Other Barks & Bites for Friday, July 31: EU Customs Seizes 1.7 Million Goods on Joint Action Day; Grassley-Coons Anti-Counterfeiting Month Resolution Passes Senate; and More IPWatchPuppies Arrive!

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This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Seventh Circuit affirms the summary judgment dismissal of copyright and trade secret claims filed between coin-counting machine software competitors; The Chicago Tribune publishes an editorial urgently calling for the passage of the Protect College Sports Act; USPTO Deputy Commissioner of Patents Barry Schindler is promoted to the Acting Commissioner role by the agency; Germany rights management collective GEMA sees a favorable ruling in its copyright case against music AI company Suno; customs and borders officials in the EU seize 1.7 million counterfeit items totaling €17.4 million as part of EU cross-agency anti-counterfeiting efforts; a resolution sponsored by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Chris Coons (D-DE) establishing July as National Anti-Counterfeiting Month unanimously passes the U.S. Senate; and financial services company Circle claims a leading position in blockchain patent rights after acquiring a foundational portfolio from IBM.

Bites 

Grassley-Coons Anti-Counterfeiting Month Resolution Unanimously Passes Senate – On Thursday, July 30, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Chris Coons (D-DE), co-chairs of the Congressional Trademark Caucus, announced that the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating July as National Anti-Counterfeiting and Consumer Education and Awareness Month. The resolution, co-sponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), aims to raise American awareness on both the value of trademark rights as well as how those intellectual property rights function to protect Americans from dangerous counterfeit goods.

Seventh Circuit Affirms SJ Dismissing Copyright, Trade Secret Claims in Coin-Counting Software Case – On Thursday, July 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling in Arkeyo LLC v. Saggezza Inc. affirming summary judgment rulings by the Northern District of Illinois dismissing copyright and trade secret claims filed by software developer Arkeyo, which was challenging rival firm Saggezza’s coin-counting machine software created for UK-based Metro Bank as a replacement for Arkeyo’s own program. The Seventh Circuit agreed that Arkeyo had put forward no evidence of copying, dismissing Arkeyo’s argument under Bucklew v. Hawkins, Ash, Baptie & Co. (2003) that an inference of copying can be drawn from several arbitrary similarities, and that Arkeyo’s trade secret claims failed as to its source code, which was publicly available online, and the source code’s features, which were readily ascertainable to anyone using the program.

Chicago Tribune Editorial Calls for Passage of Protect College Sports Act – On Wednesday, July 29, The Chicago Tribune published an editorial supporting the Protect College Sports Act, landmark legislation with bipartisan support being spearheaded by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) that would create an exemption to U.S. antitrust law that would enable the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to establish caps to collegiate athlete compensation, agent fees and other economic considerations involved in name, image and likeness (NIL) rights. The editorial indicates that provisions within the Protect College Sports Act preventing collegiate conferences like the Big Ten or Southeastern Conference (SEC) from adding new members could be dropped from the final version of the bill as a bargaining chip that helps ensure enactment of bill before Congress enters its August recess.

Third Circuit Majority Upholds Trade Secret Misappropriation Verdict in Fudge Recipe Case – On Wednesday, July 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a ruling in Warman v. Local Yokels Fudge LLC affirming the Western District of Pennsylvania’s post-trial rulings granting attorney’s fees to defendant Local Yokels on objectively unreasonable pursuit of claims on trademarks fraudulently obtained and pursuit of copyright infringement claims without proper evidentiary support, but denying defendants’ post-trial motion on Warman’s trade secret claims because the Third Circuit majority found sufficient evidence showing that the asserted fudge recipe derives economic value from remaining secret. Dissenting from the panel majority was Circuit Judge Jane Richards Roth, who argued that the district court erroneously conflated the value of the recipe’s secrecy with the value of the recipe itself, faulting the appellate court for not providing enough guidance on analyzing whether plaintiffs have established the requisite independent economic value. 

EU Customs Officials Seize 1.7 Million Counterfeit Items During Joint Action Day – On Monday, July 27, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) announced that European border and customs officials seized a total of 1.7 million counterfeit items totalling €17.4 million in estimated value during Joint Action Day Pirates 4, the latest EU cross-agency policing effort designed to stem the flow of knockoff goods into the EU’s stream of commerce. Among the most seized items in this most recent anti-counterfeiting initiative included toys, clothing and perfume, with clothing in particular accounting for nearly 500,000 counterfeit items worth more than €9 million, the largest amount of counterfeit clothing being seized at the Kapitan Andreevo land border between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece.

UK Supreme Court Gives Tesla Another Shot at Avanci 5G Patent Pool Challenge – On Monday, July 27, the UK Supreme Court issued a ruling in Tesla, Inc. v. InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. reversing a ruling by the UK Court of Appeals which had upheld a trial court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by American automaker Tesla challenging the 5G-enabled vehicle patent pool license offered by Avanci on behalf of entities owning standard-essential patents (SEPs) covering 5G technologies practiced by vehicles sold in the UK. Applying reasoning from its landmark ruling in Unwired Planet v. Huawei (2020), the Supreme Court ruled that Tesla had a real prospect of success in showing that Avanci’s licensing fee, set without input from SEP owners and without Avanci making fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) declarations to the standard-setting organization (SSO), was the only license capable of satisfying FRAND obligations encumbrancing InterDigital and other SEP owners within the patent pool, and that no other appropriate forum existed to adjudicate Tesla’s claims, which the trial judge mischaracterized as involving global licensing claims rather than claims about licensing UK patents.

Barks

GEMA Sees Favorable Ruling from Munich Regional Court in Suno Copyright Case – On Friday, July 31, Germany’s Munich Regional Court issued a ruling finding that generative AI music platform Suno has violated copyright laws in both the U.S. and Germany by training its AI platform on copyrighted songs managed by GEMA, Germany’s music rights collective for musicians and composers.

USPTO Promotes Schindler to Acting Patent Commissioner – On Thursday, July 30, news reports indicated that U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires sent a memo informing employees that Barry Schindler had been promoted to serve as the agency’s Acting Commissioner of Patents, promoting Schindler from his current deputy role; the previous Acting Commissioner, Robin Evans, returns to her previous role as Deputy Commissioner of Patents. 

First Spanish CIGI Registered at EUIPO for Córdoba Jewelry – On Wednesday, July 29, the EUIPO announced that the name “Joyería de Córdoba” has been registered as a craft and industrial geographical indication (CIGI), the first Spanish CIGI registered at the agency, to cover certain types of jewelry constructed of gold, silver or platinum with pearl, stone or enamel finishes that are manufactured in the Spanish city of Córdoba.

EUIPO Publishes First EU Designs Represented by Video and 3D – On Tuesday, July 28, the EUIPO announced that it had published the first EU designs registered at the agency by video representation, granted to Lessmore GmbH to protect an animated graphical user interface for a mobile phone game, and by 3D representation, granted to Arranged BV to protect a dice tray with mobile phone holder.

Circle Claims Leadership in Blockchain IP With IBM Patent Acquisition – On Monday, July 27, online financial platform company Circle announced that it had acquired a portfolio of 680 patent families and nearly 1,000 patents issued worldwide covering foundational blockchain technologies, with the company claiming that the acquisition makes it the U.S. leader in blockchain patent holdings.

Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Trademark Claims, Refusal to Pierce Corporate Veil – On Monday, July 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion in Magee v. Varsity Brands Holding Co., Inc. affirming the Northern District of Texas’ dismissal of trademark infringement claims and refusal to pierce the corporate veil, the appellate court ruling that Magee failed to identify error in the district court’s finding that allegations of fraud related to infringement of the “HOOPLIFE” mark were conclusory.

This Week on Wall Street

GSK Announces Three-Year Restructuring Plan Ahead of Looming Patent Cliff – On Tuesday, July 28, British drugmaker GSK reported earnings for the second quarter of 2026, with the company’s earnings report revealing a three-year restructuring plan designed to save about $2.5 billion per year to address financial headwinds presented by upcoming patent expirations for dolutegravir, which is a component of several HIV treatments marketed by the company.

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2025 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2025 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: ON Semiconductor Corp. (t-255th); Palantir Technologies Inc. (t-295th); Whirlpool Corp. (t-217th)
• Tuesday: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (93rd); Amgen Inc. (293rd); Caterpillar Inc. (100th); Smith & Nephew plc (t-231st); Zebra Technologies Corp. (t-213th)
• Wednesday: GlobalFoundries Inc. (190th); Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (32nd); Western Digital Corp. (60th)
• Thursday: None
• Friday: None