Other Barks & Bites, Friday, January 24: Federal Circuit Remands Cases Under Arthrex and USPTO Announces New PPAC and TPAC Members

Bites (noun): more meaty news to sink your teeth into.

Barks (noun): peripheral noise worth your attention.

https://depositphotos.com/14094278/stock-photo-dog-listening-with-big-ear.htmlThis week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit revives patent infringement claims asserted against Facebook’s News Feed; the CAFC also remanded a trio of cases to the USPTO to cure constitutional issues the court found in Arthrex; the USPTO announces new members of the PPAC and TPAC public advisory committees; the Copyright Royalty Board announces its intent to audit several companies for royalty payments under statutory licenses; Juno Therapeutics seeks enhanced damages of $1.5 billion for Kite Pharma’s willful infringement; HTC patent win in China includes damages award that greatly exceeds the statutory maximum; and the EU Court of Justice finds that a GlaxoSmithKline patent deal with generic drugmakers may have violated EU competition law.

Bites 

CAFC Remands TTAB, PTAB Cases Under Arthrex Standard – On Friday, January 17, the Federal Circuit issued a pair of nonprecedential orders sending two cases back to the USPTO to cure constitutional defects under the recent Arthrex decision. Soler-Somohano v. Coca-Cola Co. was remanded to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and Luoma v. GT Water Products, Inc. was remanded to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). A recent report from Bloomberg Law indicates that a third case has been remanded under Arthrex this week.

Federal Circuit Overturns Finding of Non-Infringement for Facebook News Feed – On Thursday, January 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential decision in Mirror Worlds Technology, LLC v. Facebook, Inc. in which the appellate court overturned the Southern District of New York’s decision to grant summary judgment on non-infringement to Facebook after Mirror Worlds Technology asserted patent claims covering methods for presenting data in time-ordered streams on a computer system. 

Copyright Office Issues Interim Rule on Electronic Submissions for Recordation Pilot Program – On Thursday, January 23, the U.S. Copyright Office published a supplemental interim rule in the Federal Register which allows participants in the pilot program for the agency’s electronic copyright recordation system to submit certain documents electronically, including those pertaining to transfers of copyright ownership as well as copyright termination.

https://depositphotos.com/13561580/stock-illustration-beware-of-dog.htmlUSPTO Announces New Members of PPAC and TPAC – On Wednesday, January 22, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced two new members of the agency’s Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) as well as three new members to the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC). Joining PPAC will be Jeremiah Chan, Director and Associate General Counsel, Head of Patents, Facebook; and Tracy-Gene Durkin, Practice Leader of the Mechanical & Design Practice Group, Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox. Joining TPAC will be Dinisa Hardley Folmar, Head of Intellectual Property, The Hershey Company; Jennifer L. Kovalcik, Vice President Technology & Intellectual Property Counsel, Community Health Systems; and Susan M. Natland, Partner and Co-Chair, Trademark and Brand Protection Group, Knobbe Martens.

EU Court of Justice Says GSK Patent Settlement is Contrary to Competition Law – On Wednesday, January 22, EU Court of Justice Advocate General Juliane Kokott issued an opinion indicating that a patent settlement between GlaxoSmithKline and generic drugmakers which delayed the market entry of off-brand antidepressant may be contrary to European competition law.

Third Circuit Affirms Italian Firm’s Ownership of “Sarto” Bike Mark – On Wednesday, January 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision in Liger6, LLC v. Antonio Sarto in which the appellate court affirmed the District of New Jersey’s grant of summary judgment for Sarto, finding that oral agreements and unsigned agreement drafts didn’t support the argument that Sarto intended on sharing the “Sarto” trademark with Liger6.

USPTO Seeking Nominations for National Medal of Technology and Innovation – On Tuesday, January 21, the USPTO issued a press release announcing that the agency was soliciting nominations for individuals, teams, company divisions or entire companies for consideration for the 2020 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement.

Copyright Office Extends Public Comment Period for Online Publication Definition – On Tuesday, January 21, the Copyright Office announced an extension of comment period in the Federal Register for public comments to the agency regarding the statutory definition of “publication” to the online context for the purposes of copyright registration. Written comments can be sent to the Office up to March 19 and written reply comments can be sent up to April 16.

Barks

Copyright Royalty Board Announces Intent to Audit Statutory License Royalties – On Tuesday, January 21, the Copyright Royalty Board issued a trio of public notices in the Federal Register announcing its intent to audit statements of accounts submitted by Slacker, Inc., Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. and Deseret Management Corporation, Inc., regarding royalty payments those organizations have made under Section 114 statutory licenses for public performances of sound recordings via digital audio transmissions and Section 112 statutory licenses for ephemeral reproductions.

McCormick Settles Trademark Suit Over New Bae Spice – On Tuesday, January 21, the District of Maryland dismissed a trademark suit filed by spice manufacturer McCormick after the court was notified that McCormick, which owns Old Bay seafood seasoning, had settled its claims against Primal Palate, the makers of an organic seasoning marketed as New Bae.

Juno Therapeutics Asks Court to Increase Damages Award Up To $1.5 Billion – On Tuesday, January 21, Bristol-Myers Squibb subsidiary Juno Therapeutics filed a motion for enhanced damages in the Central District of California asking the court to increase the patent damages award entered against Gilead Sciences’ unit Kite Pharma up to $1.5 billion for willful infringement of patent claims covering CAR-T immunotherapy cancer treatments.

https://depositphotos.com/10882248/stock-photo-cross-breed-dog-4-years.htmlInjunction Bars Insurer From Using 150-Year Old Brand – On Tuesday, January 21, the District of Utah entered a preliminary injunction in a trademark case which prevents AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. from using “Equitable” in the company’s branding, finding that AXA abandoned the Equitable brand that it had previously used for 150 years after rebranding the company in 2014.

Xilinx Files Patent Infringement Counterclaims in Analog Devices Lawsuit – On Tuesday, January 21, processing platform developer Xilinx filed a counterclaim in a District of Delaware case brought by Analog Devices accusing that firm of infringing upon claims of eight U.S. patents covering technologies such as analog-to-digital converters and digital-to-analog converters.

HTC Wins Patent Battle in China, Damages Award Exceeds Statutory Maximum – Recent news reports indicate that Chinese tech giant HTC Corporation recently won a patent infringement case against Chinese firms Zhuhai Meizu and Shenhen Jinli over patent claims covering an antenna design for phones that overcomes attenuation issues caused by metal phone casings. The 6.5 million RMB (about $940,000 USD) damages award issued to HTC is multiples higher than the statutory maximum of 1 million RMB available under Chinese patent law.

Muzik Sues Perkins Coie for Legal Malpractice, Fraud Over Missed Patent Filings – On Friday, January 17, voice-operated headphone developer Muzik, Inc., filed a lawsuit in New York state court alleging claims of legal malpractice and fraud against Washington-based law firm Perkins Coie over potentially millions of dollars in royalties that were lost after a Perkins Coie attorney failed to file patent applications on Muzik’s behalf and then lied about the filing of those patent applications.

Northern Texas Overturns Jury Verdict Against Nintendo Under Alice Standard – On Friday, January 17, Chief Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas issued an order that overturned a $10.1 million jury verdict for patent infringement in favor of iLife Technologies after granting a motion for judgment as a matter of law to Nintendo which invalidated patent claims asserted by iLife for being invalid as an abstract idea under the Alice standard.

This Week on Wall Street 

Xerox to Nominate Full HP Board to Bolster Acquisition Efforts – On Thursday, January 23, Xerox announced its intent to nominate 11 candidates to replace the entire board of directors for HP at that company’s annual shareholder meeting as Xerox continues its attempts to acquire that information technology firm.

Intel Shares Pop After Quarterly Beat on EPS, Revenue – On Thursday, January 23, Intel reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019, beating analyst expectations on earnings per share (EPS) by 27 cents and revenues by almost $1 billion and sending shares of the company’s stock up by about 7 percent in same day trading.

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2018 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2018 rank in parentheses):

  • Monday: Juniper Networks, Inc. (t-128th); Nitto Denko Corp. (t-202nd); Sprint Corp. (91st); Whirlpool Corp. (118th)
  • Tuesday: 3M Co. (56th); Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (t-214th); Apple, Inc. (11th); Ebay Inc. (142nd); Koninklijke Philips N.V. (38th); Lockheed Martin Corp. (190th); Mediatek Inc. (85th); SAP SE (79th); United Technologies Corp. (15th); Xerox Corp. (81st); Xilinx, Inc. (t-241st)
  • Wednesday: AT&T Corp. (26th); Boeing Co. (28th); Canon Inc. (3rd); Cirrus Logic, Inc. (t-299th); Corning Inc. (77th); Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (119th); Eaton Corp. (169th); Facebook, Inc. (65th); Fanuc Corp. (95th); General Electric Co. (4th); Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. (216th); LG Innotek Co., Ltd. (87th); Mastercard Inc. (t-238th); Microsoft Corp. (9th); NEC Corp. (49th); Novartis AG (151st); Omron Corp. (t-219th); Paypal, Inc. (t-136th); Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (108th); Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (t-262nd)
  • Thursday:com Inc. (16th); Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (t-147th); Colgate-Palmolive Co. (t-262nd); Dupont De Nemours Inc. (86th); Fujitsu Ltd. (t-34th); Hitachi Metals Ltd. (t-278th); Honeywell International Inc. (36th); Jtekt Corp. (t-184th); Kyocera Corp. (84th); LG Electronics Inc. (7th); Nintendo Co., Ltd. (t-292nd); NTT Docomo, Inc. (t-197th); Raytheon Co. (120th); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (2nd); Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. (106th); Verizon Communications Inc. (76th); Visa Inc. (t-184th); Western Digital Corp. (116th)
  • Friday: Caterpillar Inc. (75th); Denso Corp. (39th); ExxonMobil Corp. (100th); Hitachi, Ltd. (90th); LG Display Co., Ltd. (53rd); Seiko Epson Corp. (24th); SK Hynix Inc. (45th); Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (t-186th)

 

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One comment so far.

  • [Avatar for Pro Say]
    Pro Say
    January 24, 2020 03:10 pm

    “Joining PPAC will be Jeremiah Chan, Director and Associate General Counsel, Head of Patents, Facebook”

    Great — just what American innovation needed.

    Not.

    What’s next, Apple and other patent-stealing big tech attorney’s joining the ranks of all the other unconstitutionally-appointed PTAB “judges?”

    Congress: You did notice it’s now 2020, right?

    So where’s that Section 101 / eligibility restoration you promised?

    Here’s an idea: Eliminate 101; with no changes to any other Sections.

    Quick. Easy. Final.

    Eligibility problem solved.