IP Law News

High Court to Hear Appeal of Booking.com Trademark Ruling

Merck, 3M Kill Claims in Fluid Dispenser Patents at PTAB

Latest Stories

Seventh Circuit Adopts Patent Case Fee Standard for Trademarks

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joined several other circuit courts in finding the Supreme Court’s “exceptional case” standard for attorneys’ fees in patent cases applies to trademark cases as well.

Fiat Chrysler Wins First Round in Mahindra Fight Over Jeep Copy

Mahindra’s Roxor off-road vehicle infringes the overall look of Fiat Chrysler’s iconic Jeep, the U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Cameron Elliot said in a notice posted on the agency’s website.

Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal of Booking.com Trademark Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court will review whether Booking.com‘s name is entitled to federal trademark protection.

Personnel Changes at IP Law Firms, Organizations

The following are personnel changes and other news recently announced by prominent intellectual property law firms and other IP-related organizations:

Smucker’s Suit Against Welch’s Fruit Snack Maker Dismissed

A complaint filed by J.M. Smucker against the maker of Welch’s Fruit Snacks regarding the slogan “Fruit is Our 1st Ingredient” was an attempt at improper forum-shopping, the Northern District of Ohio said Nov. 7

Airbus Gets Another Shot at Nixing Fire Extinguishing Patent (1)

Airbus S.A.S. will get another chance to knock out a rival’s fire-extinguishing composition patent after the Federal Circuit tossed a Patent and Trademark Office tribunal’s most recent ruling in a decade-long dispute.

Merck, 3M Kill Claims in Fluid Dispenser Patents at PTAB (1)

3M Co. and Merck & Co. Inc. convinced a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal to kill claims in two patents that they were accused of infringing with Merck’s inhaler and a 3M-manufactured inhaler dose counter.

In Brief

Case: Patents/Obviousness (P.T.A.B.)

Oral healthcare manufacturer GC Corp. showed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that claims of Ardent Inc.'s lithium disilicate based glass-ceramics, useful in fabricating dental restorations made by heat pressing into refractory investment molds, are unpatentable as obvious over prior art. Claims 1 and 3, which are directed to glass-ceramic compositions, are obvious over a prior patent for a lithium disilicate-containing glass ceramic, some of which is self-glazing, according to the board. Further, Claims 2 and 4, which recite that the glass-ceramic is pressable, claims 57 and 61, which are directed to dental restorations, and dependent claims 58-60, are obvious over a prior publication entitled “Method for Molding Dental Restorations and Related Apparatus,” the board finds. The case is GC Corporation and GC America, Inc., v. Ardent, Inc., P.T.A.B., PTAB IPR2018-00941, 11/6/19.

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Case: Trademarks/Pleadings (E.D. Cal.)

El Dorado Orchards’s motion to dismiss Apple Hill Growers’s trademark infringement action is denied by a federal district court in California. Apple Hill claims that El Dorado created the internet domain www.applehillca.com and associated domains, makes unauthorized use of the Apple Hill mark in its websites and mobile applications, and sells goods marked with the term “Apple Hill Family Farm.” Apple Hill’s factual allegations state a plausible claim for priority of use, and it makes specific and nonspeculative allegations of injury rather than generalized claims, the court decides. And the court notes that Apple Hill details how El Dorado’s use of its Twin Apple logo in conjunction with Apple Hill’s mark constitutes conduct for which El Dorado may be held liable. The court finds that it can’t rule as a matter of law that Apple Hill’s claims accrued before it sent its 2013 demand letter, so it denies El Dorado’s motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the action is time-barred. The case is Apple Hill Growers v. El Dorado Orchards, 2019 BL 429310, E.D. Cal., No. 2:17-cv-02085-TLN-CKD, 11/6/19.

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Case: Copyrights/Infringement (W.D. Mo.)

Columbia House of Brokers Realty Inc. is granted summary judgment in design and build company Designworks Homes Inc.'s copyright infringement action, a federal district court in Missouri holds. Designworks claims that Columbia copied its home design floorplan. But the record doesn’t establish that Columbia had access to Designworks’s copyrighted work, according to the court. And Columbia’s creation of the floorplan capturing the home layout isn’t an infringing act because the floorplan is a pictorial representation of the structure’s interior as it exists, the court explains. The court determines that Designworks hasn’t shown direct infringement, so Columbia isn’t liable for contributory and vicarious infringement. The case is Designworks Homes, Inc. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc., 2019 BL 426743, W.D. Mo., No. 2:18-CV-04090-BCW, 11/6/19.

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Case: Copyrights/Registration (N.D. Tex.)

Kingdom Downhole Tools LLC’s motion to dismiss industrial machinery company Diamondback Industries Inc.'s copyright infringement action is denied, a federal district court in Texas rules. Copyright registration is not a prerequisite to an action for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as a plain reading of the act doesn’t establish that it’s subject to the Copyright Act’s registration requirement, and case law doesn’t indicate that registration is required for DMCA actions, according to the court. The case is Diamondback Indus., Inc. v. Repeat Precision, LLC, 2019 BL 428694, N.D. Tex., No. 4:18-CV-902-A, 11/7/19.