Intellectual Property Law

2215 ABA Journal Intellectual Property Law articles.

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

Intel Settles Patent Case With Chip Maker

Intel Corp. has agreed to pay a struggling chip maker $250 million for a license to its patents. The deal calls for Transmeta Corp. to license its existing patents and any obtained for the next 10 years, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req). The Recorder calls the patent battle…

Oct 25, 2007 12:54 PM CDT

Microsoft Bends Knee to EU Regulation

Bowing down to the authority of the European Union to regulate antitrust issues, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to end a nine-year court battle and share some of its intellectual property with competitors. The move may signal a new era of increased EU enforcement of antitrust rules against dominant companies, now…

Oct 22, 2007 8:33 PM CDT

Seyfarth Shaw Malpractice Defense Claims Catch-22 Similarities

Lawyers for Seyfarth Shaw claim in a dismissal motion that a $75 million malpractice suit is “distressingly similar to Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.” Seyfarth’s motion does not explain how the suit is like the Heller book, the Recorder reports. But it says “the allegations against Seyfarth [are] muddled, and, when…

Oct 22, 2007 12:19 PM CDT

Industry Pact Sets Video Clip Posting Rules

A coalition of Internet and mainstream media groups have agreed to a new system of preventing copyright violations concerning video clips posted on user-generated sites such as MySpace. Participating members will use special software to detect and block video postings on Internet sites that may violate copyright laws, reports the…

Oct 19, 2007 5:58 PM CDT

Fish & Richardson Sues Ex-Partner Over Patent Inventions

Fish & Richardson has fired one of its partners and filed a lawsuit against him after he invented a new method for online page turning and sold it to a patent troll. The troll then sued Google, a firm client, for infringement. The suit filed in Chicago claims ex-partner Scott…

Oct 19, 2007 1:21 PM CDT

Damages ‘Offensive’ in Music Piracy Case, Motion Says

The lawyer for a woman assessed $222,000 in damages for illegally sharing downloaded music contends in a motion for a new trial that the amount is constitutionally excessive. The judgment against Jammie Thomas for illegally sharing two dozen songs amounts to $9,250 for each recording. Her lawyer, Brian Toder of…

Oct 16, 2007 2:15 PM CDT

Law Firm Claims Right to Partner’s Invention

An intellectual property law firm is claiming it owns the patents on inventions by one of its partners. That’s the claim in a lawsuit against Google by a company that bought the right to the patents from a lawyer who worked for Fish & Richardson, the Recorder reports. The suit…

Oct 12, 2007 11:36 AM CDT

Mary J. Blige Infringement Suit Revived

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit by a songwriter who claims hip-hop soul singer Mary J. Blige stole two of her songs. Sharice Davis claims Blige’s songs “L.O.V.E.” and “Keep it Moving” infringe on her copyrights, the New York Law Journal reports. The songs were on Blige’s triple…

Oct 8, 2007 11:52 AM CDT

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