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March 9 (Reuters) - Bytedance's TikTok Inc persuaded a federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday that its Stitch feature does not violate trademark rights belonging to British video-editing company Stitch Editing Ltd. The jury rejected Stitch Editing's argument that TikTok confuses consumers by using the Stitch name to brand the popular social-media platform's technology for "stitching" videos together. It sued in 2021 over TikTok's Stitch technology, which allows users to splice other videos on the platform into their own. Stitch Editing told the court that TikTok's use of "Stitch" gave users the mistaken impression that the companies are affiliated and threatened to drown out its brand. The case is Stitch Editing Ltd v. TikTok Inc, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No.

The court also allowed testimony from an expert who said Meta owes Neural Magic as much as $766 million in royalties. Representatives for Meta and Neural Magic did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision. Meta asked the court to throw out the case last year, arguing Neural Magic had failed to identify any protectable trade secrets and that Zlateski had not acquired the information improperly. But the court on Monday allowed Neural Magic's case to continue for all but one of the 41 secrets it accused Meta of misappropriating. The case is Neural Magic Inc v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No.

Hermes said in a court filing Friday that Rothschild has continued to market his NFTs despite the jury's verdict last month. Rothschild's attorney Rhett Millsaps said they will oppose Hermes' motion in court filings this week. Hermes sued Rothschild last year over his MetaBirkins, 100 NFTs associated with images depicting the bags covered in colorful fur. "Rothschild has continued acting as he has since November 2021 — brazenly violating Hermès's intellectual property rights," Hermes said. The case is Hermes International v. Rothschild, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No.

☆ U.S. Justice Dept opposes Google bid to move advertising antitrust case to New York
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Mike Scarcella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The case, alleging anticompetitive abuses of advertising technology, was filed in January in Alexandria, Virginia, federal court and threatens to break up a key part of Google's business. But moving the case to the Southern District of New York won't eliminate the chance of divergent trial judgments or appellate decisions, the DOJ's lawyers said. The cases consolidated in New York can return to their originating district courts for trial, the government told Brinkema. In its bid seeking to get the DOJ case to New York, Google's lawyers said the government's "case lags far behind other pending ad tech antitrust cases" and "adds nothing of substance to those earlier-filed cases." The case is United States et al v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 1:23-cv-00108-LMB-IDD.

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoMarch 3 (Reuters) - Urban scooter company Lime sued Hertz Corp on Thursday alleging unfair competition and accusing the rental car giant of improperly hiring the startup's senior engineers. The loss of engineers has "significantly harmed" Lime, which provides short-term e-bike and scooter rentals in about 30 countries. Hertz Corp, which operates the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty vehicle rental brands, is a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ.O). Cong, now at Hertz, did not immediately respond on Friday to a message seeking comment. A representative from Lime did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Companies Ripple Labs Inc FollowMarch 3 (Reuters) - Ripple Labs Inc said in court papers Friday that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision supports one of its key defenses in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case over the cryptocurrency XRP. The SEC has asked Torres to decide that Ripple had fair notice that XRP was a security under U.S. law. Ripple and the executives have said the question of whether or not the law was vague should go to trial. A ruling in the case could further define what digital assets are considered securities in the U.S. The case is SEC v. Ripple Labs Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ Fact Check-Essex Police did not say on Twitter that minorities from ‘the correct background’ can apply without a CV
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A digitally altered screenshot of a job advertisement on Twitter for Essex Police which says minorities from the “correct background” can apply without a CV has been shared online. The image shows an edited Essex Police tweet with text that reads in full: “We’re hiring! If you’re from the correct background you can submit a streamlined application without your CV at essex.police.uk/fitthebill”. Reuters could not find any evidence that Essex Police shared such a tweet, and the force itself has said the image is manipulated. The image does not show an authentic Twitter post, according to Essex Police.

March 1 (Reuters) - Roche's Genentech Inc (ROGING.UL) sued Biogen MA Inc on Tuesday in San Francisco federal court, claiming Biogen owes additional patent royalties from worldwide sales of its blockbuster multiple-sclerosis and Crohn's disease drug Tysabri. Genentech's lawsuit said Biogen owes royalties for all the Tysabri that was produced using Genentech's patents before the patents expired, even if it was sold later. According to Genentech, Biogen has refused to pay royalties on any Tysabri sales since the patents expired more than four years ago. It said Biogen owes royalties for "most or all" of the Tysabri sold in "2019 and beyond," which it said was made with the patented technology before the patents expired. The case is Genentech Inc v. Biogen MA Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No.

☆ Glencore Subsidiary Sentenced, Ordered to Pay $30 Million to Medical Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dylan Tokar | Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A Glencore lawyer on Tuesday said the company now expects to pay as much as $1.5 billion in total penalties, up from the $1.2 billion it initially agreed to pay last year. Glencore faced several restitution claims after agreeing to its settlement last year, including from Petróleos Mexicanos SA de CV, or Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil company. The negotiated monetary penalty paid by the Glencore subsidiary is lower than what is called for under federal sentencing guidelines, a reflection of Glencore’s cooperation, Judge Schofield said at Tuesday’s sentencing. Glencore gave prosecutors more than a million documents, including from overseas, where prosecutors lack subpoena power, the judge said. The company also agreed to overhaul its compliance program and will be under an independent monitorship for three years, she said.

Companies Google Inc FollowAlphabet Inc FollowFeb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Justice Department lawyers say that Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) destroyed internal corporate communications and have asked a federal judge to sanction the company as part of the government's antitrust case over its search business. The DOJ's sanctions bid marks at least the second time in the case that the government has sought to punish Google. Last year, the DOJ alleged Google unfairly kept internal documents away from antitrust investigators, claiming they were protected by attorney-client privilege. The judge declined in April 2022 to sanction Google for conduct that occurred prior to the start of the litigation in 2020. The case is United States v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No.

Meta can still appeal the verdict to a higher court. Representatives for Meta and Voxer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Voxer said Facebook cut it off from key features of the social media platform in 2013 and misused its technology in Facebook Live and Instagram Live, which launched in 2015 and 2016. Meta asked the court to overturn the verdict or hold a new trial. The case is Voxer Inc v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No.

The case involves a group of consumers who contend Facebook exploited user data to maintain its market power. Representatives for Quinn Emanuel and Facebook declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Hagens Berman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Scarlett in recent court filings said Quinn Emanuel was not respecting her view as a leading antitrust attorney based on her gender. Quinn Emanuel denied the claim, saying it has "worked very hard to be cooperative with all counsel on the case, including female counsel." Donato started the appointment process from scratch in January amid quarreling between Seattle-based plaintiffs' firm Hagens Berman and 900-lawyer Quinn Emanuel.

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Home security provider Vivint Smart Home Inc (VVNT.N) owes rival CPI Security Systems Inc $189.7 million for tricking its customers into moving to Vivint's service, a North Carolina jury decided Friday. The federal jury in Charlotte found Vivint sales representatives unlawfully deceived CPI customers into signing contracts with Vivint by falsely claiming that Vivint had bought the company. CPI said its customers would then unknowingly sign "high-priced, multi-year" contracts that Vivint made "impossible for customers to cancel." It told the court it competed fairly with CPI and that CPI customers had switched to Vivint for legitimate reasons. The case is CPI Security Systems Inc v. Vivint Smart Home Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, No.

The Biden administration rule would protect wetlands and seasonal streams, not just permanent waterways like the rivers and lakes they feed into. Those smaller waterways were largely eliminated from protections by a Trump administration rule. The Biden administration signaled its intent to replace that rule in June 2021. The Trump-era rule had been vacated by an Arizona federal court in August 2021, which restored previous standards while the Biden administration worked on its changes. For the states: West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Solicitor General Lindsay See and Senior Deputy Solicitor General Michael WilliamsFor the EPA: Counsel not immediately availableOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] People pose with syringe with needle in front of displayed Moderna logo in this illustration taken, December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationFeb 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. government should face a patent lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccines, not vaccine maker Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), the Department of Justice told a Delaware federal court on Tuesday. Moderna made the same argument last year in an unsuccessful bid to win an early dismissal of the lawsuit. Both Moderna and Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) have been the target of multiple patent lawsuits over their COVID vaccines, including a lawsuit brought by Moderna against Pfizer in August. The case is Arbutus Biopharma Corp v. Moderna Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

Feb 9 (Reuters) - A unit of medical device maker Medtronic plc (MDT.N) must pay $106.5 million to competitor Colibri Heart Valve LLC for patent infringement, a Santa Ana, California federal jury said Wednesday. The jury concluded after a seven-day trial that Medtronic CoreValve LLC's Evolut devices violate a Colibri patent for replacing heart valves in patients with heart disease, representatives for the companies confirmed Thursday. A spokesperson for Medtronic said the Minneapolis-headquartered company strongly disagrees with the verdict and will appeal. It alleged doctors use Medtronic's devices in a way that infringes Colibri's patent, which covers a method for controlling the deployment of self-expanding artificial heart valves. The case is Colibri Heart Valve LLC v. Medtronic CoreValve LLC, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No.

Meta and Dfinity asked the court Monday to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be revived. Dfinity sued Meta last year, alleging the logo Meta adopted after changing its name from Facebook would cause confusion with Dfinity's infinity-symbol trademarks. Meta is still facing trademark lawsuits from virtual-reality company MetaX and investment firm Metacapital over its name change. The case is Dfinity Foundation v. Meta Platforms Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. For Dfinity: Dennis Ellis, Keith Wesley and Katherine Murray of Ellis George Cipollone O'Brien AnnagueyFor Meta: Bobby Ghajar and Angela Dunning of CooleyRead more:Meta hit with trademark lawsuit over new infinity-symbol logoMeta defeats trademark lawsuit over infinity-symbol logoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jacksonville, Florida-based ParkerVision sued Intel in Waco, Texas in 2020 for infringing several patents related to improved radio-frequency receivers. ParkerVision had said it pioneered the communications technology used in Intel's wireless chips in the mid-1990s. ParkerVision said Intel chips used in smartphones, including Apple's iPhone, infringe the patents. ParkerVision has also sued companies including Apple, Qualcomm and TCL for patent infringement over wireless chips and devices that use them. The ParkerVision case is ParkerVision Inc v. Intel Corp, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, No.

SummarySummary CompaniesCompanies Law firms Getty said Stability scraped millions of images without a licenseNew complaint adds to actions against Stability over images used in AI training(Reuters) - Stock photo provider Getty Images has sued artificial intelligence company Stability AI Inc, accusing it in a lawsuit made public on Monday of misusing more than 12 million Getty photos to train its Stable Diffusion AI image-generation system. Getty declined to comment on the Delaware lawsuit. London-based Stability AI released Stable Diffusion, an AI-based system for generating images from text inputs, and image generator DreamStudio last August. The lawsuit also accuses Stability of infringing Getty's trademarks, citing images generated by its AI system with Getty's watermark that Getty says could cause consumer confusion. The case is Getty Images (US) Inc v. Stability AI Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

Part of the clash included a Hagens Berman partner accusing Quinn Emanuel of discounting her views based on her gender. Quinn Emanuel denied the allegation, calling it a "mystery." The two law firms on Friday night submitted their pitches to Donato about why he should appoint them solely rather than jointly to lead the consumer class. A representative from Hagens Berman did not immediately comment, and a Quinn Emanuel spokesperson declined to comment. Hagens Berman and Quinn Emanuel have been on opposite sides in other cases.

Nanoco and Chicago-based litigation funding firm GLS Capital said in a release that the settlement, which includes a license agreement and the "transfer of certain patents," resolves litigation in the United States, Germany and China. Nanoco's quantum dots improve the backlighting of LED displays without the use of toxic heavy metals like cadmium. The Texas lawsuit said Samsung began incorporating Nanoco's technology into high-end QLED TVs launched in 2017. Third-party funding of lawsuits has becoming increasingly common in recent years, though details about specific investments are rarely publicized. The case is Nanoco Technologies Ltd v. Samsung Electronics Co, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, No.

Liss-Riordan and Twitter made a joint filing in San Francisco federal court on Thursday to update the court ahead of a hearing scheduled for Feb. 9. The workers claim Twitter refused to pay promised severance or give them the advance notice of mass layoffs required by law, which the company denies. In an interview on Friday, Liss-Riordan said Twitter is likely trying to delay the arbitration cases in hopes that some workers drop their claims. “This is just a stupid game that Twitter is trying to play,” she said. Liss-Riordan has filed three other lawsuits against Twitter stemming from the layoffs, including claims that the company targeted female employees and forced out workers with disabilities.

☆ Grocery consumers sue to block Kroger’s $25 bln buy of Albertsons
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Mike Scarcella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Kroger is the biggest grocer in the U.S. by revenue, and Albertsons is the second-largest supermarket chain. Nearly 5,000 grocery stores would be under one corporate umbrella if the deal, announced in October, goes through. A representative for Albertsons declined to comment on Friday, and a Kroger spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Kroger operates stores under banners including Harris Teeter, Pay Less and King Soopers. U.S. antitrust law lets private consumers sue over proposed mergers and acquisitions, apart from any enforcement action brought by a state or federal agency policing competition laws.

☆ Indonesia finds local trader forged ingredient label in probe of cough syrup deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Authorities have said two ingredients, ethylene glycol (EG) and diethyelene glycol (DEG), found in some syrup-based paracetamol medications are linked to acute kidney injury, which many of the children suffered. Pipit Rismanto, a senior police official, told reporters authorities have found that CV Samudera Chemical sold "industrial-grade" EG and DEG as pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol manufactured by Dow Chemical Thailand and supplied them to distributors of local drug-makers. Police have arrested and charged officials at Samudera and its distributor CV Anugrah Perdana Gemilang. Reuters could not immediately reach CV Samudera Chemical or its distributor for comment. Last week, The World Health Organization called for "immediate and concerted action" to protect children from contaminated medicines after about 300 deaths in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia linked to cough syrups last year.

The states filed a complaint in a federal court in Amarillo, Texas, on Thursday arguing that the rule finalized in November will lead many retirement plans to focus on a social agenda rather than long-term financial stability for investors. The rule, which takes effect on Monday, reverses restrictions on socially conscious investing that were adopted by the Trump administration. The states in Thursday's lawsuit said the new rule fails to justify the departure from Trump-era regulations, in violation of the federal law governing rulemaking. And, the states said, it violates the U.S. law that regulates employee benefit plans by failing to protect retirement assets. The case is Utah v. Walsh, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, No.

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