DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

April 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court handed Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) a win on Tuesday, affirming a decision to cancel an Arbutus Biopharma Corp (ABUS.O) patent related to the companies' legal fight over Moderna's blockbuster COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal's ruling that the patent for Arbutus' lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology was invalid based on an earlier Arbutus patent that disclosed the same invention. Moderna challenged the patent at the PTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board in 2018, and the board invalidated it in 2019. Arbutus separately sued Pfizer and BioNTech for patent infringement last week over their COVID-19 shots, in a lawsuit that also does not include the canceled patent. The Federal Circuit case is Arbutus Biopharma Corp v. ModernaTX Inc, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No.

April 5 (Reuters) - Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc sued fast-casual dining rival Sweetgreen Inc in California federal court Tuesday, claiming the salad chain's new "Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl" violates its trademark rights. Chipotle's lawsuit said Sweetgreen's "very similar and directly competitive" bowl is an attempt to capitalize on the Chipotle brand and likely to confuse consumers. Chipotle said it suggested changing the name to something that uses "chipotle in lower-case, in a textual sentence, to accurately describe ingredients of its menu item," like a "chicken bowl with chipotle." Chipotle asked the court for an order blocking Sweetgreen from using the "Chipotle" name and an unspecified amount of money damages. The case is Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc v. Sweetgreen Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, No.

April 4 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) lost a bid to register part of a federal trademark for "Apple Music" on Tuesday after a U.S. appeals court ruled for a jazz musician who challenged the tech giant's application. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Apple's argument that it had priority over trumpeter Charlie Bertini's "Apple Jazz" trademark rights based on its ownership of an earlier trademark from the Beatles' music label Apple Corps Ltd. The court allowed Bertini to block Apple's bid for a federal Apple Music trademark covering live performances, one of several trademark uses Apple sought to secure. Apple launched its streaming service in 2015 and applied the same year for a federal "Apple Music" trademark covering several categories of music and entertainment services. It said Apple could not "tack" its trademark rights for live performances to the Apple Corps trademark for sound recordings, a different category of goods.

Companies Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co Follow(Reuters) - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT.O) convinced an Ohio federal judge on Friday to throw out a $64 million jury verdict over its alleged theft of trade secrets related to self-inflating tires. A jury decided last year that Goodyear misappropriated five of the 12 trade secrets Coda accused it of misusing. But Lioi said Friday that four of the five secrets – related to Coda's design, development and placement of self-inflating tire pumps – were not specific enough to be considered protectable trade secrets. Lioi said Coda's fifth alleged secret, related to developing a functional self-inflating tire, was "no secret at all" because the concept was not new in 2009. The case is Coda Development SRO v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, No.

Kashtanova received a copyright in September, and declared on social media that it meant artists were entitled to legal protection for their AI art projects. Copyright Office suddenly reversed itself, and Kashtanova became the first person in the country to be stripped of legal protection for AI art. A spokesperson for the copyright office declined to comment. Copyright Office, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court and has a patent case before the U.K. Supreme Court. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton 1 2 3 4Meanwhile, many artists and companies that own creative content fiercely oppose granting copyrights to AI owners or users.

March 31 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Friday convinced a U.S. appeals court to throw out a $502 million verdict for patent licensing company VirnetX Inc (VHC.N) in a long-running fight over internet privacy technology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the verdict could not stand after the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board canceled the virtual private network (VPN) patents VirnetX accused Apple of infringing. The ruling follows the Federal Circuit's Thursday decision to affirm a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal's finding that the patents were invalid. Apple and VirnetX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. An East Texas jury awarded VirnetX $502 million in 2020 after finding Apple infringed the patents at issue in the Federal Circuit cases.

March 30 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) convinced a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to uphold a patent tribunal's ruling that could imperil a $502 million verdict for patent licensing company VirnetX Inc in the companies' long-running fight over privacy-software technology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that invalidated the two patents VirnetX had accused Apple of infringing. An East Texas jury awarded VirnetX $502 million in 2020 after deciding that Apple infringed the virtual private network (VPN) patents at issue in Thursday's decision. Apple has separately appealed the verdict itself, but the Federal Circuit has yet to rule in that case. "If the court upholds the [USPTO's] decision, we have a big problem," VirnetX attorney Jeff Lamken of MoloLamken said at the September hearing.

Such "skinny labels" typically allow generic drugmakers to launch their products earlier while avoiding liability for infringing brand-name drugmakers' patents. GSK sued Teva for patent infringement in Delaware federal court in 2014 over its generic version of Coreg. In its petition to the Supreme Court last year, Teva said the ruling would cause "havoc" for skinny labels, which it said are "extraordinarily common" and "save patients and the federal government billions." GSK countered that the case does not threaten generic drugmakers that "operate properly under the law." The Biden Administration backed Teva on Wednesday, arguing generic drugmakers should be entitled to rely on the FDA's carve-out instructions, which are based on brand-name drugmakers' own statements to the agency.

Trademark Office to reject a Black Lives Matter application for a trademark featuring three parallel stripes. "Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's trademark application as soon as possible," the company said in a statement. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is the most prominent entity in the decentralized Black Lives Matter movement, which arose a decade ago in protest against police violence against Black people. Representatives of the Black Lives Matter group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A jury in that case decided in January that Thom Browne's stripe patterns did not violate Adidas' trademark rights.

Trademark Office to reject an application for a Black Lives Matter trademark featuring three parallel stripes, arguing it could mislead the public. Adidas told the office in a Monday filing that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc's yellow-stripe design would create confusion with its own famous three-stripe mark. Representatives for the Black Lives Matter group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is the most prominent entity in the decentralized Black Lives Matter movement, which arose a decade ago to protest police violence against Black people. The Trademark Office gave the Black Lives Matter group until May 6 to answer.

REUTERS/Stefan WermuthMarch 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organization Internet Archive infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of their books. The San Francisco-based non-profit over the past decade has scanned millions of print books and lent out the digital copies for free. But Koeltl said there was nothing "transformative" about Internet Archive's digital book copies that would warrant "fair use" protection, as its e-books merely replaced the authorized copies publishers themselves license to traditional libraries. "Although IA has the right to lend print books it lawfully acquired, it does not have the right to scan those books and lend the digital copies en masse," he wrote. Internet Archive promised an appeal, saying the ruling "holds back access to information in the digital age, harming all readers, everywhere."

REUTERS/Stefan WermuthMarch 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organization Internet Archive had infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of the books. The San Francisco-based non-profit over the past decade has scanned millions of print books and lent out the resulted digital copies for free. But Koeltl said there was nothing "transformative" about the Internet Archive's digital book copies that would warrant "fair use" protection, as its ebooks merely replaced the authorized copies publishers themselves license traditional libraries. "Although IA has the right to lend print books it lawfully acquired, it does not have the right to scan those books and lend the digital copies en masse," he wrote. The Internet Archive in a statement promised an appeal, saying the ruling "holds back access to information in the digital age, harming all readers, everywhere."

March 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Tuesday it would ban imports of SharkNinja Operating LLC robot vacuums that infringe a patent owned by Roomba maker iRobot Corp (IRBT.O). The full commission upheld part of a trade judge's October decision that SharkNinja violated two of its rival's patents, affirming that SharkNinja's devices mimicked iRobot navigation technology. Bedford, Massachusetts-based iRobot filed the ITC complaint in 2021 along with a lawsuit against SharkNinja in Boston federal court. Another patent lawsuit iRobot brought against SharkNinja in 2019 has also been paused during related proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The ITC case is In the Matter of Certain Robotic Floor Cleaning Devices and Components Thereof, U.S. International Trade Commission, No.

Some companies have expressed concern that a ruling against Jack Daniel's would weaken their control over their brands and reputations. The toy mimics Lynchburg, Tennessee-based Jack Daniel's famous whiskey bottles with humorous dog-themed alterations - replacing "Old No. "Jack Daniel's loves dogs and appreciates a good joke as much as anyone," the company told the justices in a brief. "But Jack Daniel's likes its customers even more, and doesn't want them confused or associating its fine whiskey with dog poop." VIP Products has said a ruling favoring Jack Daniel's would make it easier for trademark owners to stifle free speech.

March 17 (Reuters) - A computer scientist who has waged a global campaign for patents covering inventions conceived by his artificial intelligence system asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to hear his case. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a Virginia federal court rejected patent applications for the inventions on the grounds that DABUS is not a person. Thaler has also applied for DABUS patents in other countries, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and Saudi Arabia. The UK's Supreme Court heard his case there earlier this month. The case is Thaler v. Vidal, U.S. Supreme Court.

Copyright Office issued new guidance on Wednesday to clarify when artistic works created with the help of artificial intelligence are copyright eligible. "The answer will depend on the circumstances, particularly how the AI tool operates and how it was used to create the final work," the office said. Generative AI systems like Midjourney, ChatGPT and DALL-E, which create text and images in response to human instructions, have recently skyrocketed in popularity. The office reiterated Wednesday that copyright protection depends on the amount of human creativity involved, and that the most popular AI systems likely do not create copyrightable work. The office also said that copyright applicants must disclose when their work includes AI-created material, and that previously filed applications that do not disclose AI's role must be corrected.

March 13 (Reuters) - Dish Network LLC (DISH.O) must pay $469 million for infringing two patents held by parental-control technology maker ClearPlay Inc related to filtering material from streaming video, a jury in U.S. federal court in Utah has decided. While jurors found that Dish's technology violated ClearPlay's patent rights, they rejected ClearPlay's contention that Dish copied its technology intentionally. Salt Lake City-based ClearPlay's technology lets users filter out adult content like sex, violence and drug use from DVDs and streaming video. Englewood, Colorado-based Dish said that AutoHop works differently from ClearPlay's patented technology. The case is ClearPlay Inc v. Dish Network LLC, U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, No.

Apple, Google, Cisco, Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW.N) sued the PTO in the California federal court in 2020 over the rule. They argued it undermined the role inter partes review plays in "protecting a strong patent system" and violated federal law. Companies including Tesla, Honda, Comcast and Dell filed briefs at the Federal Circuit in support of the plaintiffs. The California court dismissed the case in 2021, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions on whether to review inter partes review petitions cannot be appealed. The case is Apple Inc v. Vidal, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No.

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.

In a 2021 complaint filed with the ITC, Dish and its Sling TV unit accused Peloton and iFit of infringing four patents for video-streaming technology through imports of products that stream at-home fitness content. President Joe Biden's administration has 60 days to review the import ban before it takes effect, though presidents rarely reverse such actions. Cheney found that the Peloton, Lululemon and iFit streaming-capable products infringed patents related to Dish's Hopper set-top boxes. Dish said its patents covered adaptive bitrate streaming technology that lets users stream content from around the world in real time "at the highest possible quality". The technology was developed by Move Networks Inc and was acquired by Dish in 2012, according to court papers.

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.

Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ruling that "gruyere" can legally be used to describe cheese regardless of where it was made. The USPTO rejected a bid by two groups representing cheese producers from Switzerland and France for a mark that would restrict the use of "gruyere" to cheese from Gruyère itself. Gruyere cheese, "widely considered among the greatest of all cheeses," was first made in the Swiss district of La Gruyère in 1115, the court said. Switzerland's Interprofession du Gruyère and France's Syndicat Interprofessionnel du Gruyère asked the USPTO in 2015 to certify that gruyere cheese only comes from the Gruyère region. Circuit Court of Appeals, No.

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.

Feb 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court ordered Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc (JAZZP.UL) on Friday to de-list a patent related to its blockbuster narcolepsy drug Xyrem from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's register of approved medications, in a win for rival drugmaker Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals Inc. The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit removes an obstacle for Avadel to sell its own narcolepsy drug Lumryz. Avadel stock was up 4.2% Friday afternoon following the ruling, and Jazz stock was down 1.4%. Jazz sued Avadel for infringing the patent and others in Delaware federal court in 2021, in a lawsuit that is still ongoing. The case is Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc v. Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals LLC, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No.

Search resuls for: "Blake Brittain Reports On Intellectual Property Law"

25 mentions found