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Patent Law

587 ABA Journal Patent Law articles.

Meet Lawsuit Barbie: She’s been busy at Barbie’s courthouse

Barbie has been living in the real world for a long time. Because of the doll’s colossal success since its introduction in 1959, countless lawsuits have gone through the courts as the doll’s maker has sought to enforce its rights and protect her image.

Jul 25, 2023 9:36 AM CDT

Retired patent attorney who helped nab ‘Golden State Killer’ recounts her remarkable journey

In September 1998, a landscape worker clearing brush near I-85 in Mebane, North Carolina, came upon the skeletal remains of an unidentified child under a towering Howard Johnson’s sign. Despite law enforcement efforts, the youth remained nameless for two decades. He was simply known as “the Boy Under the Billboard.”

Apr 4, 2023 9:43 AM CDT

The CHIPS Act could complicate things for lawyers with clients in China or Taiwan

One potential side effect of the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 includes amped-up patent litigation as the shift to manufacturing microchips domestically makes them further subject to U.S. intellectual property law.

Apr 1, 2023 3:00 AM CDT

Federal judge bans potentially inflammatory words, such as ‘yahoos’ and ‘fake news’

Lawyers in a case in the Eastern District of Texas can’t refer to jurors, the court or the jury pool as “yahoos” or by other similar, derogatory references, according to a motion granted by a federal judge last month.

Jan 30, 2023 3:03 PM CST

Weekly Briefs: Same-sex marriage bill sent to Biden; lawyer pleads guilty after swinging belt caught on video

Bill protecting gay marriage is sent to Biden The U.S. House of Representatives approved a marriage equality bill Thursday that requires states and the federal government to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages that were legal in the states where they were performed. The Respect for Marriage Act, as the bill…

Dec 9, 2022 2:42 PM CST

Corporate owners knew little about patents they got free of charge and the litigation that followed, judge finds

A federal judge in Delaware is explaining why he ordered patent holding company Nimitz Technologies to produce records showing how it came to own a patent at issue in four cases before him.

Dec 5, 2022 2:53 PM CST

Weekly Briefs: Biden can’t grant student-debt relief, judge says; $32.3M malpractice award left in place

Judge strikes down student-debt relief U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of Fort Worth, Texas, ruled Thursday that the Biden administration’s plan to forgive some federal student-loan debt was an unconstitutional exercise of legislative power. “In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a…

Nov 11, 2022 3:14 PM CST

Health justice lawyer is among 25 recipients of MacArthur ‘genius grants’

A lawyer who is trying to increase access to lifesaving medications by changing the patent system is one of 25 recipients of the MacArthur Foundation fellowships, commonly known as "genius grants."

Oct 14, 2022 3:45 PM CDT

Dentons’ $32.3M malpractice loss remains intact after top Ohio court declines to hear case

Updated: The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear Dentons’ appeal of a malpractice verdict requiring it to pay $32.3 million to a former corporate client that had to find new lawyers after the law firm was tossed from a patent case.

Aug 31, 2022 10:12 AM CDT

ABA supports use of ‘Kessler doctrine’ to discourage patent trolls

In 1907, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Kessler v. Eldred that after Eldred unsuccessfully sued Kessler for infringing his patent for an electrical cigar lighter, he couldn’t sue Kessler’s customers or Kessler, who intervened on their behalf, for infringing his patent on the same product.

Aug 8, 2022 6:42 PM CDT

AI system can’t be an inventor under US patent law, Federal Circuit rules

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that an artificial intelligence system can’t get a patent for two of its new inventions—a food container and a light beacon.

Aug 8, 2022 11:00 AM CDT

Federal judge sitting atop mound of patent litigation loses perch with equitable-distribution order

A federal judge in Waco, Texas, who hears nearly 25% of the nation’s patent cases will see his intellectual-property docket shrink as a result of a new order on case distribution.

Jul 27, 2022 12:26 PM CDT

Dentons loses appeal to overturn $32.3M malpractice judgment; verein conflict at issue

An Ohio appeals court has upheld a $32.3 million malpractice award to a former Dentons client that says it had to scramble to find new lawyers after the law firm was booted from its case.

Apr 29, 2022 10:27 AM CDT

Lawyer is accused of climbing down wall, entering Capitol during Jan. 6 riot

An Indianapolis patent and trademark attorney has been charged with entering the U.S. Capitol and engaging in disorderly conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Mar 14, 2022 12:58 PM CDT

Author metadata ‘is not a smoking gun’ indicating my opinions were ghostwritten, federal judge says

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has refused to recuse herself in a trade secrets case after a party claimed that author metadata indicated that her opinions may have been ghostwritten.

Feb 15, 2022 8:36 AM CST

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Federal prosecutor who resigned amid immigration crackdown joins journalist Don Lemon’s defense team

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