Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • 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).

  • March 20, 2026

    ITC: Patent Invalidity Means No Violation Through Vape Product Imports

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) reversed a finding from an administrative law judge (ALJ) that certain tobacco product entities violated federal importation laws by importing vaping products that infringed a patent held by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and related entities; the ITC determined that there was no violation because multiple claims of the patent at issue are invalid as obvious.

  • March 19, 2026

    2nd Circuit Hears Media Companies’ Attempt To Revive AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — Whether media companies’ allegation that OpenAI entities downloaded content and removed copyright management information from works used to train artificial intelligence suffices as an injury or whether copyright law requires something more came before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals during oral arguments on March 18.

  • March 18, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of California Drink Shop’s Trademark Claims

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of a trademark infringement dispute that a California-based beverage store brought against a similarly named wine shop in New York, agreeing in a March 17 unpublished memorandum disposition that the plaintiff-appellant shop and its owner had failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the New York store.

  • March 18, 2026

    Dismissal Of Actor’s Trademark Claims Against Tyler Perry Affirmed By 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge was right to dismiss an actor’s trademark infringement claims against Tyler Perry Studios (TPS) film studio for lack of personal jurisdiction, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the district court’s rejection of claims that Perry wrongly distributed a recording of a performance of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” before the play was adapted into a successful film.

  • March 18, 2026

    Judge: Similarities In Romance Novels Boil Down To Unprotectable Tropes

    NEW YORK — A romance author who claimed that another author and publishing industry entities copied the premise of her unpublished “romantasy” novel to form the basis of a bestselling novel series cannot show substantial similarity between the works, a New York federal judge found.

  • March 17, 2026

    Company Lacked Standing To Initiate Patent Claims, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company lacked constitutional standing to bring patent infringement claims against another technology company because a 2006 agreement transferred all rights associated with the patents at issue to a third party, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 16 in agreeing with a Nevada federal judge.

  • March 17, 2026

    Judge Won’t Dismiss Founder’s IP Claims Against Ohio Motherhood Nonprofit

    CLEVELAND — An Ohio federal judge denied a nonprofit birthing advocacy group’s motion to dismiss its founder’s complaint that the organization used copyrights and trademarks created by the founder without authorization; the judge held that the plaintiff adequately alleged copyright and trademark infringement for the purpose of surviving dismissal.

  • March 16, 2026

    Judge Grants TRO For Cancer Nonprofit On IP Claims Against Former Board President

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama on March 13 granted a cancer advocacy group’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the former president of its board of directors and the company she controls, enjoining the defendants from using trademarks related to the phrase “Women in Blue” in connection with a fundraising initiative.

  • March 16, 2026

    Judge Finds Claims In Video Conference Patent Invalid As Abstract

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois dismissed a video conferencing company’s patent infringement complaint against another technology company, holding that the asserted patent claims were invalid as abstract because they were directed at the abstract concept of verifying a user’s identity and relaying the identification information elsewhere.

  • March 13, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Injunction Denial In Film Fest Trademark Fight

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no abuse of discretion in a New York federal judge’s finding that the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York was unlikely to succeed on trademark claims against the owner of a South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, affirming the judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction.

  • March 13, 2026

    Amicus IP Group To High Court: No Bright-Line Rules For ‘Skinny Label’ Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an amicus curiae brief filed in support of neither party, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) told the U.S. Supreme Court that the standard for inducement of infringement should be applied universally in patent cases, including in “skinny label” cases involving an allegedly noninfringing use; IPO tells the high court that the petitioner bioequivalent pharmaceutical maker appears to be advocating for multiple “bright-line” rules that should not be applied.

  • March 13, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Denial Of Attorney Fees For Web Mark Row Removal

    SAN FRANCISCO — An Arizona federal judge was not wrong to deny a plaintiff web development entity’s request for attorney fees from its domain registrar, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, finding that it was not unreasonable for the domain registrar to seek federal question jurisdiction on claims that it improperly blocked its use of a domain name in the United States as a result of an order from a judge in India regarding specific trademarks.

  • March 13, 2026

    Federal Circuit Vacates Abstractness, Reverses Sanctions Against IP Law Firm

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of opinions, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel vacated a judgment of infringement against the makers of the Norton antivirus software, holding that a Virginia federal judge wrongly held that the patents at issue are not directed at an abstract idea; the panel also reversed the judge’s entry of sanctions against the software company’s counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP for failing to comply with an order compelling it to disclose allegedly privileged information it received from a former employee of the software company the firm also represented.

  • March 13, 2026

    Partly Split Federal Circuit Affirms Rejection Of Apple-Initiated IPR

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A partly split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Apple Inc. had failed to prove a motivation to combine certain prior art references or that another combination had a reasonable likelihood of being successful in the latest appeal involving another technology company.

  • March 12, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Lack Of Algorithm Didn’t Make Patent Claim Indefinite

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 11 reversed an Iowa federal judge’s finding that claims of a patent describing a type of crop harvesting tool were invalid as indefinite; the panel held that the patent specification’s reference to a commercially available controller with logic circuitry constituted sufficient corresponding structure without the disclosure of an algorithm.

  • March 12, 2026

    Judge Will Consider MosaicML Dismissal Motion On The Briefs

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California vacated a scheduled hearing on a motion to dismiss direct copyright infringement claims against MosaicML Inc. and Databricks Inc. and will decide the motion on the briefs in litigation over the alleged use of copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence models (In re Mosaic LLM Litigation, No. 24-1451, N.D. Calif.).

  • March 12, 2026

    7th Circuit: Judge Erred By Finding Jurisdiction In Counterfeiting Row

    CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that an Illinois federal judge “clearly erred” by determining that defendants in a counterfeiting case sold products in Illinois based on screenshots showing an uncompleted purchase to a Chicago shipping address.

  • March 11, 2026

    Texas Federal Judge Wrongly Excluded Damages Expert, Federal Circuit Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a Texas federal judge’s decision to exclude a plaintiff technology company’s expert on damages and vacated the judge’s grant of summary judgment for absence of remedy in Microsoft Corp.’s favor on infringement claims involving patents describing a method for communication between virtual networks.

  • March 11, 2026

    Federal Circuit: PTAB Right To Uphold Examiner’s Obviousness Finding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a finding from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that a pending claim in an application for a patent on a type of cleated shoe was invalid as obvious per a combination of prior art references.