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

Mealey's Intellectual Property

April 17, 2025
Federal Circuit Doesn’t Revive IPR For Wireless Energy Transfer Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) did not err when it held that that multiple claims in a company’s patent related to wireless power transfer were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said April 16, affirming the board’s findings over the objections of the patent holder.
April 16, 2025
Judge Tosses Bone Device Patent Suit, Says Patents Not Properly Enabled

WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware granted a motion for summary judgment by defendant medical device companies in a patent infringement case, agreeing that the plaintiff company’s patents on portions of an orthopedic medical device are invalid for lack of enablement.
April 16, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Rehearing Bid In LED Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 15 rejected a patent holder’s petition for panel or en banc rehearing after a panel of judges in January held there was no error in the findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that claims of the company’s patent were invalid as obvious; the appeals court will not hear arguments from the company that the panel wrongly considered an “abandoned patent application” in affirming PTAB’s findings.
April 16, 2025
Federal Circuit: Skin Sterilizer Patent Anticipated By Prior Art; No PTAB Error

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patents covering a company’s skin disinfecting product were rightly held by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to be unpatentable as anticipated by prior art, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held April 15; the panel said that substantial evidence supported PTAB’s findings.
April 16, 2025
6th Circuit: No Coverage Owed For Trademark Infringement Suit Against Pharmacy

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of insurers in a pharmacist insured’s breach of contract lawsuit seeking coverage for underlying trademark infringement and false advertising claims brought by a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, finding that one policy’s professional services exclusion barred coverage and the other policy was not triggered because the underlying lawsuit was not brought by “natural persons.”
April 16, 2025
Applicants’ Similar Foreign Patent Makes Application Obvious, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel rejected arguments from patent applicants who appealed the denial of their patent application related to fluid catalytic cracking; the panel said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) rightly held the application to be invalid as obvious.
April 15, 2025
Groupon In Rehearing Bid: Federal Circuit Opinion Negates Purpose Of IPR Process

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a petition for rehearing, Groupon Inc. says a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel erred when it held that a patent holder was not estopped from asserting infringement claims against Groupon in a Delaware federal court based on previous decisions by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); Groupon says the panel ignored precedent in the circuit.
April 15, 2025
Federal Circuit Rejects Appeal Of Man’s Challenge To Football Team’s Royal Mark

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Vermont man who sought to cancel the New Orleans Louisiana Saints LLC’s trademark on a fleur-de-lis design lacked standing to appeal the dismissal of his petition, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said April 14.
April 15, 2025
Brewer Can’t Use ‘Chicken Scratch’ For Beer, Federal Circuit Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A brewing company cannot use the mark “Chicken Scratch” in connection with beer after a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 14 affirmed a U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision rejecting the company’s application for a trademark registration; the panel said the TTAB did not err when analyzing the proposed mark’s similarity to a restaurant company’s mark on the same phrase.
April 11, 2025
Coders Push Back On DMCA Identicality Ruling In AI Case

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not impose a requirement that distributed works be identical to the protected work and even if it did, allegations that Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI entities removed copyright management information and used exact copies of the works to train artificial intelligence would meet the standard, two coders tell the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an opening brief.
April 11, 2025
Federal Circuit Agrees SAP Can’t Transfer Patent Case To Other Federal Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 10 denied a software company’s petition for a writ of mandamus compelling the transfer of a patent suit from one division of a Texas federal district court to another division in the same district, holding that the company failed to show that a federal judge’s decision to deny the transfer motion was not “patently erroneous.”
April 11, 2025
Patent Holder To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Scrap Its Jury Win

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A software company patent holder tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a jury’s verdict of $13.2 million in damages; the company says in its petition for certiorari that a Texas federal judge was right in the first place to deny judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of no direct infringement on the respondent company’s part.
April 11, 2025
Judgment Entered For Nonprofit In Trademark Row Involving Website, Advertisements

ORLANDO, Fla. — Having been advised that the parties reached an agreement to settle the case, a Florida federal judge entered final judgment for a nonprofit Florida health care company that sued an operator of Florida post-acute care and skilled nursing facilities for trademark infringement, granting a permanent injunction due to evidence of confusion between the two entities and enjoining the operator from engaging in trademark infringement, including in advertising and on its website.
April 11, 2025
11th Circuit: No Fees For Tossed IP Claims In Land Purchase Dispute

ATLANTA — An 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel left in place a jury’s finding that defendant real estate entities breached a land purchase agreement (LPA) but owed a plaintiff real estate company only $1 in damages; the panel also affirmed a Georgia federal judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to the plaintiff company for claims brought under the Copyright Act and the Lanham Act.
April 11, 2025
Judge Won’t Extend Time For Amended Complaint In AI Music Copyright Suit

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York denied a motion to extend the time for recording companies to file an amended complaint without leave of the court in their suit against an artificial intelligence company but said they can seek leave to file such a pleading whenever it is convenient.
April 10, 2025
9th Circuit Agrees: Both Sides Of ‘Smarter’ Mark Row Come Up Short

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 9 affirmed a California federal judge’s decision to reject all claims and counterclaims in a trademark dispute over the word “Smarter” in relation to nutritional products, agreeing with the judge that neither party had shown that it had a protectible mark in the first place.
April 10, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB Decision In Online Voter Guide Mark Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said April 9 that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) was right to reject a voting guide company’s opposition to proposed trademarks sought by a similar entity, agreeing that the appellant company’s own marks could not be shown to be distinctive enough for trademark protection.
April 10, 2025
Drug Patent Holder Disclaimed Infringement Argument, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a Delaware federal judge’s findings after a bench trial that a generic drug maker’s abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) did not infringe on a biopharmaceutical company’s patent related to a drinkable antibiotic treatment for a bacterial infection.
April 09, 2025
Supreme Court Rejects Artist’s Duct-Taped Banana Art Copyright Petition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by an artist who sued another artist who went viral after duct-taping a banana to a wall at a Miami art fair, leaving in place a finding from the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the petitioner failed to show how the work infringed on his own art piece also involving a banana duct-taped to a wall from nearly two decades earlier.
April 09, 2025
Judge Dismisses ‘Blade Runner’ IP Suit Against Tesla, Others With Leave To Amend

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed with leave to amend an independent film studio’s complaint against Tesla Inc., Elon Musk and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., after issuing a tentative holding that the company adequately suggested for the purpose of surviving a dismissal motion that Tesla and Musk may have infringed upon copyrights related to the 2017 film “Blade Runner 2049” while promoting Tesla’s planned “cybercab” product.
April 08, 2025
5th Circuit: Injunction In Honor Society Trademark Fight Wrongly Bars Speech

NEW ORLEANS — A Mississippi federal judge’s preliminary injunction order compelling a community college honor society to include a disclaimer on its website notifying visitors of ongoing trademark litigation violated the society’s free speech rights, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 7.
April 08, 2025
Lilly Says Weight Loss Company Infringed Trademarks With Altered Products

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly and Co., which manufactures diet drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, sued an Indiana weight loss clinic for trademark infringement on April 7, alleging in Indiana federal court that the company represents on its website and in advertising material that it sells unaltered, Food and Drug Administration-approved Lilly medicines when it does not.
April 08, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Millions In Awards In Long-Running Trade Secret Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals largely affirmed a Texas federal judge’s entry of monetary damages and attorney fees in a long-running intellectual property dispute involving patents and trade secret claims related to smartphone light censor products; the panel remanded for further analysis on the matter of prejudgment interest, holding that the judge erred in that regard.
April 08, 2025
Judge Allows Appeal, Stay In Legal Summary AI Copyright Fight

WILMINGTON, Del. — Trial of copyright claims stemming from the use of legal summaries to train artificial intelligence will have to wait after a federal judge in Delaware granted interlocutory appeal of his summary judgment order allowing the claims and stayed the case pending that review.
April 07, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear T-Mobile’s Arguments About Revived Trademark Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on April 7 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari from T-Mobile US Inc. that Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to revive a trademark infringement complaint brought against it by Simply Wireless Inc., leaving in place the Fourth Circuit’s finding that Simply Wireless raised a genuine question as to whether it had abandoned the SIMPLY PREPAID mark at issue.