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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • November 26, 2025

    Supreme Court Seeks Response In ‘Paradise’ AI Art Copyright Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day after distributing a case for conference, the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 26 asked for a response from the federal government in a case in which a man claims that lower courts erred by finding that his artificial intelligence-generated artwork was not entitled to copyright protections.  The man previously asked the court to stay the case while courts decide whether Shira Perlmutter can continue to serve as head of the U.S. Copyright Office.

  • November 26, 2025

    Federal Circuit Says ‘Best’ Claim Limitation Invalid As Indefinite

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that some claims in patents describing systems for routing streamed content over the internet were invalid as indefinite and likewise affirmed findings that the technology company’s products did not meet a claim limitation required by the patents at issue.

  • November 26, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Fees, Sanctions In ‘Frivolous’ Patent Infringement Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 25 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to order more than $250,000 in attorney fees and additional sanctions against a company that sued Google LLC for allegedly infringing a patent on a system that allows musical artists to remotely update an album already on a user’s device.

  • November 26, 2025

    Dismissal Recommended After Patent Plaintiff Fails To Appear For Bench Trial

    NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York recommended that a patent plaintiff’s complaint against Google LLC be dismissed with prejudice after the man failed to appear at an October evidentiary bench trial on infringement claims he brought against the technology company; the plaintiff has “repeatedly claimed” that the magistrate judge “had no authority to conduct a bench trial without his consent,” the magistrate judge wrote.

  • November 25, 2025

    No New Trial For Coal Company Found To Infringe Emissions Patent

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal magistrate judge in Delaware denied a motion for a new trial from affiliated coal companies that a jury held willfully infringed another energy company’s patents on the use of chemical additives to capture mercury emissions at coal-fired power plants, leaving in place the jury’s award of more than $57 million to the plaintiff company; the magistrate judge said the defendant entities “rehash[ed]” arguments already rejected in an earlier denial of judgment as a matter of law.

  • November 25, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Tossing Of Man’s 3rd ‘Frivolous’ Suit Against PTO

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 24 affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s dismissal of claims that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) engaged in fraud to deny a pro se appellant’s patent applications, noting that it is the third time the appeals court has considered “frivolous” claims from the appellant.

  • November 25, 2025

    Card Company Appeals Copyright Dispute That Ended In $39,000 Offer Of Judgment

    SEATTLE — A trading card company said it will appeal multiple rulings in a copyright dispute involving a former employee who left to develop a trading card game for a competitor after a Washington federal judge, who previously dismissed most of the claims against the former employee and competitor and ruled to exclude testimony from an expert on damages, awarded the company $39,000 in accordance with an accepted offer of judgment.

  • November 24, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Bid To Hear Patent Owner’s Negative Limitation Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a pro se patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari in an order list on Nov. 24, leaving in place a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals opinion that affirmed a finding that multiple claims of the petitioner’s patent were invalid in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Apple Inc.

  • November 24, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Glovemaker’s Color Mark Genericness Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A medical product company will not have the opportunity to argue that its proposed trademark on the color of its medical gloves is not generic, as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected its petition for a writ of certiorari in a Nov. 24 order list; the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) finding that the proposed mark was not distinctive.

  • November 24, 2025

    Split Federal Circuit: PTAB Rightly Found Samsung Raised New IPR Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) decision to uphold the validity of a technology company’s patents on stylus-based inputs for mobile devices; the majority agreed with PTAB that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and an affiliate improperly introduced a new obviousness theory in a reply during inter partes review (IPR).

  • November 21, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Wrong Construction Of Bot Detection Claim Leads To PTAB Reversal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 20 held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wrongly construed the claim term “acquiring interest data” when considering the patentability of a claim phrase in a patent describing a system to determine if a computer is being used by a human or a “bot”; under the correct construction, the panel held that the claim is anticipated by a prior art reference.

  • November 21, 2025

    No Attorney Fees To Sports Medicine Company Cleared Of Infringement

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida denied a plaintiff sports medicine company’s motion for attorney fees, holding that its trademark dispute with another sports medicine company was not “exceptional” as defined in the Lanham Act despite the judge’s earlier grant of summary judgment in the plaintiff’s favor that led to an order canceling the defendant entity’s federally registered trademark.

  • November 20, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Claim Construction Correct In Railcar Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Oregon federal magistrate judge properly granted summary judgment of noninfringement in favor of defendant railcar manufacturers in a dispute over patents related to railroad gondola cars because the accused cars lacked a required “floor panel extension” as defined by the patents, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Nov. 19.

  • November 20, 2025

    Judge: Designer Not Barred From Seeking Statutory Damages, Fees In IP Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge held that a plaintiff designer is not barred from seeking damages and fees against a clothing company that contracted with another designer to use a pattern that allegedly infringed the plaintiff’s copyrighted design, finding that a four-year gap between the defendant designer’s alleged infringement and the clothing company’s use of the pattern on pajamas constituted separate acts of alleged infringement after a substantial cessation.

  • November 20, 2025

    Judge Relates Suits Alleging Salesforce Pirated AI Training Material

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California granted a joint stipulation relating two actions accusing Salesforce Inc. of pirating copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence.

  • November 20, 2025

    IT Company: Fracking Proppant Supplier Misappropriated Trade Secrets And Software

    FORT WORTH, Texas — An IT services company has sued an energy company in Texas federal court alleging that it misappropriated trade secrets when it misused login credentials related to proprietary software code that the IT company created and managed for the energy company’s operations as a provider of proppants to the hydraulic fracturing industry.

  • November 20, 2025

    Campbell’s, Candidate For Congress Settle Suit Over Can Marks Use

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A candidate for Congress seeking to represent parts of Detroit and The Campbell’s Soup Co. settled their trademark dispute in a Michigan federal court, with the candidate agreeing to remove from her social media images that referenced the company’s soup can; the candidate had argued that her use of the can design was a parodic reference to her own last name.

  • November 19, 2025

    Federal Circuit: Jury Should Have Found Eyelash Med Patent Claim Invalid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said on Nov. 18 that a generic drug maker “has overcome the doubly high burden of persuading us to overturn a jury verdict of no invalidity” in a dispute over a patent relating to a medication for eyelash growth, reversing a Colorado federal jury’s infringement finding and $39 million in damages.

  • November 18, 2025

    Federal Circuit Points To Weakness Of Claims In Affirming Patent Row Fees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Tennessee federal judge’s decision to grant more than $100,000 in attorney fees to a small grocery chain, finding no abuse of discretion in the judge’s finding that a plaintiff security technology company had a pattern of bringing frivolous patent infringement claims.

  • November 18, 2025

    Judge Used Wrong Standard To Exclude Patent Evidence, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a new trial is needed on damages in a dispute over a patent describing a type of self-balancing unicycle, agreeing with the defendant-appellant companies that a Washington federal judge wrongly excluded evidence of noninfringing substitutes.

  • November 18, 2025

    4th Circuit Affirms Va. Federal Judge’s Dismissal Of Car Photo Copyright Action

    RICHMOND, Va. — While a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed that a Virginia federal court, and not one in California, was the proper venue to consider copyright claims involving stock images of vehicles due to a forum selection clause in a contract, the panel also affirmed a Virginia federal judge’s decision to decline to exercise jurisdiction over a declaratory judgment action brought by a software company named as a defendant in an infringement suit filed in the California federal court.

  • November 17, 2025

    Canadian AI Company Must Face Copyright Claims, Federal Judge Says

    NEW YORK — Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere Inc. must face news publishers’ allegations that its Command product outputs copyrighted works and misattributes trademarks, a federal judge in New York said in denying a motion for partial dismissal.

  • November 17, 2025

    Supreme Court Rejects Cases Asking If PTAB Can Review Expired Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 17 rejected a patent-holding company’s petitions for writs of certiorari in disputes with Apple Inc., Google LLC, LG Electronics Inc. and an affiliate over multiple technology patents, declining to take up the company’s arguments regarding the constitutionality of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

  • November 17, 2025

    DISH Wins Nearly $42M In Default Judgment Against Pirate Server Host

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington granted DISH Network LLC’s motion for default judgment against a Ukrainian company it accused of vicariously contributing to piracy, entering nearly $42 million in statutory damages against the company and its chief executive officer, along with a permanent injunction for willful infringement.

  • November 14, 2025

    Federal Circuit Undoes Infringement Findings For School Bus Sign Patents

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Michigan wrongly construed the term “transparency” in an infringement dispute concerning patents related to a school bus sign, and it was unreasonable for a jury to find infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Nov. 13; the panel reversed an infringement judgment as to one of the patents and vacated the infringement finding as to the other.