Intellectual property law

Intellectual property law

Given the recent proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) patent drafting technology, some in the legal services industry are asking whether AI is the patent profession's "ultimate bad day,"on par with the dinosaurs' ultimate bad day posited by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Alvarez in 1980. Like the asteroid thought to cause a mass extinction of the dinosaurs, will AI be a formidable impactor that renders patent prosecution an unprofitable practice area in law firms and alternative legal service providers (ALSPs)?

At a Cabinet Office press conference, Minister of State for IP and AI Strategy Minoru Kiuchi emphasized that anime and manga are "irreplaceable treasures" representing Japan's cultural pride (via IGN). The government urged OpenAI to respect Japanese copyrights and avoid misuse of its technology. Digital Minister Masaaki Taira echoed this sentiment, suggesting that if OpenAI doesn't voluntarily comply, Japan could invoke provisions under the AI Promotion Act--legislation that promotes AI development while also addressing risks such as copyright violations.

Samsung had petitioned for IPR of ST Case1Tech's always-on recording patents, arguing that the claimed "audio forensics analysis system" encompassed speech-to-text functionality disclosed in the prior art. Before the Board, Case1Tech argued that "analysis" means "calculation of noise dosage" using a specific measurement used for hearing protection. After losing at the Board, Case1Tech altered its position on appeal, arguing that audio forensics analysis merely "includes" noise dosage calculation and encompasses any "analysis that uses all captured acoustic data."

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Statement of Interest on Monday in Disney Enterprises, Inc. v. InterDigital, Inc., et al., an antitrust case filed by Disney in August 2025 that alleged "abusive licensing practices," monopolization of the video compression and streaming markets and Sherman Act violations by InterDigital. The DOJ's statement opined that patents, including standard essential patents (SEPs), do not necessarily confer market power to the patentee.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Monday issued a decision in Rasmussen Instruments, LLC v. DePuy Synthes Products, Inc., vacating a United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts judgment and remanding with instructions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that Rasmussen Instruments lacked standing to bring the patent infringement lawsuit because it did not own the asserted patents at the time the suit was filed.

The use of digital re-creations of dead celebrities isn't exactly a new issue-back in the '90s, we were collectively wrestling with John Lennon chatting to Forrest Gump and Fred Astaire dancing with a Dirt Devil vacuum. Back then, though, that kind of footage required painstaking digital editing and technology only easily accessible to major video production houses. Now, more convincing footage of deceased public figures can be generated by any Sora 2 user in minutes for just a few bucks.

And he is wary of giving away too much without clear value in return. TMB - which owns brands like Reader's Digest, Taste of Home, and user-generated video licensing company Jukin Media - doesn't want to give LLMs wide access to its content. "We just don't want to hand over the keys," said Salamon at Digiday's Publishing Summit in Miami, Fl., in September.

A little-known company wants to spend $100 million to go after internet providers that allegedly ignored DMCA notices. There's a new twist in the long and winding saga of Redbox's demise: Assets originally belonging to the company's corporate parent, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, may have finally found a buyer. But don't expect a resurrection of Redbox's red kiosks, or Chicken Soup's Crackle streaming service, any time soon.

excluded Rex's damages expert Douglas Kidder from testifying about the key comparable license in the case-a $10 million settlement agreement between Rex and Covidien that covered not only the '650 patent at issue, but also a related patent that had been the subject of a lawsuit (the '892 patent), eight other U.S. patents, seven U.S. patent applications, and nineteen foreign patents or applications. The district court found that Kidder had failed to adequately apportion the license payment among all these patents, rendering his methodology unreliable.

The representative claims recite shower rings with specific design features: a slit extending through the ring to an opening, and in some claims, a "projecting edge" that extends from the ring's outer circumference. The accused products, manufactured by Marquis and sold by Kartri under the "Ezy-Hang" brand, featured rings with flat upper edges similar to Fig 21 above -a design feature that became the central battleground for determining infringement.

Congress enacted the CFAA in 1986 as a criminal law statute in response to the nascent issue of computer "hacking." 18 U.S.C. § 1030. The private cause of action was added a decade later. The Act prohibits unauthorized access or access that exceeds authorized access to computers. The CFAA defines "exceeds authorized access" as accessing "a computer with authorization and [using] such access to obtain . . . information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled to obtain," while leaving "unauthorized access" undefined.

The CoStar companies are Delaware corporations based in Virginia, have an office in Seattle, and have shown no connection with this District. The Zillow Terms of Use, to which CoStar is subject, provide for exclusive venue in Washington. CoStar presumably chose this forum to avoid unfavorable Ninth Circuit law, a tactic that should not be given weight, the letter, filed on Monday, states.

As the first copyright cases concerning AI reach appeals courts, EFF wants to protect important, beneficial uses of this technology-including AI for legal research. That's why we weighed in on the long-running case of Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence. This case raises at least two important issues: the use of (possibly) copyrighted material to train a machine learning AI system , and public access to legal texts.

If you look closely enough, you'll find patent numbers on most of the physical products around you. Much like their copyright and trademark cousins, these designations are far from cosmetic. Instead, they serve a statutory requirement to provide public notice about your protected intellectual property. In the case of patent marking, not only does it reduce the risk of infringement because you are informing potential infringers of the patent's existence.

As AI bot traffic grows, content creators are taking steps to protect their intellectual property from being scraped against their will. The publishing industry has spent the past year battling against the encroachment of AI tech, with companies like The New York Times and Ziff Davis suing AI platforms for scraping their copyrighted content and using it to train large language models.

In August 2024, HSI seized several domains belonging to the Streameast piracy network, including some backup domains. After the seizure, trying to access those sites resulted in a pop-up from HSI stating, 'THIS DOMAIN HAS BEEN SEIZED.' At the time, Streameast was one of the most well-known sites in the US for watching sporting events, including from the NBA, NFL, and MLB, illegally.

On September 23, 2025, John A. Squires-just sworn in as the 60th Director of the USPTO-issued his first public act. In his first official act as USPTO Director, John Squires held a ceremonial signing of two newly issued patents-one covering diagnostic methods using a discovered antibody and the the other a blockchain-based resource allocation FinTech software. U.S. Patent Nos. 12,419,201 and 12,419,202.

Two weeks ago, record company Hallwood Media signed a deal with Telisha "Nikki" Jones after negotiations that purportedly included an offer of $3 million, Billboard reported. Jones is a Mississippi-based lyricist behind the R&B artist "Xania Monet" whose most popular song on Spotify racked up over 1 million listens, and whose Reels regularly top 100,000 views on Instagram - despite her likeness, vocals, and music being AI-generated.