 
  District Judge Has Had Enough of Schedule A Infringement Litigation Tactic
After putting a months-long pause on all of his active Schedule A cases, Judge John Kness in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a scathing opinion calling out the practice and urging his fellow jurists to reassess their approach to the litigation strategy.
Features
 
  AI and the Fair Use Defense: Lessons from Two Recent Summary Judgment Rulings
Two judges in the Northern District of California recently issued groundbreaking summary judgment rulings regarding whether an artificial intelligence company’s scraping and ingestion of copyrighted works to train its LLMs qualified as fair use. Both decisions carry potentially seismic importance for AI companies and intellectual property litigators.
Features
 
  OpenAI Gets Summary Judgment In Trademark Battle With Open Artificial Intelligence
A trademark battle that pitted technology giant OpenAI against a company known as Open AI (note the space between the terms) has resulted in a summary judgment that has ordered the smaller enterprise to cease use of the name and its prized internet real estate, open.ai.
Features
 
  Recent Decisions from CA and NY On AI Training and Copyright
In late July, two important decisions came down from courts in the Northern District of California regarding the unauthorized use of copyrighted material for the training of large language models. No real consensus has emerged as to the effect they will have on the broader AI litigation landscape.
Features
 
  Successful and Enforceable Brands Connect with the Consumer: Lessons from a Recent 10th Circuit Decision
Protectable rights are created the same way a successful brand is established — linking your Mark and your company’s offering in the minds of the consumer is a must. The good news? Regardless of your company’s size or marketing budget, this necessary connection can be achieved.
Features
 
  Insights from Acting Director Stewart’s Decisions on Discretionary Denial under the New Interim Processes for PTAB Workload Management
Just three months ago, Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Coke Morgan Stewart rescinded existing guidelines governing the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (PTAB) discretion to deny petitions for inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) when parallel litigation is already pending in federal district court or the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Acting Director Stewart replaced those guidelines with new interim processes that rely on the Director to issue decisions on patent owners’ requests for discretionary denials.
Columns & Departments
 
  IP News
“Not Merely Monkey Business”: The Bored Ape Case and NFT Branding in the Ninth Circuit
Features
 
  “Not Merely Monkey Business”: The Bored Ape Case and NFT Branding in the Ninth Circuit
On July 23, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued a pivotal decision regarding digital art, blockchain technology, and trademark law. The ruling not only clarifies that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are protectable “goods” under federal trademark law, but also sets important standards for how courts should analyze consumer confusion, fair use, and First Amendment protections surrounding artistic expression in the rapidly evolving NFT marketplace.
Features
 
  Copyrights Battles and the Downfall of EU AI Act
While the EU AI Act certainly deserves compliments for both its pioneering nature and numerous thoughtful provisions aimed at the efficient and effective regulation of modern AI, it is not without its drawbacks.
Columns & Departments
 
  IP News
Federal Circuit: District Court Did Not Err In Declining to Find Infringement By Moderna’s Activities Involving COVID-19 VaccineFederal Circuit: PTAB Did Not Err In Finding that Prior Art Reference Disclosed Negative Limitation Without Stating a Feature’s Absence
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