Other Barks & Bites for Friday, November 21: WALLSTREETBETS SCOTUS Petition Distributed for Conference; Chinese Commerce Officials Slam USPTO Transparency Rules; and FTC Antitrust Campaign Against Meta Fizzles at D.C. District Court

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This week in Other Barks & Bites: the EU General Court dismisses Amazon’s challenge to its designation as a “very large online platform” under the Digital Services Act; an IFI CLAIMS study shows that 99 companies on the S&P 100 own patents; the Inventors Defense Alliance tells the House Judiciary Committee that the Litigation Transparency Act will weaken the legal interests of small patent owning companies; China’s Ministry of Commerce vows strong action in the face of USPTO transparency rules impacting foreign patent applicants; Judge Boasberg rules that the FTC failed to show that Meta’s purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp allowed Meta to enjoy monopoly power; the USPTO announces a new patent quality initiative focused on examination areas showing high statistical deviation; and Jamie Rogozinski files a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to find that he is the rightful owner of WALLSTREETBETS trademark rights to the r/wallstreetbets subreddit on Reddit.

Bites

EU General Court Dismisses Amazon’s Challenge to DSA Platform Designation – On Wednesday, November 19, the General Court of the European Union issued a ruling dismissing an action filed by American e-commerce giant Amazon.com challenging the EU Commission’s designation of Amazon as a “very large online platform” under the terms of the Digital Services Act, which imposes obligations on such platforms having over 45 million users within the EU. Disagreeing with Amazon’s contentions that the DSA’s transparency and data access mandates violated the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, the EU General Court held that the significant financial burden for designated platforms is justified by the systemic risks posed by such platforms to society and that other obligations pursued legitimate objectives of consumer protection.

Chinese Ministry of Commerce Says USPTO Transparency Rules Violate Obligations – On Tuesday, November 18, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued a press release vowing strong actions in the face of recent changes at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revising rules around reviewing patent applications filed by foreign companies, which Chinese officials believe have been promulgated under the pretext of “national security” in violation of international obligations under foreign IP treaties like the TRIPS Agreement. MOFCOM’s press release indicated that the Chinese government will take action to “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”

Judge Boasberg Order Fizzles FTC’s Antitrust Campaign Against Meta – On Tuesday, November 18, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted judgment to Meta Platforms on antitrust claims pursued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over Meta’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp, which the U.S. federal trade regulator alleged created a monopoly in personal social networking apps in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Judge Boasberg’s opinion noted the rapid rate of change in the personal social networking market in the five years since the FTC first brought its antitrust enforcement action, including increased competition from new market entrants TikTok and YouTube, in determining that the FTC did not meet its burden of showing that Meta enjoyed monopoly power as a result of its acquisitions of then-nascent competitors.

IFI CLAIMS Study Shows All But One S&P 100 Company Owns Active Patents – On Tuesday, November 18, global patent database IFI CLAIMS published a study into global patent assets owned by companies listed on the S&P 100 stock index showing that all but one company listed in the index owned active patent families, with major increases in patent filing activities between 2024 and 2025 being seen at non-traditional tech companies like Nike (19% increase), Starbucks (94% increase) and Walmart (38% increase). The study also identifies a growing trend of higher patent filing levels among banking institutions like Bank of America (38% increase), Capital One (69% increase), Wells Fargo (40% increase) and JPMorgan Chase (84% increase).

Rogozinski Brings WALLSTREETBETS Trademark Battle to SCOTUS – On Tuesday, November 18, a petition for writ of certiorari filed by WALLSTREETBETS subreddit creator Jaime Rogozinski was distributed for conference among the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, which would review the Ninth Circuit’s ruling that Rogozinski failed to adequately plead ownership of his alleged trademark because Reddit created and provided the services enabling users to contribute to the discussion on r/wallstreetbets. In his petition, Rogozinski argues that he is the source of WALLSTREETBETS instead of Reddit, which serves as a distributor of a brand that he created akin to companies that distribute branded products made by manufacturers, and that the Ninth Circuit’s ruling conflicts with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides safe harbor from liability for tech platforms by establishing that such platforms are not publishers of third-party content.

Inventors Defense Alliance Opposes Litigation Transparency Act as Rep. Issa Expands Disclosures – On Monday, November 17, the Inventors Defense Alliance sent a letter addressed to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary expressing strong opposition to H.R. 1109, the Litigation Transparency Act, which would impose obligations on plaintiffs in patent enforcement actions to disclose confidential information about business relationships and litigation financing partners that the inventors advocacy organization argues would deter lawsuits over fears of retaliation by large companies. This letter was sent a day before the bill was included in a House Judiciary Committee markup session, which also included an amendment in the nature of a substitute submitted by Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) that increases the financial disclosures under the proposed bill to any portions of settlements, judgments, or attorney’s fees awards from a group of civil actions of which the current action is a part.

Barks

USPTO Quality Initiative to Focus on Examination Areas Showing Statistical Deviation – On Friday, November 21, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was launching a data-driven quality initiative that will prioritize examination areas showing the greatest levels of statistical deviation in issuing patents in order to identify areas where patent applicants might be facing examination practices that diverge from established norms.

Warner Music Announces AI Music Generator as Part of Udio Copyright Settlement – On Wednesday, November 19, music publisher Warner Music Group announced that it had settled a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against generative AI company Udio and entered into an agreement with that company to develop a subscription-based music generation service to establish new revenue streams based on songwriters’ works.

Digital Library Operator Files Trademark Suit Against OpenAI’s Sora – On Wednesday, November 19, online digital library operator OverDrive filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Ohio against generative AI developer OpenAI over that company’s recently launched Sora text-to-video generation app, which OverDrive alleges is damaging the integrity of its trademark rights in its own SORA-branded app for K-12 educational materials. 

INTA Elects New President, Passes Resolutions on Well-Known Marks and Free Riding – On Tuesday, November 18, the International Trademark Association (INTA) announced the election of Deborah Hampton, Global Brand Enforcement and Trademark Leader at The Chemours Company, to serve INTA as President for a one-year term beginning January 1. The following day, INTA’s Board of Directors adopted several resolutions updating frameworks for well-known marks protection and addressing unfair competition through free riding, among other advocacy issues.

Fourth Circuit Finds Insurance Company Plausibly Alleged Trade Secret Claims – On Tuesday, November 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling in Samuel Sherbrooke Corporate, Ltd. v. Mayer reversing the Eastern District of North Carolina’s dismissal of trade secret claims filed by insurance company Sherbrooke, finding that Sherbrooke plausibly alleged trade secret claims under the Defend Trade Secrets Act by taking reasonable measures through confidentiality agreements to secure proprietary medical records analysis software misappropriated by former employees.

Whirlpool Files Section 337 Complaint Against Samsung, LG Microwaves – On Tuesday, November 18, American home appliance manufacturer Whirlpool Corporation filed a Section 337 complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) alleging claims of patent infringement committed by the sale of microwaves imported into the U.S. by South Korean electronics conglomerates Samsung and LG.

This Week on Wall Street

Nvidia Gives Strong Sales Guidance Following Record Revenue in Q3 – On Wednesday, November 19, chipmaker Nvidia Corporation reported earnings for the third quarter of 2025 in which it posted record revenues of $57 billion, a 62% increase over the same period in 2024, thanks in large part to improved sales for the company’s graphics processing units (GPUs) for generative AI and cloud applications.

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2024 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2023 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (t-211th)
• Tuesday: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (t-281st); Analog Devices, Inc. (204th); Dell Technologies (15th); HP Inc. (84th)
• Wednesday: None
• Thursday: None
• Friday: None