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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • January 30, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Noninfringement Finding In Streaming Patent Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 29 affirmed a California federal judge’s summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of Hulu LLC, despite finding that the judge erroneously narrowed the meaning of a claim phrase, because Hulu’s accused systems did not perform the relevant processes in the order required by the patent.

  • January 30, 2026

    Judge Partly Dismisses Architect’s Complaint Alleging Partial Home Copying

    JACKSON, Miss. — A plaintiff architectural design entity can pursue claims that a property sales company infringed the design of a single element of a copyrighted home design, a federal judge in Mississippi held, but it could not pursue claims based on technical drawings the judge found were not part of the registration of the architectural work.

  • January 29, 2026

    Judge Tells Perplexity To Prove Jurisdiction Over Mark Cancellation Claim

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge ordered Perplexity AI Inc. to show whether the court has jurisdiction to hear its trademark cancellation counterclaim after the judge dismissed with prejudice the plaintiff data analytics company’s trademark infringement complaint in the wake of the plaintiff company’s repeated failures to heed warnings that it could not appear pro se (Perplexity Solved Solutions, Inc. v. Perplexity AI, Inc., No. 25-989, N.D. Calif., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14174).

  • January 29, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Analytics Company Failed To Show Information Was ‘Trade Secret’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A business analytics company’s failure to adequately identify and define its alleged trade secrets in a dispute with another analytics company and its co-founders justified a Utah federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant entities, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 28.

  • January 28, 2026

    Federal Circuit Rejects Google’s Challenge To PTO’s ‘Settled Expectations’ Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 27 denied a petition for a writ of mandamus, declining to reconsider the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) reliance on “‘settled expectations’” in denying Google’s petition for inter partes review (IPR) challenging a software patent.

  • January 28, 2026

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Wrongly Analyzed Prior Art Combination For DNA Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erroneously required a health care company to provide proof for the motivation to combine prior art references “because the prior art reference expressly discloses performing those steps in sequence,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.

  • January 28, 2026

    Federal Circuit Won’t Rethink Affirming Cancellation Of ‘Athlete’-Related Marks

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a sports-based nonprofit organization’s petition to reconsider a December opinion affirming the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB’s) decision to cancel trademarks containing the phrase “more than an athlete,” rejecting the petitioner’s contention that the panel had erred in multiple ways.

  • January 27, 2026

    Copyright Requires Human Authorship, U.S. Supreme Court Told

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The law firmly establishes that an author must be human and not a machine, and lower courts properly affirmed a decision not to award copyright protections to art a man credits an artificial intelligence as authoring, federal respondents tell the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 27, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Judge Should Have Found Obviousness In Tire Pressure Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Texas federal judge should have issued judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) finding that asserted claims in a tire pressure patent were rendered obvious as per certain prior art combinations, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • January 26, 2026

    4th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Revive Blackbeard Ship IP Row Against North Carolina

    RICHMOND, Va. — A North Carolina federal judge was wrong to reopen a videographer’s complaint against North Carolina and multiple elected officials, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 23; the panel said the judge failed to justify the reasons for applying a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 2021 decision that revived copyright infringement claims centering around images depicting the sunken remains of the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship.

  • January 26, 2026

    3rd Circuit Upholds Finding That Doctor Wasn’t Shown To Copy Exam

    PHILADELPHIA — A partly split Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New Jersey federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of a doctor accused by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) of copyright infringement for allegedly copying board exam questions; the panel agreed that ABIM failed to establish that the doctor had actually copied the questions.

  • January 23, 2026

    Supplement Patent Owner To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrongly Affirmed Sanctions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent-holding company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a Florida federal judge’s entry of sanctions against it, in part because the appeals court did not rely on the District Court’s primary bad faith finding.

  • January 23, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Judge Rightly Tossed Infringement Suit Asserting Abstract Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Washington federal judge’s dismissal of a patent owner’s infringement complaint against Google LLC, determining in the Jan. 22 opinion that the asserted claims of the patent are directed at an unpatentable abstract idea without a necessary inventive concept.

  • January 23, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Issue Preclusion Required PTAB Find Claim Invalid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that issue preclusion barred the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) from adjudicating the validity of a patent claim in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Apple Inc.; the panel reversed the PTAB’s finding that Apple failed to show that the patent claim was invalid as obvious.

  • January 22, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Denial Of Patent Owner’s JMOL Of Infringement Motion

    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.

  • January 22, 2026

    7th Circuit Reverses Bar On Little Caesars’ Use Of ‘Pizza Puff’ Phrase

    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.

  • January 21, 2026

    Split Federal Circuit Says Judge Wrongly Excluded Experts From Patent Row

    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.

  • January 21, 2026

    Split 1st Circuit Revives Lanham Act Claims Against Puerto Rico Over Baseball Icon

    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.

  • January 20, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms: No Infringement By Nintendo Of Handheld Gaming Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A video game console made by Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe another gaming company’s patent for a type of handheld gaming device because Nintendo’s accused device did not meet certain claim requirements, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed Jan. 16.

  • January 16, 2026

    High Court Agrees To Hear Pharma Entities’ ‘Skinny Label Infringement’ Fight

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16 granted a bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker’s petition for a writ of certiorari, agreeing to consider its challenge to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that the petitioner’s “skinny label” generic version of a prescription cardiovascular medication constituted reverse infringement.

  • January 16, 2026

    6th Circuit Rejects Parent’s Fair Use Argument For Obtaining School Survey Copy

    CINCINNATI — A Kentucky federal judge was correct to dismiss a parent’s pursuit of a declaratory judgment that the fair-use exception of the Copyright Act permitted her to request a copy of a mental health survey that was to be administered to students at a Kentucky public high school, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held; the panel agreed that the parent’s claims did not arise under copyright law.

  • January 15, 2026

    Comcast To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Consider Waived Issue

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Comcast Cable Communications LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a Florida federal judge’s judgment of noninfringement in its favor, arguing that the finding was based on deciding sua sponte a nonjurisdictional issue that was deliberately waived by the patent holder.

  • January 15, 2026

    Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Pet Food Packaging Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 14 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) finding that the claims of a pet food company’s packaging container patent application were unpatentable as obvious.

  • January 15, 2026

    TTAB Right To Refuse ‘Sazerac Stitches’ Mark, Federal Circuit Rules

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was right to refuse a design entity’s request to register a trademark for the phrase “Sazerac Stitches” because the mark is confusingly similar to registered mark “Sazerac,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.

  • January 15, 2026

    Federal Circuit: No Infringement By Apple Of Device Setting Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a short opinion issued Jan. 14, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s entry of summary judgment of noninfringement to Apple Inc. in a patent infringement suit brought against it by another technology entity, agreeing that Apple’s accused product does not meet claim limitations required under the judge’s unchallenged claim constructions.