Other Barks & Bites for Friday, May 29: CNN Files IP Infringement Suit Against Perplexity; EU Fines Temu €200 Million for DSA Violations; and Bipartisan Agreement Struck on New Collegiate NIL Bill

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This week on Other Barks & Bites: Circuit Judge Prost dissents from a Federal Circuit panel majority that found the statute of limitations had run out in Insulet’s trade secret case against EOFlow; the Copyright Office proposes amendments to the group registration option for frequently updated news websites; a bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators announce a new bill representing an agreement struck on name, image and likeness (NIL) rights for college athletes; the European Commission fines Temu €200 million for significant deficiencies in the company’s reporting of consumer safety concerns posed by fake goods on its platform; Wix cites the evolution of AI in announcing a 20% reduction to its workforce; CNN files a copyright and trademark suit against Perplexity for unauthorized usage of its online content in responding to user queries; and Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya is appointed to serve as WIPO’s Ambassador for Fashion & Design.

Bites

USPTO Announces “Applicant ‘Pre-Docketing Notice’” Pilot – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced on Friday, May 29, that a a new pilot program “designed to support informed decision making by patent applicants” will send an informational “Pre-Docketing Notice” in pending utility nonprovisional patent applications. The notice will be sent “approximately three months before the date when the application is expected to be docketed to an examiner for substantive examination, thus providing greater transparency into application status and examination timing.”

Prost Dissents from CAFC Majority on Trade Secret Statute of Limitations – On Thursday, May 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential ruling in Insulet Corp. v. EOFlow, Inc. in which the CAFC panel majority reversed the District of Massachusetts’ denial of judgment as a matter of law to EOFlow after finding that the six-year statute of limitations for bringing trade secret claims to U.S. district court had lapsed. The majority ruled that the statute began running at the time when Insulet had sufficient knowledge to state a claim for misappropriation rather than the date at which Insulet had sufficient proof of misappropriation. Dissenting from the panel majority was Circuit Judge Sharon Prost, who argued that the majority’s ruling erred in several regards, including conflating the discovery rule with the inquiry-notice standard in a way that wrongfully prevented Insulet from bringing its trade secret claim.

Latest AI Copyright Lawsuit Filed by CNN Against Perplexity – On Thursday, May 28, television broadcaster Cable News Network (CNN) filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against generative artificial intelligence (AI) company Perplexity, alleging claims of copyright and trademark infringement caused by Perplexity’s answer engine, which provides questions to answers submitted by users by accessing content from CNN and other sources and summarizing that content. CNN’s lawsuit includes separate counts for copyright infringement by Perplexity’s acquisition of copyrighted works to create generative AI inputs, copyright infringement by generation of outputs, as well as false designation of origin and dilution of CNN’s trademarks by falsely claiming users can lawfully access CNN websites and creating hallucinations that misleadingly omit or change news material.

Copyright Office Proposes Amending Frequently Updated News Website Registrations – On Thursday, May 28, the U.S. Copyright Office announced that it was proposing amendments to its group registration option for frequently updated news websites, which was first established in May 2026, that would allow for deposits composed of material identifying sufficient portions of works rather than a website’s complete contents. The amendments would also clarify the definition of “news website” creating works eligible for this registration option to reflect that such websites need only report on a variety of subjects, with the primary function of reporting on current events, and the news content must be updated frequently.

EU Commission Levies €200M Fine Against Temu Under DSA for Illegal Goods – On Wednesday, May 27, the European Commission announced that it had issued a €200 million fine against Chinese e-commerce company Temu for failing to diligently identify and assess the systemic risks of illegal goods sold across its platforms and the harms that could result from those products to consumers in the EU. Designated as a Very Large Online Platform under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), Temu failed to provide the EU with a diligent assessment of the consumer impacts of its own online platform and seriously underestimating the very high percentage of goods that failed basic product safety tests, with the EU giving Temu until August 28 of this year submit an action plan that remedies its risk assessment failures as required under Article 75 of the DSA.

Bipartisan Protect College Sports Act Introduced to Regulate Athlete NIL Rights – On Wednesday, May 27, a bipartisan coalition of U.S. Senators including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), respectively the Chair and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, announced that either side had struck an agreement leading to the introduction of the Protect College Sports Act of 2026. If enacted, the bill as originally drafted would establish name, image and likeness (NIL) rights for collegiate athletes while requiring disclosures of compensation over $600, establish caps for revenue sharing agreements and agent fees, and guarantee students one transfer without losing NIL eligibility.

CAFC Reverses JMOL Denial of Unjust Enrichment Damages in Trade Secret Case – On Friday, May 22, the Federal Circuit issued a ruling in Versata Software, LLC v. Ford Motor Co. vacating the Eastern District of Michigan’s ruling on judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) reducing Versata’s trade secret damages to $0 and remanding for a new trial after finding that the lower court erred in excluding the availability of unjust enrichment damages for trade secret misappropriation. The appellate court found that the jury properly relied on a damages basis established by the licensing history between the two parties and remanded the case for a new trial on trade secret damages, ordering the lower court to consider damages models it previously rejected because they were not based upon the licensing history between the parties.

Barks

Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari Named WIPO’s Ambassador for Fashion and Design – On Thursday, May 28, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that Thailand’s Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya has been appointed to serve as WIPO’s Ambassador for Fashion and Design in honor of her contributions to the fashion industry, which include more than 500 IP assets obtained over her career including trademarks for branded jewelry and leather goods registered in 34 countries.

NASA Announces Moon Base 1 Launch Slated for Fall 2026 – On Tuesday, May 26, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced the first three missions to establish a Moon Base, with the first launch of NASA payloads via Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1, including critical equipment for future crewed Artemis landing missions, to take place by Fall 2026.

EUIPO Registers First Portuguese Craft GI for Embroidered Handkerchiefs – On Tuesday, May 26, the European Union Intellectual Property Office announced that it had registered “Lenços de Namorados do Minho” as a craft geographical indication (GI) to protect traditional embroidered handkerchiefs that originated from folk cultures in northern Portugal.

Taylor Swift Files MTD Arguing Vegas Performer Attempting to Associate Herself With Swift’s Brand – On Tuesday, May 26, counsel for American pop star Taylor Swift filed a motion to dismiss trademark infringement claims asserted by Vegas performer and podcaster Maren Flagg, arguing that Flagg has been improperly attempting to make unauthorized uses of Swift’s intellectual property in order to create an association with Swift and her Life of a Showgirl tour.

Judge Blumenfeld Nixes MiniMax’s MTD in Hailou AI Infringement Case – On Friday, May 22, U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr. filed an order denying motions to dismiss from Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm MiniMax, allowing copyright infringement claims asserted by major movie studios Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal to proceed against MiniMax over images and videos generated by MiniMax’s Hailou generative AI system.

Ninth Circuit Affirms Injunctive Relief in Taiwanese Tea Jelly Trademark Case – On Friday, May 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion in Fang v. Hechalou US, LLC affirming the Central District of California’s grant of preliminary injunction in a trademark case brought by the Taiwanese tea chain HeChaLou, who markets a well-known and internationally expanding line of tea jellies, against a series of former licensees located in Southern California.

This Week on Wall Street

Wix Cites AI Evolution, Exchange Rates in Announcing 20% Workforce Reduction – On Thursday, May 28, Israeli website building company Wix announced that it would be laying off about 20% of its entire workforce, with company CEO Avishai Abrahami citing the rapid evolution of AI capabilities along with difficulties posed by current exchange rates as reasons for the decision in a social media post on X.

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: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (105th)
• Tuesday: None
• Wednesday: Broadcom Inc. (88th); Medtronic plc (27th)
• Thursday: None
• Friday: None