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Mealey's Intellectual Property

October 02, 2025
4th Circuit Rejects Petition To Reconsider Injunction For Dance Team’s Mark Use

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a charter school and its parent-teacher organization’s petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel’s September ruling that affirmed a North Carolina judge’s decision to deny the school entities’ request for a preliminary injunction against a local dance company in the parties’ dispute over a trademark on a logo using the name “Inspire.”
October 02, 2025
D.C. Circuit Won’t Reconsider Copyright Register Job Interference Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued two per curiam orders Oct. 1 denying reconsideration and en banc reconsideration of a Sept. 10 order enjoining various federal government parties from interfering with Shira Perlmutter’s service as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending appeal.
October 02, 2025
Judge Grants Summary Judgment On Some Counterclaims In ‘Vampire’ Wine Mark Row

TAMPA, Fla. — In a dispute over imported Romanian wine bearing marks related to the vampire Dracula, a federal judge in Florida partly granted a motion for partial summary judgment, setting aside counterclaims and affirmative defenses that suggested that the plaintiff entity committed fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to obtain its marks.
October 02, 2025
Federal Circuit Vacates PTAB Obviousness Finding For Social Media Map Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled Oct. 1 that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly held that a technology company’s substitute claims in a patent related to displaying social media posts on a geographic map satisfy the written description requirement under the Patent Act; however, the panel also decided that PTAB erred in its consideration of the obviousness of those substitute claims.
October 01, 2025
Federal Circuit: Multiple Errors In Hookless Curtain Infringement Findings

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued a mixed opinion Sept. 30 in a long-running intellectual property dispute over hookless shower curtains, affirming a New York federal judge’s findings that one appellant company infringed multiple patents but vacating or reversing findings that another appellant company infringed the patents; the panel also vacated trademark and trade dress infringement findings against the appellant companies and set aside attorney fees.
October 01, 2025
11th Circuit Affirms Fees In 5th Consideration Of Commodores Mark Appeal

ATLANTA — Considering an appeal related to the case for the fifth time, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld a Florida federal judge’s decision to award attorney fees in “protracted litigation” involving trademarks related to the funk band The Commodores against one of its founding members who formed groups with similar names after departing from the group.
October 01, 2025
6th Circuit: Software Company’s Copyright, Trade Secret Claims Fail

CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge properly granted summary judgment to a defendant software company on trade secret and copyright infringement claims, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, finding that the plaintiff software company’s trade secret claims were time-barred and that it failed to substantiate its copyright claim.
September 30, 2025
Judge: Prior And Pending Litigation Exclusion Does Not Bar Cyber Liability Coverage

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge granted in part and denied in part an insured and its excess insurers’ summary judgment motions in a cyber liability coverage dispute, holding that the prior and pending litigation policy exclusion does not relieve the excess insurers of their duty to defend but they have no duty to indemnify the insured for the costs it incurred in a reciprocal lawsuit.
September 30, 2025
Federal Circuit Says Ride-Sharing Patents Were Obvious, Affirms Lyft’s Win

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 29 said Lyft Inc. successfully showed that certain claims of patents held by another technology company are unpatentable as obvious, affirming findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued in multiple inter partes review (IPR) proceedings.
September 30, 2025
Federal Circuit: Company Lacked Standing To Appeal PTAB Lottery Ticket Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a technology company lacked standing to appeal a final written decision from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) wherein the PTAB held that the company failed to show that multiple claims of a patent related to lottery ticket printing were unpatentable; the panel held that the company failed to show that it had suffered an injury in fact.
September 30, 2025
Ross Intelligence Asks 3rd Circuit To Overturn AI Copyright Ruling

PHILADELPHIA — Headnotes quote judicial opinions that are public property and not subject to copyright protections, and their limited use in training artificial intelligence constituted fair use, legal search company Ross Intelligence Inc. told the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an opening brief challenging direct copyright and fair use summary judgment rulings.
September 29, 2025
Tech Companies, PTO Tell High Court PTAB Can Review Expired Patents

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Apple Inc., Google LLC, LG Electronics Inc. and an affiliate tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a pair of Sept. 26 briefs that it should reject a patent-holding company’s petitions for writs of certiorari because they raise arguments about the constitutionality of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that the high court has previously rejected.
September 26, 2025
Federal Circuit: TTAB Misapplied DuPont Factors For Trademark Application

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) erred in its consideration of two of the likelihood-of-confusion factors when weighing whether to allow a banking entity to register marks using the name “Aspire Bank,” a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Sept. 25 in an opinion that affirmed other aspects of the board’s analysis.
September 26, 2025
Mapping Patent Claims Rightly Found Abstract, Federal Circuit Holds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no errors in an Illinois federal judge’s finding that all asserted claims in patents related to methods for displaying brand information on a geographic map were invalid as abstract, affirming the judge’s dismissal with prejudice of the patent holder’s suit in a nonprecedential Sept. 25 opinion.
September 26, 2025
Judge Affirms Limits On Dataset Discovery In AI Copyright Fight

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Sept. 25 denied a motion for relief from a magistrate judge’s order limiting discovery into the datasets used to train artificial intelligence, saying courts regularly impose such limits when the discovery exceeds the allegations in a complaint.
September 26, 2025
Judge: No Summary Judgment On IP Claims In Learning Materials Sharing Case

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge held that the owner of an online platform that allows users to share educational resources with each other will face copyright and trademark claims from a private university in the state, but the judge granted the platform owner’s motion for summary judgment as to certain state law claims.
September 26, 2025
Authors Challenge Limits On Shadow Library Discovery In Nvidia AI Copyright Case

SAN FRANCISCO — Responding to a motion by authors arguing that a magistrate judge improperly limited discovery to a single dataset in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, Nvidia Corp. told the court that the order merely limits the plaintiffs to their own allegations and that there was no error sufficient to overturn the nondispositive order.
September 26, 2025
Judge Preliminarily Approves $1.5B Settlement In AI Copyright Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A $1.5 billion settlement between authors and Anthropic PBC in a copyright case took a step toward resolution on Sept. 25 when a federal judge in California granted preliminary approval in a docket-only minute entry. The authors previously told the judge in a supplemental brief that changes to the agreement addressed concerns about its completeness.
September 25, 2025
EcoFactor To High Court: Federal Circuit Wrong To Vacate Jury’s Patent Damages

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Google LLC on Sept. 24 waived its right to a respond to a smart thermostat company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which the company argues that the en banc Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to order a Texas federal judge hold a new trial on damages wrongly eschewed the jury’s factual findings in its favor.
September 25, 2025
Federal Circuit Vacates $166 Million Award Against Nokia, AT&T In Patent Fight

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 24 vacated a jury’s $166 million damages award against AT&T Mobility LLC and Nokia of America Corp., holding that a Texas federal judge should have granted the companies’ request for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) of noninfringement against a plaintiff-appellee wireless technology company.
September 25, 2025
Federal Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment In Wig Product Patent Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement to defendant wig product manufacturers in a patent infringement suit, finding no error in the judge’s construction of a disputed claim term.
September 25, 2025
Federal Circuit: No Error In PTAB Rejection Of Motorola Challenge To Lens Patent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) final written decision upholding all claims in a patent regarding an optical lens assembly for compact devices challenged by Motorola Mobility LLC, holding that substantial evidence supported the board’s finding that there was no motivation to combine Motorola’s cited prior art references.
September 24, 2025
Federal Circuit Partly Vacates PTAB’s Obviousness Ruling Against Bayer

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 23 agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that some claims in a patent held by Bayer Pharma Aktiengesellschaft are unpatentable as obvious, but the panel vacated the board’s finding of obviousness for other claims, holding that it was based on an incorrect claim construction regarding the administration of aspirin in a cardiac medication regimen.
September 24, 2025
Judge Tosses FCA Suit Related To Drug Patent Pursuant To Public Disclosure Bar

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge on Sept. 23 dismissed a qui tam relator’s suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and related state laws regarding pharmaceutical companies’ purported fraudulently obtained patents for the drug Xyrem resulting in government health insurers reimbursing Xyrem prescriptions “at inflated prices,” finding that facts in the complaint were previously disclosed and that the public disclosure bar applies.
September 24, 2025
Lilly, Medical Centers’ Trademark Dispute Settlement Halted By Federal Judge

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge refused to sign off on a joint motion filed by Eli Lilly and Co., two medical centers and two of their physicians who prescribe patients compounded versions of tirzepatide, a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for diabetes and weight loss, for a consent judgment and permanent injunction to end a trademark case, finding that the motion “suffers from numerous defects.”