Author name: Gary

Right of Publicity, Third Circuit

Huckabee v. Meta — Third Circuit Revives CBD Fake-Ad Suit, Finding Plausible Constructive Knowledge of Fraud

The Third Circuit reversed dismissal of Mike Huckabee’s right-of-publicity suit against Meta over fake CBD endorsement ads, finding that three factors — Huckabee’s well-known opposition to cannabis, Meta’s history of hosting similar fake-celebrity ads, and a link to a fake Fox News site — plausibly established that Meta knew or should have known the ads were fraudulent.

Fourth Circuit, Utility Patent

Vir2us v. Sophos — Fourth Circuit: Shared Source Code Alone Does Not Make Post-Acquisition Products ‘Derivations’ Under Patent License

The Fourth Circuit affirmed that Sophos’s post-acquisition antivirus products were not “derivations” of the named containerization products in a 2016 patent license agreement, even though they shared some common source code, because the shared code was inactive in the original products and the newer products did not originate from them.

Federal Circuit, Utility Patent

Ironburg Inventions v. Valve Corp. — Federal Circuit Again Vacates IPR Estoppel for Insufficient Evidence and Hindsight Bias

The Federal Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s IPR estoppel ruling for the second time, holding that a classification search returning 26,333 results cannot show a prior art reference was “reasonably discoverable,” and that Cardinal IP’s search evidence for a second invalidity ground was tainted by hindsight bias throughout.

Federal Circuit, Utility Patent

Ironburg Inventions v. Valve Corp. — Federal Circuit Tightens IPR Estoppel Standard, Reverses Both Invalidity Bars

In a precedential decision, the Federal Circuit reversed district court estoppel orders that had blocked Valve from using two prior-art grounds at trial, holding that classification searches returning 26,333 results do not establish discovery and that hindsight-infected forward citation searches cannot prove what a 2016 petitioner reasonably could have raised.

International Trade Commission, Utility Patent

In the Matter of Certain Motorized Self-Balancing Vehicles (ITC Inv. 337-TA-1440) — Commission to Review ALJ Infringement Finding Against GoTrax and Gyroor

The U.S. International Trade Commission announced it will review portions of the administrative law judge’s determination that GoTrax and Gyroor infringed Razor USA’s hoverboard patents, with a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders recommended by the ALJ pending Commission review.

District Courts, Utility Patent

GlaxoSmithKline v. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna — Delaware Court Keeps Prosecution Laches Defense Alive in mRNA Vaccine Patent War

Judge Gregory Williams of the District of Delaware denied GlaxoSmithKline’s motions to dismiss prosecution laches defenses asserted by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, finding the defendants plausibly alleged that GSK unreasonably delayed patent prosecution for over a decade and then broadened mRNA vaccine claims only after its rivals’ COVID vaccine technology became public.

Supreme Court, Trade Secret, Federal

Tata Consultancy Services v. Computer Sciences Corp. — Supreme Court Declines to Review $168M Trade Secret Award

The Supreme Court declined to review a $168 million trade secret award against Tata Consultancy Services, leaving intact the Fifth Circuit’s judgment upholding $56 million in compensatory damages and $112 million in punitive damages for TCS’s theft of life-insurance software trade secrets from Computer Sciences Corporation.

District Courts, Utility Patent

MEMS Innovations LLC v. TDK Corporation — Court Dismisses Japanese Parent for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction in Piezoelectric Sensor Patent Case

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California dismissed TDK Corporation of Japan from a piezoelectric MEMS patent infringement suit, holding that conclusory stream-of-commerce allegations were insufficient to establish personal jurisdiction and that plaintiff lacked a legitimate basis for naming the Japanese parent company as a defendant.

District Courts, Trade Secret, Federal

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG v. Zync Inc. — Federal Judge Blocks ITC Trade Secret Proceeding to Enforce Forum Selection Clause

Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California granted BMW a temporary restraining order blocking Zync Inc. from proceeding with an ITC trade secret investigation, finding BMW likely to succeed in enforcing a contractual forum selection clause designating German courts as the exclusive forum for disputes under their infotainment technology NDA.

District Courts, Trademark, Federal

Watts v. Amazon Studios — Court Dismisses ‘The Love Zone’ Trademark Suit Over Amazon’s ‘Cross’ TV Series

A Southern District of New York judge dismissed a trademark infringement suit by New York radio host Maurice Watts against Amazon Studios over use of the name ‘The Love Zone’ in Amazon’s crime thriller series ‘Cross,’ finding no evidence that the fictional reference misled viewers about the source of the real radio show.

Federal Circuit, Utility Patent

DynaPass IP Holdings v. Bank of America — Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal on Claim Construction of Two-Factor Authentication Patent

The Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of DynaPass’s infringement claim against Bank of America, holding that the claim term ‘receiving the password’ requires the user to submit a pre-combined passcode-and-token password — not submit the two components separately as BofA’s mobile banking app does.

Copyright, Ninth Circuit

Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg — Ninth Circuit Grants Rare En Banc Rehearing in Kat Von D Tattoo Copyright Case

The Ninth Circuit granted en banc rehearing in the Kat Von D tattoo-copyright case, vacating the panel opinion that affirmed a jury verdict finding no substantial similarity between a photographer’s Miles Davis portrait and a photorealistic tattoo — a signal that the full court may overhaul the circuit’s decades-old “intrinsic test” for copyright similarity.

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