Intellectual Property Law

Nonprofits Oppose Jones Day Trademark Suit Over Associate Home Purchase Posts

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Citizen have filed an opposing amicus brief in federal trademark litigation brought by Jones Day over a website’s postings about home purchases by two of the law firm’s associate attorneys. The posts should be considered news reporting, as well as an allowable fair use…

Sep 19, 2008 9:46 PM CDT

Heller Suffers Another Blow with Reported Loss of up to 40 IP Lawyers

Heller Ehrman has already endured the loss of more than 30 partners this year and failed merger talks with several big law firms. Now comes word from the Daily Journal that the firm will lose up to 40 lawyers in its intellectual property group, including two key partners. The news…

Sep 16, 2008 12:21 PM CDT

Pinkberry Suits Seek to Put Freeze on Yogurt Competitors

What do Yoberry, Yogiberry, Peachberry and Monkee’s Teriyaki, among others, all have in common? Allegedly, they are copycat frozen yogurt shops seeking to take something of a free ride on the “highly distinctive branding” of three-year-old Pinkberry Inc., reports the Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles-based chain has 65 outlets…

Sep 12, 2008 7:58 PM CDT

Jones Day Sues Over Website Posting Attorney Home Purchase Info

Jones Day has sued a website that highlights lawyers—even posting their photos and linking to firm biographies—and other professionals who buy and sell their homes in Chicago, Las Vegas, St. Louis and South Florida. After two Jones Day associates were featured on the BlockShopper site, the Cleveland-based BigLaw firm sued,…

Sep 11, 2008 5:08 PM CDT

Legal Fees a ‘Breathtaking’ $93M-Plus in Bratz Battle

Two toy companies battling for rights to the Bratz dolls-with-attitude have racked up legal fees of at least $93 million in the case. MGA Entertainment has spent $63 million in fees since 2004 defending a lawsuit by Mattel Inc. that contended the doll’s designer conceived of the idea before leaping…

Sep 10, 2008 12:17 PM CDT

‘Harry Potter’ Author Wins Case Over Fan’s Harry Potter Encyclopedia

The author of the best-selling Harry Potter books has won her lawsuit over a fan’s effort to publish a Harry Potter encyclopedia. Author J.K. Rowling has persuaded a federal judge in the Southern District of New York that Steven Vander Ark’s Harry Potter Lexicon would cause her irreparable harm, reports…

Sep 8, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Opponent ‘Bought’ Privileged Docs, Used Them to Seek More

A struggling mortgage lender in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case may have opened up a major new battlefield in the legal malpractice arena. Eager to put an end to a fraud suit brought by a software developer, New Century Mortgage agreed, as part of a settlement in federal bankruptcy court…

Sep 5, 2008 6:46 PM CDT

Weil Gotshal IP Associate Takes On Much Tougher Job

As a third-year associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges, intellectual property attorney Okey Onyejekwe obviously isn’t afraid of hard work. But he’s taking on a much tougher challenge for the next three months, when he will be serving in Iraq with his Air Force Reserve unit, reports the Am Law…

Sep 5, 2008 12:52 AM CDT

KSR Patent Ruling Protects Bra Makers and Comcast

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year making it easier to invalidate patents is having an impact in the Northern District of California and even in the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas. The ruling in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. said an invention is not entitled to a patent…

Sep 4, 2008 12:32 PM CDT

Make That 37 Partners Who Have Left Heller Ehrman This Year

With the departure of two San Francisco Bay area attorneys for other law firms, the total number of partners who have left Heller Ehrman this year now reportedly tallies at least 37. Trademark lawyer Harold Milstein is the seventh Heller partner to join Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton this year,…

Sep 3, 2008 7:33 PM CDT

More Lawyers Patent their Inventions and Sue, Sometimes Surprising their Firms

Some law firms are apparently being caught “flat-footed” when one of their lawyers files suit to protect his or her own patented invention, according to an article in IP Law and Business. At least 10 lawyers have filed infringement suits to protect their inventions, and some of them continued to…

Sep 3, 2008 4:19 PM CDT

Why the Happy Sumo Is Happier Now

A Utah sushi restaurant is undergoing a remodeling after a federal judge ruled its décor copied that of a competitor. The Yapona restaurant located in American Fork, Utah, is undergoing the $15,000 renovation as a result of an early ruling in a lawsuit brought by The Happy Sumo, with locations…

Sep 3, 2008 2:37 PM CDT

Blogger Faces Felony Charge for Leaking Guns N’ Roses Songs

A California blogger has been arrested by the FBI and charged with a felony for posting nine Guns N’ Roses songs on an unreleased album. Kevin Cogill of Culver City kept the songs on his music blog for only a few hours until the band’s lawyers complained, the Los Angeles…

Aug 29, 2008 12:18 PM CDT

Defendant Proclaims Victory Over Bratz Damages of $100M

Mattel Inc. had sought more than $2 billion, including punitives, in the damages phase of a copyright infringement and contractual rights suit against the manufacturer of the saucy Bratz dolls. So when a federal jury in California awarded $100 million today, it was the defendant, MGA Entertainment Inc., that proclaimed…

Aug 26, 2008 10:46 PM CDT

Mickey Mouse Mistake May Invalidate Early Disney Copyright

Lawyers for the Walt Disney Co. empire don’t even want to hear that anybody is making the argument. But an early version of Mickey Mouse, who starred in the first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, may not be properly copyrighted. A copyright card at the beginning of the cartoon—commonly used…

Aug 22, 2008 3:46 PM CDT