Posts Tagged: "IP News"

This week in Washington IP news, the Senate remains largely quiet as it enters a scheduled state work period on the 2021 legislative schedule. However, the House of Representatives has several hearings scheduled related to R&D, including a legislative markup hearing by the House Energy Subcommittee focusing on a pair of bills involving efforts to support clean energy research and a House Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing on addressing gaps in broadband Internet equity for rural and tribal communities. Elsewhere, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation hosts events this week exploring recent EU calls for global AI regulation as well as increased focus by antitrust regulators on so-called “killer acquisitions.”

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the full Senate Judiciary Committee approves the IDEA Act, moving it towards a Senate floor vote; China’s IP administration issues statistics purporting to show that the country leads in global patent applications for 6G networking technologies; the Federal Circuit affirms an ITC ruling against Bio-Rad over that company’s arguments that it was a co-inventor of patents asserted by 10X Genomics; AG Pitruzzella tells the CJEU that PDO products should be protected against all forms of commercial parasitism; the European Commission increases antitrust pressure against Apple for abusing its market-dominant position in app stores; the Copyright Office issues an NPRM for expediting copyright registrations for works involved in claims or counterclaims in front of the Copyright Claims Board; and Brazil’s Senate passes a bill setting a framework for COVID-19 patent waivers for consideration by the lower house of Brazil’s Congress.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit announces that Judge Moore will move into the role of Chief Judge for the appellate court this May; the Ninth Circuit revives a case including claims of reverse trademark infringement against Dropbox; HPE, Facebook and Microsoft announce a Low-Carbon Patent Pledge to increase innovator access to patented climate change mitigation technologies; the App Association issues a press release supporting the Department of Justice’s apparent restoration of Obama-era interpretations of FRAND policy for SEP licensing; Ericsson earnings show that the company’s increasing 5G infrastructure sales are helping offset lost patent royalty revenue from Samsung; Judge Roumel orders costs and attorney’s fees against the U.S. government for a late patent validity challenge; and the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that could introduce new limits to the doctrine of patent assignor estoppel.

This week in Washington IP news, committees in the House of Representatives will debate ways to increase broadband and mobile Internet infrastructure across rural America, as well as the ARTS Act for waiving certain copyright registration fees. In the Senate, the IP Subcommittee will take a look at tackling inclusivity issues in the U.S. patent system, while the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee will grill representatives from Apple and Google on anticompetitive business practices related to their app stores. Elsewhere, the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation will explore multi-cancer early detection technologies while the Center for Strategic & International Studies closes out the week with a look at the importance of IP protections during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing vaccines and other treatments. 

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Senator Thom Tillis Urges Commerce Department and U.S. Trade Representative heads not to be pressured into voting in favor of proposals to waive IP obligations under the TRIPS Agreement; a Federal Circuit panel hears oral arguments in New Vision Gaming’s appeal regarding due process violations at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; China’s GDP has largest recorded year-over-year increase as the country’s economy returns to some normalcy following the COVID-19 pandemic; the Fifth Circuit affirms Federal Trade Commission antitrust charges against Impax Labs for delaying entry of its generic version of Opana ER; Puma and U.S. Olympic Committee settle their trademark dispute over city-plus-year trademarks for Olympic events; Judge Gilstrap orders a new damages trial in Optis Wireless’ patent case against Apple after finding that the jury wasn’t informed of Optis’ FRAND licensing obligations; and Walmart enters a $2.75 billion funding round for GM’s Cruise self-driving subsidiary.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit finds that Apple’s patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm eliminated standing to appeal IPRs from the PTAB; the Second Circuit hears oral arguments in copyright lawyer Richard Liebowitz’s sanctions appeal as well as an appeal of antitrust claims against Takeda over improper extensions of FDA exclusivity for Actos; the Supreme Court rules that Google’s copying of Oracle’s Java API was fair use; Brazil’s highest court enters a preliminary ruling eliminating patent term extensions for drug patents during the COVID-19 pandemic; German automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz see record quarters of sales while GM announces plans to shutter more factories due to the global chip shortage; and Nokia and Lenovo enter into a cross-licensing agreement ending worldwide patent litigation between those two companies.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Senators Tillis and Leahy urge the appointment of several key IP officials, including USPTO Director, before World IP Day; former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu rejoins his former firm Irell & Manella in their IP litigation practice; a trademark trends report published by Dechert LLP shows China accounting for 25% of the record number of U.S. trademark applications filed in 2020; TSMC announces plans to invest $100 billion over three years to increase chip manufacturing; the Second Circuit issues a ruling finding that Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints of music legend Prince was not a fair use of the copyrighted photo; the Fourth Circuit vacates a nearly $100 million trademark verdict against Walmart for an improper jury instruction on willfulness; and the GAO issues a report showing that $162 million in federal funding for clinical trials of remdesivir gave rise to no patentable inventions owned by the U.S. government.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Stanford University suffers another Section 101 loss at the Federal Circuit for its haplotype phase determination patent claims; the EU’s highest court rules that the existence of a manufacturing process patent involving a pharmaceutical composition in the public domain is not an insurmountable barrier to competition; China’s IP administration announces a special enforcement campaign against entities engaging in malicious trademark squatting; the Fourth Circuit finds domain name claims filed against the Republic of France are barred by sovereign immunity; a jury verdict in Eastern Texas finds Apple liable for $308.5 million in reasonable royalties for infringing digital rights management patent claims; and the U.S. Copyright Office seeks public comment on implementing rules and procedures for the Copyright Claims Board established by the CASE Act.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit issues an order on motion finding that it has authority under the All Writs Act to issue mandamus relief for PTAB institution denials; China’s national IP agency announces plans to crack down on “irregular patent applications” filed for bad faith purposes; Sen. Tillis writes a letter to newly confirmed USTR Tai urging strong data exclusivity protection for biologics and no language mirroring Section 512 safe harbors under the DMCA in any future free trade agreements; the Fourth Circuit joins the Seventh and Ninth Circuits in finding that appellants seeking review of a second TTAB decision after Federal Circuit remand may proceed to appeal in federal district court; Google CEO Pichai announces that the Internet services giant plans to invest $7 billion in facility expenditures through 2021; and the Copyright Office increases the number of public roundtables for its MMA unclaimed royalties study due to high volume demand for participation.

This week in Washington IP news, the Senate Energy Committee will discuss R&D initiatives underway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s transportation sector. Over in the House of Representatives, several subcommittees will hold hearings related to Big Tech antitrust issues, ways to rebuild the federal scientist workforce and the SHOP SAFE Act, which would amend U.S. trademark law to create contributory liability to platforms allowing counterfeit sales. Elsewhere, the Hudson Institute will focus on transatlantic efforts to incorporate antitrust efforts into IP licensing, while the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation explores the potential impacts of the Digital Markets Act in the EU.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Senator Thom Tillis announces he will co-chair the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus; a local business news outlet reports that the United States Patent and Trademark Office could be downsizing its office space footprint in Northern Virginia; a Lex Machina report shows that Judge Albright’s docket covered nearly 20% of all patent cases filed during 2020; Johnson & Johnson gets an important regulatory approval to sell its COVID-19 vaccine in the EU; Facebook moves to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust suit for failing to state a plausible claim under the Sherman Act; the IDEA Act is reintroduced into Congress to provide authority for the voluntary collection of demographic data from U.S. patent applicants; the EU’s highest court rules that copyright owners can prevent their works from being embedded on third-party websites by employing technological protective measures against framing; and the Federal Circuit affirms a patent examiner’s rejection of Stanford University patent claims covering personalized healthcare methods as unpatentable subject matter under Section 101.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: USIJ’s letter to President Biden urges him to select a USPTO Director who understands the important role of IP in driving the U.S. economy; the Federal Circuit affirms the dismissal of breach of contract claims against the U.S. Army over its disapproval of requests to use its trademarks; the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Arthrex regarding the unusual nature of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board; WIPO releases statistics showing that China led the world in international Patent Cooperation Treaty filings for 2020; Delaware’s Supreme Court tosses a $57 million damages award for GSK after finding an implied covenant not to collect royalties for disclaimed patents; the Copyright Office issues supplemental rules regarding certain reporting requirements under the Music Modernization Act; and General Motors and LG Chem are reportedly exploring plans to build a second EV battery factory in the United States.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Senator Tillis asks Biden to snub anti-IP proposals to the World Trade Organization; China’s national IP agency released statistics for the five year period from 2016 to 2020 showing major increases in patent commercialization activity; the Eleventh Circuit affirms a summary judgment ruling in favor of Stephen King in a copyright case over “The Dark Tower” novel series; a Northern California grand jury investigation leads to expanded charges against a former Stanford University researcher; Taylor Swift’s IP holding company files a copyright suit against the Evermore theme park in Utah; the Federal Circuit rules that the Navy breached an implied license to its use of a 3D graphics rendering software program, resulting in copyright infringement liability; TikTok enters a proposed $92 million settlement agreement over data privacy claims; and the Copyright Office issues a final rule on the registration of works associated with a music album, including liner notes and cover art.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: a bill amending copyright law to increase liability for online platforms republishing news snippets is introduced into Canada’s Senate; Senator Tillis asks President Biden to select a USPTO Director who will retain reforms wrought during Andrei Iancu’s tenure; the Senate IP Subcommittee leadership sends follow-up questions to Facebook regarding access to its Rights Manager; China’s IP administration issues guidelines for patent application filings which are designed to reduce poor quality filings; Pharrell Williams escapes liability for perjury for his testimony during the copyright case over “Blurred Lines”; the PTAB decides against a discretionary denial of an IPR filed against an independent inventor despite a November trial date in district court; the Technical University of Munich joins an EPO-EUIPO joint IP education program; and digital service providers pay more than $424 million to the Mechanical Licensing Collective to qualify for limited liability under the Music Modernization Act for past infringements.

This week in Other Barks & Bites: China’s IP agency releases a public draft of drug patent linkage measures for public comment; Acting USPTO Director Hirshfeld tells the Patent Public Advisory Committee that the agency expects a 3% decline in patent application filings during the pandemic; the EU’s highest court rejects a trademark appeal from one of the continent’s largest retailers; Singapore releases a discussion draft of copyright law amendments that will go into effect later this year; an Eastern Texas magistrate judge recommends that Gree’s city-building video game patent claims should survive summary judgment over a collateral estoppel argument by Supercell; the Copyright Office announces an interim rule on the treatment of confidential information by the Music Modernization Act’s mechanical licensing collective; Volkswagen and Microsoft announce a partnership to collaborate on cloud-based automated driving solutions; and the Federal Circuit nixes patent claims covering methods of maintaining a customer loyalty program which were previously allowed by the PTAB under Section 101.