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Mealey's Intellectual Property

  • March 27, 2026

    Federal Circuit: Patent Plaintiff Can’t Refile Suit To Avoid ITC Deadline

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held on March 26 that a biopharmaceutical company cannot circumvent missing a 30-day deadline to seek a mandatory stay of a declaratory judgment patent suit it brought under statutes governing the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) by dismissing and then refiling its complaint.

  • March 27, 2026

    Panel Affirms Trademark Dispute Award, Will Consider Fees For ‘Frivolous’ Filing

    PHOENIX, Ariz. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 26 affirmed the confirmation of an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) award issued in favor of an Italian wine company involved in a dispute over trademark rights with its American distributor and ordered the distributor and its counsel to show cause why an award of attorney fees should not be imposed against them for bringing a “self-indulgent appeal” based on procedural defects and translation issues.

  • March 27, 2026

    Judge: Copyright Act Preempts Certain Arguments In Ancestry Photo-Use Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge held that plaintiffs in a putative class complaint plausibly allege misappropriation-based injuries because of Ancestry.com Operations Inc. and related entities using their yearbook photos without their permission, but the judge held that certain theories of misappropriation are preempted by federal copyright law.

  • March 26, 2026

    Judge Again Finds Patent Claims Against Sirius XM Estopped

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge ruled after a bench trial that Sirius XM Radio Inc. (SXM) reasonably relied on silence from a German research entity to believe it would not bring claims regarding its patents covering satellite radio technology; a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel determined last year that the silence was misleading.

  • March 26, 2026

    Company To High Court: Federal Circuit Used Wrong Standard For Sanctions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent-holding company is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming more than $250,000 in attorney fees and other sanctions for filing a patent infringement suit against Google LLC that a California federal judge dismissed as frivolous; the technology company argues that the Federal Circuit affirmed the sanctions under the incorrect standard.

  • March 26, 2026

    Biotech Company To Federal Circuit: Rehearing Needed For DNA Eligibility

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The maker of a gene therapy product is seeking en banc rehearing of a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that a Delaware federal judge wrongly concluded that a patent’s claims involving genetically engineered cultured host cells containing a recombinant nucleic acid molecule were directed to a natural phenomenon; the petitioner tells the Federal Circuit that its opinion creates a sweeping rule regarding the patentability of creation that stems from natural DNA.

  • March 25, 2026

    Federal Circuit Rejects Bid To Rethink Claims Nintendo Infringed Handheld Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a gaming company’s petition for rehearing en banc or panel rehearing, leaving in place a panel’s January opinion that held that Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe the plaintiff-appellant’s patent.

  • March 25, 2026

    Supreme Court Reverses Finding That ISP Is Liable For Users’ Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 25 held that an internet service provider (ISP) could not be found contributorily liable for users’ piracy of material from a group of record labels and music publishers without a showing of intent through inducement of infringement or providing of a service designed for infringement, reversing a finding by the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that drew warnings from the U.S. government of potential negative impacts to widely available internet access.

  • March 25, 2026

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider Revival Of Antitrust Claims To Copyright Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a real estate entity’s petition for a writ of certiorari, declining to hear arguments that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly revived antitrust counterclaims filed against the entity in response to copyright claims it brought against another real estate entity; the petitioner had also argued that the Ninth Circuit wrongly created a novel theory of exclusive dealing based on customer misunderstanding.

  • March 24, 2026

    High Court Won’t Consider Federal Circuit-Affirmed Sanctions In IP Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 rejected a patent-holding company’s request that it consider the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of a Florida federal judge’s entry of sanctions against it in a false advertising and unfair competition dispute.

  • March 24, 2026

    6th Circuit OKs Injunction Denial In Pet Service Row For Unclean Hands

    CINCINNATI — A Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that a Michigan federal judge did not abuse his discretion in largely denying a pet care services company’s request for a preliminary injunction against former franchisees the company said misappropriated proprietary methods, client data and trademarks; the panel saw no error in the district court’s application of the unclean hands doctrine.

  • March 23, 2026

    High Court Allows Government Participation In ‘Skinny-Label’ Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 granted the U.S. government’s motion to participate in oral arguments when it considers the standard for the inducement of infringement to be applied in medical patent cases, including in “skinny label cases” involving allegedly noninfringing use; on March 20, the patent-holding biopharmaceutical entities filed their merits brief, arguing that statements made by a bioequivalent maker plausibly allege induced infringement.

  • March 23, 2026

    Panel: Judge Wrongly Construed Claims, Rightly Excluded Expert In Patent Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found errors in a Maryland federal judge’s construction of disputed patent claims in a suit over patents covering atomizers for particulate paints, which led the panel in its March 20 opinion to reverse the judge’s grant of summary judgment of noninfringement in the defendant-appellee’s favor.

  • March 20, 2026

    Federal Circuit Sees No Error In ITC Finding That Apple Watches Infringe Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) did not err when it held that Apple Inc. violated the Tariff Act by importing and selling Apple Watch models that infringed blood oxygenation patents held by other technology entities, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 19.

  • March 20, 2026

    Magistrate Judge: TTAB Ruling Assures Summary Judgment Win For Bahá’í Group

    DENVER — A federal magistrate judge in Colorado granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the American organization for worshippers in the Bahá’í faith on trademark claims against an individual the organization says is using marks in connection with one of the religion’s governing bodies; the judge agreed with the plaintiff religious organization that the outcome of the trademark claims was determined by the defendant’s loss before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

  • March 20, 2026

    ITC: Patent Invalidity Means No Violation Through Vape Product Imports

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) reversed a finding from an administrative law judge (ALJ) that certain tobacco product entities violated federal importation laws by importing vaping products that infringed a patent held by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and related entities; the ITC determined that there was no violation because multiple claims of the patent at issue are invalid as obvious.

  • March 19, 2026

    2nd Circuit Hears Media Companies’ Attempt To Revive AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — Whether media companies’ allegation that OpenAI entities downloaded content and removed copyright management information from works used to train artificial intelligence suffices as an injury or whether copyright law requires something more came before the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals during oral arguments on March 18.

  • March 18, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of California Drink Shop’s Trademark Claims

    PASADENA, Calif. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of a trademark infringement dispute that a California-based beverage store brought against a similarly named wine shop in New York, agreeing in a March 17 unpublished memorandum disposition that the plaintiff-appellant shop and its owner had failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the New York store.

  • March 18, 2026

    Dismissal Of Actor’s Trademark Claims Against Tyler Perry Affirmed By 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge was right to dismiss an actor’s trademark infringement claims against Tyler Perry Studios (TPS) film studio for lack of personal jurisdiction, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, affirming the district court’s rejection of claims that Perry wrongly distributed a recording of a performance of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” before the play was adapted into a successful film.

  • March 18, 2026

    Judge: Similarities In Romance Novels Boil Down To Unprotectable Tropes

    NEW YORK — A romance author who claimed that another author and publishing industry entities copied the premise of her unpublished “romantasy” novel to form the basis of a bestselling novel series cannot show substantial similarity between the works, a New York federal judge found.

  • March 17, 2026

    Company Lacked Standing To Initiate Patent Claims, Federal Circuit Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A technology company lacked constitutional standing to bring patent infringement claims against another technology company because a 2006 agreement transferred all rights associated with the patents at issue to a third party, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held March 16 in agreeing with a Nevada federal judge.

  • March 17, 2026

    Judge Won’t Dismiss Founder’s IP Claims Against Ohio Motherhood Nonprofit

    CLEVELAND — An Ohio federal judge denied a nonprofit birthing advocacy group’s motion to dismiss its founder’s complaint that the organization used copyrights and trademarks created by the founder without authorization; the judge held that the plaintiff adequately alleged copyright and trademark infringement for the purpose of surviving dismissal.

  • March 16, 2026

    Judge Grants TRO For Cancer Nonprofit On IP Claims Against Former Board President

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama on March 13 granted a cancer advocacy group’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the former president of its board of directors and the company she controls, enjoining the defendants from using trademarks related to the phrase “Women in Blue” in connection with a fundraising initiative.

  • March 16, 2026

    Judge Finds Claims In Video Conference Patent Invalid As Abstract

    CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois dismissed a video conferencing company’s patent infringement complaint against another technology company, holding that the asserted patent claims were invalid as abstract because they were directed at the abstract concept of verifying a user’s identity and relaying the identification information elsewhere.

  • March 13, 2026

    2nd Circuit Affirms Injunction Denial In Film Fest Trademark Fight

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel saw no abuse of discretion in a New York federal judge’s finding that the owner of a South Asian film festival in New York was unlikely to succeed on trademark claims against the owner of a South Asian film festival in both Texas and New York, affirming the judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction.