football.jpgIPNews® – A group of Native Americans are attempting to have six Washington Redskins’ trademarks cancelled, claiming that the team’s name is disparaging to Native Americans.

In a hearing in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week, a group of Native Americans argued that because the team’s name is an ethnic slur and is disparaging toward the Native American population, the team should not be entitled to trademark protection of the name under the Lanham Act.  The Redskins fired back claiming that the petitions to cancel are barred by latches and that the group has no evidence that the term is considered offensive to a substantial number of Native Americans.

To continue reading, click: Redskins Defend Name to Protect Trademark Rights

eye.jpgIPNews® – Allergan, Inc. was granted partial summary judgment against Cosmetic Alchemy, LLC for inducing its customers to infringe Allergan’s patents that cover its popular eyelash growth drug Latisse.

U.S. District Judge James V. Selna of the Central District of California ruled that Cosmetic Alchemy had induced its customers to infringe Allergan’s patent by marketing and selling its products as a cosmetic that would induce hair growth and instructing its customers to apply the product using Allergan’s patented methods.

To continue reading, click: Allergan Wins Partial Summary Judgment on Latisse Patent Infringement Lawsuit

facebook.jpgIPNews® – Facebook, Inc. is tangled in another round of litigation, this time for the website’s timeline feature, which a rival claims infringes its trademarks.

Timelines, Inc. alleges that Facebook’s timeline feature infringes its TIMELINES trademark, but Facebook claims the trademark should never have been granted because the term is generic.  Timelines countered that just because a word appears in a dictionary does not mean it can’t be protected, citing Facebook’s 14 trademark registrations for LIKE.

To continue reading, click: Facebook Argues TIMELINES is a Generic Trademark, Rival Disagrees

chips-guacamole.jpgIPNews® – A Texas jury found that Medallion Foods, Inc.’s BOWLZ chips do not infringe on Frito-Lay’s patent or trade dress for its SCOOPS! bowl-shaped tortilla chips.

Frito-Lay accused Medallion Foods of trying to piggy-back on the success of its SCOOPS! tortilla chips, which the company says it has put a substantial amount of time and money into branding.  The jury, however, found that Medallion’s process for making its bowl-shaped chip is sufficiently different from Frito-Lay’s process and that the packaging of Medallion’s chips is not confusingly similar to Frito-Lay’s packaging.

To continue reading, click: Frito-Lay Loses SCOOPS! Tortilla Chip Patent Fight

peppermint.jpgIPNews® – The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board denied a drug company’s application to trademark the peppermint scent and taste of its nitroglycerin spray used to treat chest pain.

The board ruled that because the peppermint oil increases the effectiveness of the nitroglycerin spray, it is a functional aspect of the drug and therefore cannot be trademarked.  The board also ruled that the scent and flavor of the spray are not distinct enough to warrant trademark protection.

To continue reading, click: Drug Maker Cannot Trademark Peppermint Flavor and Scent

touchscreen.jpgIPNews® – A Texas federal judge denied Apple’s bid to have the $368 million patent infringement judgment against it eliminated or reduced after its FaceTime application was found to have infringed four patents owned by VirnetX Holding Corp.

In addition to denying Apple’s post-trial bid, U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis also denied VirnetX’s request for a permanent injunction that could have forced Apple to remove its FaceTime app from every previoiusly sold iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.  Judge Davis ruled that an injunction would be too drastic and instead ordered the two companies into mediation to determine a royalty rate for Apple to pay in order to use the technology.

To continue reading, click: Judge Upholds $368 Million FaceTime Patent Infringement Judgment against Apple 

download.jpgIPNews® – Interest groups for the film, television and music industries have teamed up with Internet service providers to instate a new program to help prevent unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material.

Under the new program, which began February 26th, copyright owners will seek out the IP addresses of users sharing copyrighted material without authorization and report the IP addresses to the appropriate Internet service provider.  The Internet service provider will then issue consequences up to and including reducing a user’s Internet speed for an unspecified amount of days.

To continue reading, click: Downloading Copyrighted Material Could Slow Your Internet Speed

Qualcomm.pngIPNews® – Qualcomm, Microsoft and others filed public comments with the FTC saying that Google has been pursuing injunctive relief against them despite the company’s agreement with the FTC forbidding it from doing so.

In a settlement with the FTC, Google agreed that it would cease seeking sales bans on competitors that were willing to pay licensing fees for the use of its patented standard-essential technology.  However, several companies claim that Google is still seeking injunctive relief and is leveraging the threat of an injunction as a tool in royalty rate negotiations.

To continue reading, click: Qualcomm, Microsoft Say Google Isn’t Upholding FTC Patent Settlement

burner-cooking.jpgIPNews® – Cookware giant Meyer Manufacturing Co. Ltd filed a Motion for Summary Judgment against Telebrands Corp. arguing that the “As Seen On TV” company could not trademark the color green on the inside of pots and pans.

Meyer argued that the color green is a functional indicator of the products eco-friendliness and therefore should never have been granted trademark protection.  The company also argued that even if the trademark was valid, Telebrands has shown no evidence that there is any confusion between the two companies’ green-painted cookware, and therefore it has not infringed Telebrands’ trademark.

To continue reading, click: Cookware Giant Sued for Trademark Infringement over Green Colored Pans

navigate_directions.jpgIPNews® – ArrivalStar SA is back to filing patent infringement lawsuits, having filed 11 last week against various retail and logistics companies.

The Luxembourg-based company filed the patent lawsuits against several retailers, including Hewlett-Packard Co., New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. and Lacoste USA Inc, in addition to a handful of logistics companies.  ArrivalStar claims that the companies infringed patents related to vehicle-tracking technology that are licensed to it by Melvino Technologies Ltd.

To continue reading, click: HP, New Balance among 11 Sued for Infringing Vehicle-Tracking Patents