Intellectual Property Law

IP Exits

62% of patent examiners surveyed say they are dissatisfied with the time allotted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to achieve their production goals.

Dec 1, 2007 8:23 PM CST

Patent Pushback

The Federal Circuit gets the message, may be loosening patent protections

Dec 1, 2007 5:52 PM CST

Oregon ‘Ground Zero’ in RIAA Battle Against File-Sharing

Updated: Oregon’s attorney general is going to bat, yet again, for university students being targeted by the U.S. recording industry. In filings this week, Attorney General Hardy Myers’ office said the Recording Industry Association of America’s litigation tactics may violate his state’s data-mining laws, Bloomberg News reports. And his office…

Nov 30, 2007 8:47 PM CST

Acronym Soup Suit: AAJ, formerly ATLA, Sues TheATLA

The trial lawyers group once known as ATLA—the Association of Trial Lawyers of America—has sued a new lawyers group that calls itself The American Trial Lawyers Association, or TheATLA. The old ATLA gave up its name last December and rechristened itself the American Association for Justice. The switch was viewed…

Nov 30, 2007 3:35 PM CST

Dell Serves up ‘Domain Tasting’ Suit With Novel Claim

Computer maker Dell Inc. has filed a federal lawsuit that claims several companies violated counterfeiting laws by buying and selling Web addresses with misspellings of its name. The lawsuit contends three companies that register domain names set up a network with Caribbean shell companies to use Web addresses with typos…

Nov 29, 2007 2:04 PM CST

Outsourcing Firms Bring in the Engineers to Advise, Write Patents

Much like American law firms have beefed up their IP practices by hiring lawyers with engineering and scientific backgrounds, so too are legal process outsourcing companies in India. The Hindu Business Line reports that outsourcing firms are hiring experienced engineers to analyze new technologies and to write patents. One company…

Nov 26, 2007 9:17 PM CST

Chinese Company Wins Rare Overseas Trademark Ruling

In an unusual example of Chinese company resorting to litigation to enforce its intellectual property abroad, a Beijing curd maker has won a trademark infringement suit against a German company. The win came Nov. 14 when a Munich court ordered the German supermarket Okai to stop using Wangzhihe’s trademark, reports…

Nov 26, 2007 7:19 PM CST

Louis Vuitton Wins Hummer-Dinger Suit, Ruffed Up by Parody Ruling

Music lost and humor won in two recent rulings in lawsuits filed by Louis Vuitton. The luxury goods maker succeeded in getting a Britney Spears video showing Vuitton-like fabric pulled from the Internet but lost an infringement suit against “Chewy Vuiton” dog toys. Spears’ “Do Somethin’ ” video features a…

Nov 20, 2007 6:17 PM CST

Counterfeit Case Against eBay May Raise Web Policing Requirements

A federal judge in Manhattan has begun to hear a closely watched case between a renowned jeweler and an Internet auctioneer accused of turning a blind eye to the sale of fakes on its Web site. If Tiffany & Co. is successful in its trademark infringement claim against eBay, not…

Nov 14, 2007 9:46 PM CST

Infringement Anomaly: States Can Sue But Not Be Sued

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that preserves state immunity in patent suits—even if the state sues to enforce its own patents—is sparking new debate over the issue. The appeals court ruled (PDF) late last month against Biomedical Patent Management Corp., which had…

Nov 13, 2007 3:40 PM CST

Bratz Maker Splits With O’Melveny, Investigates Fees

The maker of the popular Bratz doll—sort of a Barbie alternative with attitude—has hired a new law firm to represent it in an upcoming trial after a dispute with O’Melveny & Myers. The underlying case involves claims by Barbie maker Mattel that the designer of the Bratz doll did his…

Nov 2, 2007 2:53 PM CDT

Plaintiff to RIAA: Download This!

Accused of online music theft, Oregon woman strikes back

Nov 1, 2007 8:14 PM CDT

Judge Blocks Patent Rules

A Virginia judge has issued an injunction to bar controversial new patent rules from taking effect today. U.S. District Judge James Cacheris ruled late Tuesday (PDF posted by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and Patently-O) on a motion filed by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, the Recorder reports. The U.S. Patent…

Nov 1, 2007 11:56 AM CDT

Patent Dispute Aired on High-Tech Executives’ Blogs

Officials with two high-tech companies, including one general counsel, are trading barbs on their own blogs about a patent dispute. Voicing their opinions from Sun Microsystems are general counsel Mike Dillon and CEO Jonathan Schwartz, the Recorder reports. One the other side is Network Appliances co-founder Dave Hitz. NetApp sued…

Oct 31, 2007 10:34 AM CDT

Broad Opposition to Proposed Patent Bill

A broad array of IP industries and groups are gearing up to protest proposed patent reform legislation. More than 400 companies and organizations representing 25 industries have written to the Senate to criticize pending legislation known as the Patent Reform Act of 2007, or S 1145, reports Managing Intellectual Property…

Oct 29, 2007 6:25 PM CDT