district court’s application of the unclean hands doctrine.

  • March 23, 2026

    High Court Allows Government Participation In ‘Skinny-Label’ Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 granted the U.S. government’s motion to participate in oral arguments when it considers the standard for the inducement of infringement to be applied in medical patent cases, including in “skinny label cases” involving allegedly noninfringing use; on March 20, the patent-holding biopharmaceutical entities filed their merits brief, arguing that statements made by a bioequivalent maker plausibly allege induced infringement.

  • March 23, 2026

    Panel: Judge Wrongly Construed Claims, Rightly Excluded Expert In Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found errors in a Maryland federal judge’s construction of disputed patent claims in a suit over patents covering atomizers for particulate paints, which led the panel in its March 20 opinion to reverse the judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement in the defendant-appellee’s favor.

  • March 20, 2026

    Federal Circuit Sees No Error In ITC Finding That Apple Watches Infringe Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) did not err when it held that Apple Inc. violated the Tariff Act by importing and selling Apple Watch models that infringed blood oxygenation patents held by other technology entities, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 19.

  • March 20, 2026

    Magistrate Judge: TTAB Ruling Assures Summary Judgment Win For Bahá’í Group

    DENVER — A federal magistrate judge in Colorado granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the American organization for worshippers in the Bahá’í faith on trademark claims against an individual the organization says is using marks in connection with one of the religion’s governing bodies; the judge agreed with the plaintiff religious organization that the outcome of the trademark claims was determined by the defendant’s loss before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).