Justia Intellectual Property Opinion Summaries

AI Visualize, Inc. accused Nuance Communications, Inc. and Mach7 Technologies, Inc. of patent infringement in the District of Delaware. The patents in question concerned the visualization of medical scans, with an emphasis on three-dimensional views via a low-bandwidth web portal. Nuance and Mach7 sought dismissal of the case on the grounds that the patents were directed to patent-ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The district court agreed, ruling that the patents were directed to an abstract idea and failed to provide an inventive step that transformed the abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter. Consequently, AI Visualize’s case was dismissed.Prior to this, the district court had granted Nuance and Mach7's motion to dismiss AI Visualize's complaint for failing to state a claim. AI Visualize then filed an amended complaint, which Nuance and Mach7 again moved to dismiss. The district court found that the patents attempted to address prior art problems with transporting large volume visualization datasets over a standard internet connection. However, the court ruled that the focus of the claimed advance over the prior art was abstract, and AI Visualize’s arguments that the claims were directed to improvements in computer functionality were rejected.On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. The appellate court agreed that the patents in question were directed to an abstract idea and did not offer an inventive step that transformed the idea into patent-eligible subject matter. Further, the court observed that AI Visualize's amended complaint failed to provide sufficient factual allegations to support that the claims involved unconventional technology or a concrete application of the abstract idea of virtual view "creation". Thus, the dismissal of AI Visualize’s case was affirmed. View "AI Visualize, Inc. v. Nuance Communications, Inc." on Justia Law

This case pertains to an alleged copyright infringement involving software code used in an industrial control system. The plaintiffs, RJ Control Consultants, Inc. and its sole shareholder, Paul Rogers, appealed the district court’s exclusion of their proposed expert and the granting of summary judgment to the defendants, Multiject, LLC; its sole owner, Jack Elder; and RSW Technologies, LLC. The U.S Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the plaintiffs’ proposed expert or in granting summary judgment to the defendants. The plaintiffs had failed to properly disclose their expert as required and did not produce an expert report. Consequently, they could not offer expert evidence to rebut the defendants' evidence. Furthermore, they could not create a genuine dispute of fact about the protectability of the software code, a crucial factor in their copyright infringement claim. Therefore, the district court's judgment was affirmed. The court also vacated its prior decision in RJ Control Consultants, Inc. v. Multiject, LLC, 981 F.3d 446 (2020), due to lack of appellate jurisdiction at the time of that decision. View "R.J. Control Consultants, Inc. v. Multiject, LLC" on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was asked to rule on a trademark infringement case brought by BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP against Central Coast Agriculture, Inc. BBK, a distributor and seller of smoking-related products with trademarked "RAW" branding, alleged that CCA infringed on its mark by selling cannabis products under the mark "Raw Garden." The district court granted summary judgment in favor of CCA on BBK’s trademark claims, but in favor of BBK on its counterclaims to invalidate several of CCA’s trademark applications and CCA’s counterclaim to cancel BBK’s trademark applications for unlawful use.The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of BBK on its claim to invalidate four of CCA’s trademark applications. The court held that, under 15 U.S.C. § 1119, when an action involves a claim of infringement on a registered trademark, a district court also has jurisdiction to consider challenges to the trademark applications of a party to the action. The court also held that lack of a bona fide intent to use a mark in commerce is a valid basis to challenge a trademark application.However, in a separately filed memorandum disposition, the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment on BBK’s trademark claims and affirmed the summary judgment on CCA’s counterclaim to cancel BBK’s trademark for unlawful use. View "BBK TOBACCO & FOODS LLP V. CENTRAL COAST AGRICULTURE, INC." on Justia Law

This case revolves around a copyright dispute between Whyte Monkee Productions, LLC and Timothy Sepi (Plaintiffs) and Netflix, Inc. and Royal Goode Productions, LLC (Defendants). Plaintiffs sued Defendants for copyright infringement, alleging that Defendants had used clips from eight videos filmed by Mr. Sepi without permission in the documentary series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness". The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Defendants, concluding that seven of the videos were works made for hire and thus Mr. Sepi did not own the copyrights. The court also found that the use of the eighth video constituted fair use and did not infringe on Mr. Sepi’s copyright.On appeal, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that Plaintiffs waived their argument regarding the first seven videos as they presented a new theory not raised in the lower court. Accordingly, the appellate court upheld the district court's judgment regarding these videos. However, regarding the eighth video, the appellate court ruled that the district court erred in determining that Defendants were entitled to summary judgment on their fair use defense. The court concluded that the first factor of the fair use analysis favored the Plaintiffs instead of the Defendants, and that the Defendants failed to provide any evidence demonstrating the absence of a market impact, which is necessary to apply the fourth fair use factor. Therefore, the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s judgment as to the first seven videos, reversed the judgment as to the eighth video, and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Whyte Monkee Productions v. Netflix" on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit heard the appeal of Inline Plastics Corp. against Lacerta Group, LLC. Inline Plastics alleged that Lacerta infringed on several of its patents concerning tamper-resistant plastic containers and methods of making them. After a district court ruling in favor of Lacerta, Inline appealed on the grounds that the court erred in its judgment of invalidity and infringement. Lacerta cross-appealed, challenging the denial of attorney fees and the dismissal of certain patent claims Inline dropped near the end of trial.The Court of Appeals decided to affirm the district court's denial of Inline's motion for judgment as a matter of law of validity, but vacated the court's judgment of invalidity and remanded for a new trial on this issue. The court affirmed the district court's finding of non-infringement of various claims by Lacerta, but vacated the without-prejudice dismissal of Inline’s late-withdrawn claims. The court also vacated the district court's denial of Lacerta’s motion for attorney fees under § 285. Each party will bear their own costs. View "Inline Plastics Corp. v. Lacerta Group, LLC" on Justia Law

This case concerns a patent dispute between Harris Brumfield, Trustee for Ascent Trust (Plaintiff-Appellant) and IBG LLC and Interactive Brokers LLC (Defendants-Appellees). The plaintiff alleged that the defendants infringed several patents owned by Trading Technologies International, Inc., the plaintiff's predecessor. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the plaintiff’s challenges and affirmed the district court's rulings.The district court had invalidated the asserted claims of two of the plaintiff's patents under 35 U.S.C. § 101. The court also excluded one basis for recovering "foreign damages" proposed by the plaintiff's damages expert, and denied the plaintiff's post-verdict motion for a new trial on damages.On appeal, the Federal Circuit held that the district court correctly applied the law in determining that the asserted claims of the patents were ineligible for patenting under § 101. The court also affirmed the district court’s decision to exclude certain damages evidence, and it upheld the denial of the plaintiff's request for a new trial on damages. View "Brumfield v. IBG LLC" on Justia Law

This case involves Virtek Vision International ULC (Virtek) and Assembly Guidance Systems, Inc. d/b/a Aligned Vision (Aligned Vision) who both appealed a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board concerning U.S. Patent No. 10,052,734 owned by Virtek. The patent discloses an improved method for aligning a laser projector with respect to a work surface. The Board had held that certain claims of the patent were unpatentable, finding them to be obvious in light of certain prior art references.Virtek appealed the Board's determination that claims 1, 2, 5, 7, and 10–13 of the patent were unpatentable. Aligned Vision cross-appealed the Board's holding that it failed to prove claims 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 of the patent were unpatentable.The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Board's determination that claims 1, 2, 5, 7, and 10–13 were unpatentable, finding that there was not substantial evidence to support a motivation to combine the prior art references in the manner claimed in the patent. The court noted that it was an error to suggest that because two coordinate systems were disclosed in a prior art reference and were therefore “known,” that satisfies the motivation to combine analysis. The court affirmed the Board's determination that Aligned Vision failed to prove claims 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9 would have been obvious, agreeing with the Board that Aligned Vision had failed to show a motivation to combine the references for these claims. View "Virtek Vision International ULC v. Assembly Guidance Systems, Inc." on Justia Law

This case deals with the importation of two transcatheter heart valve systems by Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. and Meril, Inc. (collectively, "Meril") into the United States for a medical conference in San Francisco. The plaintiff, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and Edwards Lifesciences LLC (collectively, "Edwards"), a competitor medical device company, alleged that this act constituted patent infringement. Meril argued that the importation was covered by the "safe harbor" provision of 35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1), which exempts certain activities from being considered patent infringement if they are reasonably related to the development and submission of information under a Federal law which regulates the manufacture, use, or sale of drugs.The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Meril, and Edwards appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the district court, noting that the undisputed evidence showed that the importation of the valve systems was reasonably related to submitting information to the United States Food and Drug Administration. The court rejected Edwards' arguments that the district court had disregarded contemporaneous evidence, applied the safe harbor with an objective standard, and relied improperly on declarations from Meril employees. The court affirmed the district court's conclusion that there was no genuine dispute of material fact and that Meril was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. View "EDWARDS LIFESCIENCES CORPORATION v. MERIL LIFE SCIENCES PVT. LTD. " on Justia Law

The case in question involves a dispute over the use of the term "red gold" in the marketing of wristwatches. The plaintiff-appellant Solid 21, a luxury jewelry and watch business, owns a trademark in RED GOLD® since 2003. Defendant-appellee Breitling, a luxury watch manufacturer, uses the term “red gold” in its advertisements, product listings, and catalogues. Solid 21 argued that Breitling's use of the term amounted to trademark infringement, claiming it was likely to cause confusion, leading customers to mistakenly believe that Solid 21 was affiliated with Breitling’s products.The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut granted summary judgment for Breitling, finding that the company used the term “red gold” permissibly under the Lanham Act’s fair use defense. Solid 21 appealed this decision, insisting that material issues of fact precluded summary judgment for Breitling.The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed and affirmed the district court's judgment. The court reasoned that Breitling used the term "red gold" in a descriptive sense, not as a mark, and in good faith. The court also pointed out that Solid 21 failed to provide sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Breitling was acting in bad faith while using the term “red gold.” View "Solid 21, Inc. v. Breitling USA, Inc." on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision to grant a motion to quash a subpoena issued by Xactware Solutions, Inc. against Buildxact Software Limited in a trademark dispute. The case revolves around Xactware's desire to orally depose a Buildxact employee as part of opposition proceedings in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). All of Buildxact's employees are located in Australia.The court agreed with the district court's determination that it lacked authority to subpoena evidence that, under PTO rules, is inadmissible in internal PTO proceedings. The court reasoned that 35 U.S.C. § 24, which allows district courts to subpoena testimony for use in any contested case in the Patent and Trademark Office, only empowers district courts to issue subpoenas for depositions that comply with PTO rules.The court rejected Xactware's argument that the PTO's rules contradict the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and thus exceed the PTO's statutory authority. The court found that the PTO rules and the Federal Rules serve different purposes and contexts, and that the PTO's rule-making authority under Section 23 of the Patent Act allows it to establish its rules for taking affidavits and depositions.The court concluded that a contrary ruling would significantly displace the PTO's authority to police its internal proceedings, and affirmed the lower court's decision to quash the subpoena. View "Xactware Solutions, Inc. v. Buildxact Software Limited" on Justia Law