Mealey's Intellectual Property
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January 13, 2025
Broadcom Network Connection Patent Deemed Abstract, Not Infringed By Netflix
SAN FRANCISCO — In a patent infringement legal dispute between Broadcom Corp. and Netflix Inc. that has been significantly pared down in its almost five-year history, a California federal judge ruled in favor of Netflix by finding two of the remaining patent claims at issue to be directed to an abstract idea, per Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, and thus ineligible for patent protection.
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January 10, 2025
Invalidity Of Task Scheduler Patents Affirmed By Federal Circuit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was right to hold that patents related to the scheduling of tasks for a computer’s processor were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said, finding in favor of Microsoft Corp., which sought inter partes review (IPR) of the patents.
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January 10, 2025
Judge: Defendants Don’t Show Invalidity Of Baby Bag Trade Dress, Copyright
MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida dismissed counterclaims brought by two companies accused of trade dress and copyright infringement by the maker of baby carrier products, holding that the defendant companies failed to show that the plaintiff company’s trade dress or copyright were invalid.
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January 10, 2025
3rd Circuit: Hockey Merch Items In Copyright Fight Not Similar
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge was right to dismiss a copyright infringement complaint brought against a sports memorabilia company, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said, holding that a man who designed a piece of hockey-themed merchandise failed to show what part of his copyrighted design was infringed.
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January 09, 2025
Judge Finds Probiotic Infant Product Patent Claims To Be Invalid
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant biopharmaceutical company accused of infringing on two patents related to probiotic products for infants, holding that the relevant claims of the patents were anticipated by prior art references.
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January 09, 2025
Company Must Produce Witness’ Lawsuit Funding Evidence In OpenAI Trademark Case
SAN FRANCISCO — A company locked in a suit with OpenAI Inc. over trademark infringement must produce documents related to a nonparty witness who is an investor and is funding the company’s defense as the evidence goes to his credibility and bias, a federal magistrate judge in California said Jan. 8. In a second order the court granted OpenAI additional time to depose the company’s founder.
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January 09, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB Right To Find Some Claims Patentable In Equipment Row
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when finding that most of the claims in a patent describing a product for hanging construction equipment were unpatentable while some were not, rejecting an equipment manufacturer’s contention that all claims should have been found to be unpatentable.
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January 09, 2025
Judge: Bar’s Arbitration Arguments In Trademark Fight With Chicago Cubs Fail
CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois refused to dismiss a trademark infringement complaint brought by the Chicago Cubs Baseball Club LLC against a bar that overlooks Wrigley Field and its owner, alleging that the bar defendants knowingly falsely promote the business as a partner with the baseball team; the judge held that the bar defendants could not hinge their dismissal motion on an argument related to arbitration.
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January 08, 2025
Federal Circuit OKs $154K Judgment Against United States For Infringing Software
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 7 upheld the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ entry of $154,400 in damages against the United States to be paid to a software company that accused the U.S. Navy of infringing on its software; the panel rejected the company’s arguments that damages should have been calculated based on individual instances of infringement and not on a hypothetical licensing contract.
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January 08, 2025
Split Federal Circuit Panel Reverses PTAB Finding Of Patent Validity
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a decision of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding that multiple telecommunications companies failed to show that another company’s patent related to information encoding was unpatentable as obvious; the dissenting judge said that the panel should only have vacated PTAB’s holding.
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January 07, 2025
Color Of Hip Implants Functional, Not Trademarkable, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was correct to cancel trademarks owned by an artificial hip parts manufacturer, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the pink color of the relevant parts is a functional element referenced in the company’s now-expired patent.
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January 07, 2025
Federal Circuit Agrees: DNA Testing Patent Not Shown To Be Obvious
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it held that a biopharmaceutical company failed to show that a patent held by another company related to in utero DNA testing is invalid as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 6.
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January 06, 2025
Music Publishers, Anthropic Agree To Lyric Output Injunction
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted a stipulated preliminary injunction in a music industry lawsuit over the use of lyrics to train artificial intelligence, requiring Anthropic PBC to keep in place existing guardrails preventing output of lyrics owned by music publishers.
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January 06, 2025
Split 9th Circuit Panel Revives Authors’ Trademark Suit Over Film Name
SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss trademark claims brought by co-authors of a book called “Gringo” against makers of an otherwise unrelated film bearing the same name, with the majority holding that the co-authors plausibly alleged the likelihood of confusion between the works.
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January 06, 2025
9th Circuit Holds Equity Shares Aren’t ‘Goods’ Under Lanham Act
SAN FRANCISCO — A partly split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of an American legal services website company’s trademark infringement suit against a similarly named Japanese legal software company beginning to sell equity shares to American investors, holding that selling equity does not meet the Lanham Act’s criteria of the sales of goods and services.
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January 03, 2025
9th Circuit Accepts Appeal In GitHub DMCA AI Case
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to hear an appeal in an artificial intelligence (AI) copyright case alleging that the defendants ignored or removed licenses from software published on the online repository GitHub.
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January 03, 2025
Judge Right To Find Oxycontin Patents Obvious, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware did not err in ruling that claims in a series of patents owned by Purdue Pharma LP and related entities directed at changes to the formulation of the company’s Oxycontin drug were invalid, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.
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January 03, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms $56 Million Trademark Award Against Molson Coors
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal jury’s entry of a $56 million award against the Molson Coors Beverage Co. USA LLC in a trademark dispute commenced by a craft brewery that alleged that the beer giant infringed on its trademark related to the word “stone.”
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January 03, 2025
Patent Owner Appeals Unpatentability Finding For File Backup System
BOSTON — A company that owns a patent directed at a digital file backup process has appealed to the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Massachusetts federal judge’s November ruling that the central claims of the patent are directed at unpatentable abstract ideas, thus rendering the patent invalid.
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January 02, 2025
Rap Producer Appeals Dismissal Of Trademark Suit To 2nd Circuit
NEW YORK — A producer of rap music appealed to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a New York federal judge’s decision to dismiss with prejudice his copyright and trademark claims stemming from a dispute over ownership of intellectual property associated with a seminal hip-hop group; the judge held that the producer failed to show that the relevant trademark was valid.
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December 23, 2024
No Error In Jury’s Trademark Damages, 7th Circuit Says
CHICAGO — A Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said a federal judge in Illinois committed no error in allowing the question of punitive damages in a trademark infringement case involving identically named nutritional supplement products to go to jurors, who entered a combined total $900,000 in punitive damages against the defendant company and its two principals.
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December 20, 2024
Judge Finds Laser Patent Suit Sufficiently Pleaded, Denies Dismissal Motion
BOSTON — The owner of a laser patent adequately alleged infringement for the pleadings stage of litigation, a Massachusetts federal judge found, denying a defendant’s motion to dismiss the second infringement suit between the parties.
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December 20, 2024
Judge: Lighting Firm Didn’t Show Chandelier Infringed, Was Offered For Sale
SEATTLE — Granting an interior design firm’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, a Washington federal judge found that the owner of two design patents in a chandelier did not establish that an alleged knock-off of the lighting fixture infringed the patents or that the defendants engaged in unfair or deceptive behavior.
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December 20, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms Infringement, Damages Findings In E-Cig Patent Fight
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A partially split panel of the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 19 said a federal judge in North Carolina was right to deny judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) to electronic cigarette entity R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. (RJR), affirming a jury’s award of more than $95 million against the company for infringing on another company’s pod-based tobacco vapor technology.
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December 19, 2024
Judge Rules Farmer Owes $600K For Infringing On Seed Patent
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri farmer will be required to pay more than $600,000 in damages to agricultural technology companies for patent infringement and breach of contract after a federal judge in the state granted summary judgment in the company’s favor on their claims that the farmer inappropriately recycled patented genetically modified seeds.