Justia Intellectual Property Opinion Summaries

A graphic designer was commissioned in 2016 to create a room-sized artwork for a brewery’s exhibition at an annual fair produced by the defendant. The agreement specified that the designer would retain copyright ownership and that the installation could only be shown in person to paying patrons at the 2016 event. During the fair, the defendant created and widely disseminated marketing videos online featuring the designer’s work without attribution, despite the designer’s requests for credit. The designer applied for copyright registration in April 2017, and the work was eventually registered, though the exact date of registration is not in the record.The designer first filed a pro se copyright infringement suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in early 2018, but the court dismissed it without prejudice for failure to allege copyright registration. Instead of amending, the designer filed a second action in state court, which was removed to federal court. After amending her complaint, the district court again dismissed the copyright claims, this time with prejudice, for failure to state a plausible claim and failure to allege registration. The designer did not respond to the motion to dismiss. In December 2020, now represented by counsel, she filed the present suit in federal court, which was dismissed with prejudice on claim preclusion grounds. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed and remanded for further consideration.On remand, the district court again dismissed the case, this time on both claim preclusion and statute of limitations grounds. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the dismissal, holding that the copyright infringement claims were untimely under the three-year statute of limitations, as the plaintiff knew or should have known of the alleged infringement by early 2017. The court also found no basis for equitable tolling. View "Foss v. Eastern States Exposition" on Justia Law

Vicor Corporation supplied power converter modules to Foxconn for years. Vicor alleged that Foxconn switched to manufacturing and importing knock-off modules that infringed Vicor's patents. In July 2023, Vicor filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) alleging patent infringement by Foxconn. Simultaneously, Vicor sued Foxconn for patent infringement in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which stayed the case pending the ITC's resolution. Foxconn then initiated arbitration in China, claiming Vicor had agreed to arbitrate disputes based on terms in purchase orders. Vicor filed a new lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeking to enjoin the arbitration and declare it was not bound by the arbitration or license terms.The district court granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) and later a preliminary injunction against the arbitration, despite Foxconn's request for a stay under 28 U.S.C. § 1659. The court acknowledged that Section 1659 applied but concluded it could still grant preliminary relief based on the All Writs Act and its inherent authority to preserve its jurisdiction.The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reviewed the case. The court concluded that Section 1659 required the district court to stay proceedings because Vicor's claims involved issues also present in the ITC proceeding. The appellate court held that the district court erred in granting the preliminary injunction despite Foxconn's request for a stay. Consequently, the First Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. View "Vicor Corp. v. FII USA Inc." on Justia Law

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary (collectively, Amphastar) and Sandoz Inc. were competitors in the U.S. market for generic enoxaparin, an anticoagulant. Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. served as Sandoz’s contract laboratory. Amphastar filed a complaint alleging antitrust violations by Sandoz and Momenta based on Defendants’ alleged misrepresentations to the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, a private standard-setting organization charged with ensuring the quality of drugs. Defendants brought an infringement suit against Amphastar, resulting in a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction prohibiting Amphastar from selling enoxaparin. The preliminary injunction was later vacated, but it did prevent Amphastar from selling its generic enoxaparin for approximately three months. Amphastar then filed this suit under the Sherman Act seeking damages for lost profits during the pendency of the TRO and injunction. The district court dismissed the complaint under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which immunizes good-faith petition of government entities from antitrust liability. The First Circuit reversed, holding that the district court erred in applying Noerr-Pennington. Remanded for the district court to consider Defendants’ other arguments in the first instance. View "Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc v. Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff entered an original song and music video to a variety of companies affiliated with Sony Music Entertainment (Sony) as part of a songwriting contest sponsored by Sony. Plaintiff later sued Sony alleging contract and intellectual property claims. The district court entered an order compelling arbitration and dismissed Plaintiff’s case with prejudice, concluding that the claims were subject to mandatory arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act and that Plaintiff failed to make a cognizable claim under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Plaintiff appealed, arguing that the district court erred in ruling that he failed to allege sufficient facts to support his claims. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that because the district court’s rulings that Plaintiff’s claims were subject to mandatory arbitration provided an independent basis for dismissing his claims, the Court did not need to address Plaintiff’s challenge to the district court’s decision to dismiss his complaint on factual sufficiency grounds. View "Cortes-Ramos v. Sony Corp. of America" on Justia Law