Mealey's Intellectual Property
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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April 07, 2025
Federal Circuit: No Provisional Rights In Expired Patent Application Appeal
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed a patent applicant’s appeal of a decision from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to reject his application for a patent on a touch screen product; the panel said that the man’s “atypical case” essentially amounted to a request for the PTO to grant an application for a patent that had already expired.
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April 04, 2025
Magistrate Judge: OpenAI’s Definition Of Competitor ‘Wildly Overbroad’
NEW YORK — OpenAI entities’ portrayal of a small Chilean company working on artificial intelligence language bias as a competitor is “wildly overbroad” and would render anyone working in the field of AI a competitor, a federal magistrate judge in New York said in denying a protective order seeking to shield certain documents from an expert witness.
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April 04, 2025
Judge Denies Dismissal Of Copyright Suit Against Trump For Song Use
ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia denied a bid from President Donald J. Trump and associated entities to dismiss the second amended complaint brought by parties charged with overseeing the works of late soul musician Isaac Hayes for alleged infringement of the song “Hold On, I’m Comin.’”
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April 03, 2025
AI Copyright Plaintiffs Ask Judge To Confirm Extension After Discovery Breach
SAN FRANCISCO — Artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs on April 2 asked a federal judge in California to enforce a recent ruling granting more time to respond to a summary judgment motion as result of the violation of a discovery agreement, saying the failure to turn over what the court already recognized as relevant evidence and its broad privilege claims are making responding “burdensome.”
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April 02, 2025
COMMENTARY: CJEU Expands Cross-Border Patent Infringement Jurisdiction In BSH Hausgeräte v. Electrolux
By Tim Powell, Hiroshi Sheraton and Alexander Ritter
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April 03, 2025
Web Patent Claim Error Leads To Summary Judgment Reversal, Federal Circuit Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in Delaware too narrowly construed a claim phrase regarding a “runtime engine” described in patents owned by web developer Express Mobile Inc. in a patent infringement dispute with GoDaddy.com LLC, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 2; the panel said the error made the reversal of a grant of summary judgment in GoDaddy’s favor necessary.
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April 03, 2025
Judge Tosses Cannabis IP Suit Against Meta And NYC’s Intervenor Suit
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed with prejudice a complaint against Meta Platforms Inc. by a “serial IP litigant” who accused the social media company of infringing copyrights associated with marijuana products, holding that the man failed to show Meta infringed the copyrights by allowing the posting of photos with the products’ logos.
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April 02, 2025
Thomson Reuters Rebuts Need For Immediate Review Of AI Copyright Ruling
WILMINGTON, Del. — Interlocutory review in an artificial intelligence training copyright presents complicated issues of the type not permissible in immediate appeals and the resolution of any such appeal would not materially advance the case, Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH tells a federal judge in Delaware on April 1 in opposing Ross Intelligence Inc.’s attempt at quickly reversing a summary judgment ruling.
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April 02, 2025
Federal Circuit: PTAB’s Construction Error Meant It Wrongly Found Validity
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) should have gone further with a finding of invalidity for claims within patents related to interactive display screens, considering arguments connected to inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and an affiliated entity for the second time in recent weeks.