Litigation

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently issued a precedential decision affirming an Examiner’s refusal to register WEMBY for athletic apparel. It is a rare precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision rendered under Sections 2(a) and 2(c) of the Lanham Act, which are not the frequent subjects of litigation.

In re Moche reinforces how bankruptcy courts and matrimonial courts can work in tandem and harness the specialized expertise of both tribunals. While bankruptcy courts have exclusive jurisdiction to control the disposition of assets, the threshold issue of marital property rights is a matter that comes within the unique expertise of the matrimonial court. That determination in the matrimonial court ultimately impacts what steps may occur in the bankruptcy court proceedings.

Part One of a Two-Part ArticleThis is the first installment in a two-part series examining the implications of using generative artificial intelligence in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications. In this part, we address privilege and discovery risks that could arise when GAI tools are used in the patent-drafting process, and we identify targeted discovery strategies that patent litigators should consider when challenging patents that may have been drafted with GAI assistance.

It’s been an active season for the federal appeals courts on the copyright law front. This article summarizes three of these recent circuit court decisions.

In a recent case, a Chapter 11 debtor sought to employ an accounting firm under section 327(a), the principal of which was the first cousin of the owner of the debtor corporation. The U.S. Trustee objected to the retention, arguing that the debtor’s cousin was an insider. But the bankruptcy judge disagreed.

As the costs of U.S. bankruptcy cases have increased, and relief such as obtaining nonconsensual third-party releases has been limited by court rulings, restructuring specialists have begun to look to foreign restructurings’ use of Chapter 15 as an ancillary proceeding to implement certain corporate restructurings.

Notable recent court filings in entertainment law.

A trademark infringement dispute between the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia and the drag queen Pattie Gonia may not make it to a jury after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California referred the matter to mediation, but experts say there’s still a lot to learn from what the filing has to say about current trends in trademark enforcement.