IP Law News

GE Loses Appeal to Patent Synthetic Jet Technology

Turtles’ Copyright Suit vs. Pandora Depends on New Music Law

Latest Stories

Jimi Hendrix Estate Aims to Settle Trademark Suit for $2 Million

The successors to Jimi Hendrix’s estate have secured a promise to pay $2 million from a man accused of helping the rock musician’s brother profit off of Hendrix’s copyrights and trademarks.

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:

MillerCoors Ad Injunction Has Procedural Issues, 7th Cir. Says

An injunction granted to MillerCoors barring Anheuser-Busch Cos. from targeting it with “corn syrup"-related ads failed to comply with a federal civil procedure rule, the Seventh Circuit said Oct. 18.

GE Loses Appeal to Patent Synthetic Jet Technology

General Electric Co. failed to convince the Federal Circuit to revive applications for three patents related to synthetic fluid jets that cool heat-generating surfaces.

Mylan Must Face AstraZeneca’s Patent Infringement Suit

AstraZeneca’s suit accusing Mylan Pharmaceuticals of infringing its patents for an inhaler product is moving to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, under an Oct. 18 opinion.

Turtles’ Copyright Suit vs. Pandora Depends on New Music Law (2)

The Turtles’ five-year music copyright fight with Pandora Media LLC must return to a California district court because of questions raised by a new music reform law, the Ninth Circuit ruled.

GM Truck-Design Patents Challenged by Replacement Parts Maker

General Motors Co.’s patented designs for Chevy trucks are being challenged by a company that’s waged a more than decade-long fight over its ability to sell replacement auto parts.

In Brief

Case: Trademarks/Jurisdiction (D.N.J.)

Mitlitsky Egg LLC’s motion to dismiss CMC Food Inc.'s trademark action for lack of personal jurisdiction in New Jersey is denied. CMC — a New Jersey corporation with its principal place of business in the state — alleges, among other things, that Mitlitsky (1) participated in the purchase, sale, and delivery of counterfeit goods in New Jersey which infringed CMC’s marks and (2) conspired to injure CMC by infringing those marks in New Jersey. Mitlitsky expressly aimed his purported tortious conduct at New Jersey by engaging in business with a New Jersey corporation, communicating with and visiting that corporation, and purchasing, selling, and delivering infringing CMC products in the state. The case is CMC Food, Inc. v. Mitlitsky Eggs, LLC, 2019 BL 395689, D.N.J., No. 18-8939 (KSH) (CLW), 10/16/19.

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Case: Patents/Indefiniteness (E.D.N.Y.)

Presidio Components Inc. has failed to prove the indefiniteness of the claim term “negligibly over a top surface” in American Technical Ceramics Corp.'s patent that relates generally to small electronic components adapted to be surface mounted on a larger circuit board. Presidio appears to contend that a specific limit is required to render “negligibly” a definite term, but the patent-in-suit does specify a reasonably certain limitation: that is, a negligible top termination must comprise a termination that is “substantially L-shaped.” The jury found that this term informed a person of skill in the art about the scope of the claimed invention to a reasonable certainty. “Negligible,” read in the context of the patent as a whole, must contribute to terminations that are substantially L-shaped, and any more than a negligible amount of top termination material would render the termination not “substantially L-shaped.” The case is Am. Tech. Ceramics Corp. v. Presidio Components, Inc., 2019 BL 395600, E.D.N.Y., No. 14-CV-6544(KAM)(GRB), 10/16/19.

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Case: Patents/Licensing (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit vacates the dismissal of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung E.V.'s action against Sirius XM Radio Inc. for the infringement of four patents related to a method for transmitting a main data stream over multiple carrier data streams used in satellite-based communication networks. Sirius‘s sublicense to use those patents may have been terminated after the initial licensee went bankrupt. But whether Fraunhofer terminated the original license agreement and whether the sublicense would survive a termination cannot be resolved on a motion to dismiss, so the district court erred. The case is Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung der angewandten Forschung E.V. v. Sirius XM Radio Inc., 2019 BL 397074, Fed. Cir., No. 2018-2400, 10/17/19.

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Case: Patents/Reissue (Fed. Cir.)

The Federal Circuit affirms the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s rejection of all pending claims in General Electric Co.'s three reissue applications related to systems and methods for the synthetic jet-enhanced natural cooling of component enclosures. The board correctly concluded that the proposed reissue claims of one application are broader than the patent claims, which expands the scope of the reissue claims to cover unattached jet assemblies that were surrendered during prosecution. And the proposed reissue claims of the two other applications don’t, as GE argues, cover only the jet assembly subcombination and thereby avoid the recapture rule under the “overlooked aspects” analysis, since the original claims, in fact, do encompass and detail the elements of that subcombination. The case is In re Gen. Elec. Co., 2019 BL 399054, Fed. Cir., No. 2019-1115, nonprecedential 10/18/19.

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