Mealey's Intellectual Property : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Intellectual Property

November 13, 2025
Federal Judge: No Preliminary Injunction In Row Over ‘Wild’ Trademarks

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied a preliminary injunction motion from a baby-goods maker that uses the trademark “Wildbird,” finding that the company failed to show it was likely that another baby-goods maker’s use of the marks related to the name “Wildride” would cause confusion among customers.
November 12, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Bid To Reinstate Patent Verdict Against AT&T, Nokia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied a plaintiff-appellee’s petition for reconsideration of its September decision vacating a jury’s $166 million verdict against AT&T Mobility LLC and Nokia of America Corp. in its favor, rejecting the company’s contention that the panel wrongly read the evidence in the case.
November 12, 2025
Entresto Maker Tells Supreme Court Not To Take Up Patent Validity Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of the patent for heart medication Entresto tells the U.S. Supreme Court that it should reject a petition for a writ of certiorari from a generic drugmaker, contending that there was no error in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of invalidity because its patent was properly enabled.
November 12, 2025
Split Federal Circuit Says PTAB Lacked Evidence For Obviousness Finding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel split in one of two related appeals, upholding some findings by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that claims in a technology company’s patent describing a biometric payment card security system were unpatentable as obvious but reversing as to other claims; the panel majority wrote that PTAB lacked substantial evidence to support its construction of a disputed claim phrase involving where the described device stores data in memory.
November 11, 2025
Altria Says ITC’s Vape Patent Investigation Is Unconstitutional

RICHMOND, Va. — Tobacco company Altria Group Inc., its vape subsidiary NJOY LLC and affiliates filed a complaint in Virginia federal court and a motion seeking to enjoin an International Trade Commission investigation into certain vape products based on a patent-related complaint by Juul Labs Inc. (JLI), writing that the ITC proceeding is unconstitutional and violates the company’s right to a jury trial under SEC v. Jarkesy.
November 11, 2025
High Court Won’t Consider If Car Named ‘Eleanor’ Is A Copyrightable Character

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in a copyright dispute over a Ford Mustang known as “Eleanor” in the film “Gone in 60 Seconds,” declining to consider whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly held that the car is not a copyrightable character under a test within the circuit.
November 11, 2025
Copyright Register Opposes High Court Stay Of Injunction In Court Battle Over Post

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and others should not be granted a stay of an interlocutory injunction by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case over the president’s ability to remove Shira Perlmutter from her position as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office as the applicants have failed to show they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims or that they will be irreparably harmed without such a stay, Perlmutter argues in a Nov. 10 opposition.
November 10, 2025
High Court Allows Government Participation In ISP Infringement Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 granted the U.S. government’s motion to participate in oral argument when the high court considers whether it should overturn a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that an internet service provider (ISP) is liable for contributory infringement for internet users who pirated copyrighted materials of record labels and music publishers; the high court also granted the government’s request for divided argument.
November 07, 2025
Federal Circuit: Motorola Can’t Seek Review Of PTO’s Rescission Of Earlier Memo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an order issued Nov. 6, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied Motorola Solutions Inc.’s petition for a writ of mandamus, holding that Motorola could not seek review of the now-former acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s decision to rescind her Biden-administration predecessor’s memorandum on discretionary denials or to issue such a denial for Motorola’s requests for inter partes review in a patent dispute over law enforcement cameras.
November 07, 2025
Google, Samsung Lose Mandamus Bid Regarding PTO Rescission Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Google LLC, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and a Samsung affiliate saw their petition for a writ of mandamus denied by a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 6, with the panel citing a precedential decision issued the same day as foreclosing the companies’ arguments in a patent dispute regarding an alleged violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
November 07, 2025
Federal Circuit Blocks SAP’s Mandamus Bid Over PTO Rescission Of Memo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 6 denied a petition for a writ of mandamus filed by SAP America Inc., holding that the company failed to show that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) discretionary denial of inter partes review (IPR) was reviewable, pointing to a precedential decision issued the same day.
November 07, 2025
Judge Consolidates Disney, Warner Bros. AI Suits Against Midjourney

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California consolidated two artificial intelligence copyright actions — one involving Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and the second Disney Enterprises Inc. — alleging that Midjourney Inc.’s artificial intelligence outputs the entertainment companies’ copyrighted characters.
November 06, 2025
Federal Circuit Won’t Rehear Arguments In LG Patent Written Description Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a technology company’s request for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc, rejecting the company’s argument that a panel improperly shifted the burden of written description onto it when it reversed a New Jersey federal jury’s finding of willful infringement against LG Electronics Inc. and a related entity due to invalidity of the patent claims.
November 06, 2025
Federal Judge Trims Some Defenses From ‘Impossible’ Trademark Row

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge partly granted summary judgment in favor of Impossible Foods Inc. in a dispute over the use of the word mark “Impossible,” agreeing that all of a defendant website entity’s affirmative defenses and certain of its damages theories failed, including its contention that Impossible’s suit was unreasonably delayed.
November 06, 2025
Perplexity: Engineered Prompts Can’t Form Basis Of AI Copyright Suit

NEW YORK — Perplexity AI Inc. told a federal judge in New York in a motion to dismiss that outputs resulting from prompts engineered by plaintiff Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. cannot form the basis of a copyright claim and that the plaintiff has not sufficiently identified the protected works in question.
November 06, 2025
Pa. Federal Judge: No Jurisdiction Over N.C. Advertiser In Trademark Row

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge granted a defendant advertising company’s motion to dismiss claims that it infringed a T-shirt company’s mark on the phrase “Rush Order Tees,” finding that the advertiser’s online advertising did not constitute the purposeful direction of conduct toward Pennsylvania for the purposes of establishing personal jurisdiction.
November 05, 2025
Precedential PTO Decision Sets Machine Learning Abstractness Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Appeals Review Panel (ARP) vacated a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) panel’s new ground of rejection for claims of an artificial intelligence inventor’s patent application regarding a machine learning patent as directed at an abstract idea in a Nov. 4 precedential decision; the APR left in place, however, the PTAB panel’s affirmation of a PTO examiner’s rejection of the application’s claims as obvious.
November 05, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidity Findings For Audio Tech Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a nonprecedential Nov. 4 opinion, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) properly construed the disputed claim term “background noise level,” affirming the board’s finding that most claims in a technology company’s patent describing an earpiece device were unpatentable as obvious or anticipated by prior art.
November 05, 2025
No New Trial For Clothing Company That Used Penn State Marks

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania federal judge denied a clothing company’s July motion for either judgment as a matter of law in its favor or a new trial, holding that a jury had sufficient evidence to find that the company willfully infringed trademarks held by The Pennsylvania State University.
November 04, 2025
Judge Tosses Perplexity Trademark Suit After Plaintiff Fails To Secure Counsel

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed with prejudice a data analytics company’s trademark infringement complaint against artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI Inc. after the plaintiff entity repeatedly failed to heed court warnings that it could not appear pro se.
November 04, 2025
Federal Circuit Won’t Order Stay Of Infringement Trial For Video Tagging Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 3 rejected a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking the stay of a forthcoming infringement trial in a Texas federal court concerning a patent for a method of tagging streaming videos, holding that the adult video website petitioners failed to show that they had an indisputable right to a stay due to a related ex parte reexamination (EPR) proceeding before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).
November 04, 2025
UMG Announces Agreement With Udio AI Music Platform, Resolving Copyright Claims

NEW YORK — Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a partnership under which its licensed music will power a subscription service with artificial intelligence music company Uncharted Labs Inc. d/b/a Udio.com and will resolve the music publisher’s portion of a copyright case just as a motion to dismiss was wrapping up.
November 03, 2025
7th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Ignore Choice Of Damages Type In Copyright Default

CHICAGO — While acknowledging the influx of copyright cases against anonymous online marketplaces and the strain it has caused on Illinois federal courts, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a federal judge was wrong to choose statutory damages over disgorgement of profits for an alternative-style apparel plaintiff against online sellers that failed to appear.
November 03, 2025
AI Artist Seeks Hold Of Petition Pending Copyright Agency Leadership Decisions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hold consideration of his petition for a writ of certiorari in a case challenging denial of copyright protection for an artificial intelligence-generated piece of artwork while courts decide whether Shira Perlmutter can continue to serve as head of the U.S. Copyright Office.
October 31, 2025
Government Won’t Reply To AI Image Copyright Protection Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed a notice that it was waiving its right to respond to a man’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which he tells the U.S. Supreme Court that copyright protections are in place to ensure dissemination of creative works to the public even when a human is not the owner and should apply to artificial intelligence-generated outputs for the same reasons.