On June 13, the Federal Circuit reversed the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB or Board) nonprecedential decision finding no likelihood of confusion between opposer Château Lynch-Bages’ and applicant Château Angélus...more
In Cleveland National Forest Foundation v. County of San Diego (2025) 109 Cal. App.5th 1257, the Fourth District Court of Appeal invalidated two thresholds of significance adopted by the County of San Diego (“County”) that in...more
Oral argument in the appellate courts typically last an hour, with 30 minutes allotted to each side to present arguments. But might a shorter oral argument period be more productive if the parties knew ahead of time the...more
Huggies Diaper Evidence Not a Good "Fit" for #1 Claim, NAD Says - Huggies claimed its diapers were the #1 Best Fitting, a broad claim requiring broad evidence against the market—evidence that the National Advertising...more
In Lucas v. City of Pomona (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 508, the Second District of the Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s decision that the City of Pomona’s (“City”) application of the statutory exemption under CEQA...more
In 2021, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued four opinions regarding US design patents— two precedential opinions and two unprecedential opinions. Both precedential opinions, In re SurgiSil and Campbell...more
This year, we will mark the 10-year anniversary of the first jury verdict in the landmark IP litigation between Apple and Samsung, which resulted in the jury awarding more than $1B to Apple. More than $500M of that award was...more
Facebook filed an inter partes review (IPR) petition against claims 1–8 of Uniloc 2017 LLC’s patent on Voice over Internet Protocol. Meanwhile, an IPR proceeding was already pending on claims 1–6 and 8 of the same patent,...more
[co-author: Jamie Dohopolski] Last year, the continued global COVID-19 pandemic forced American courts to largely continue the procedures set in place in 2020. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was no...more
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”), finding a patent on a method of disinfection obvious. The reversal was based in part on a finding that the Board’s...more
An Arizona appellate court held that summary judgment was appropriate in a legal malpractice action brought by a medical marijuana company for failure to timely pursue a petition for judicial review where plaintiffs could not...more
In a case relating to nucleic acid sequencing, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a jury verdict of non-enablement because a skilled artisan would have only known how to successfully practice a narrow...more
Intentional interference with expected inheritance (IIEI) was recognized as a legal claim in California about eight years ago in Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1039. Last week, the Court of Appeal issued the first...more
In this week’s episode, Gary Qualls discusses a recent case decided in the Western District of Louisiana, which highlights how the application of the arbitrary and capricious standard as applied to payor coverage...more
An EIR that did not squarely respond to detailed comments recommending additional mitigation measures has been held not to comply with CEQA. Covington v. Greater Basin., 3d Dist. Court of Appeal Case No. C080342 (certified...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit determined that a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) finding regarding motivation to combine based only on conclusory expert testimony was not supported by substantial...more
Unsubstantiated opinions from purported experts are not enough to require preparation of an EIR, the court of appeal recently held in Maacama Watershed Alliance v. County of Sonoma, 40 Cal. App. 5th 1007 (2019), a case in...more
Before Reyna, Hughes, and Stoll. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. TQ DELTA, LLC v. CISCO SYSTEMS, INC. Summary: Findings of fact at the PTAB must be supported by substantial evidence, and conclusory expert...more
Finding that a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) assessment of reasonable expectation of success was not supported by substantial evidence, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the PTAB’s obviousness...more
This Fall, the California Coastal Commission (“Commission”) was handed down two significant victories, further cementing its authority and jurisdiction within California coastal zones. These cases demonstrate that, in certain...more
On Thursday of last week in Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson v. TCL Corporation, the Federal Circuit affirmed two Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions (IPR2015-01584 and IPR2015-01600) finding that a single claim in...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) determination that the patent owner could not establish an earlier date of invention based on evidence originating from the...more
Addressing orders entered by the International Trade Commission (ITC) against imported ATMs, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that expenditures up to 10 years before the complaint may be used to establish...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants’ motion for a new trial on damages, finding that the jury verdict on damages was based on...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) non-obviousness determination because substantial evidence supported the PTAB’s finding that a person of skill in the art would...more