A recent ruling from the United States District Court for the District of Central California in the lawsuit against Miley Cyrus and others for the song “Flowers” highlighted the power that a single copyright co-owner holds in...more
6/9/2025
/ Co-Ownership ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Judicial Authority ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Standing ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Successor Interests ,
The Copyright Act
A temporary restraining order (“TRO”) followed by a preliminary injunction is often essential for a company to maintain the trade secrets status of its information that is being misappropriated. Typically, once the...more
11/19/2024
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Discovery ,
Expedited Discovery ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Proprietary Information ,
Trade Secrets ,
TRO ,
Uniform Trade Secrets Acts
Though litigants routinely enter into stipulated protective orders in the course of discovery that may involve sensitive company information (or even trade secrets), a recent ruling is a cautionary tale on the potential...more
Last month, Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Vital”), the manufacturer of the Bang energy drink, fell short in its post-trial challenge to a “monster” jury award in favor of Monster Energy Company (“Monster”). ...more
11/14/2023
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
False Advertising ,
Jury Awards ,
Lanham Act ,
Misappropriation ,
Monster Energy Drinks ,
Trade Secrets ,
Uniform Trade Secrets Acts ,
Willful Violations
Earlier this month, a federal court judge in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois denied a defendant’s motion to dismiss a plaintiff’s amended complaint for, among other claims, trade secret...more
In a recent trade secrets litigation in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, a jury awarded the plaintiffs 40 million dollars, half of which was punitive damages. The Court also...more
11/30/2022
/ Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Former Employee ,
Injunctions ,
Jury Awards ,
Misappropriation ,
No-Poaching ,
Proprietary Information ,
Punitive Damages ,
Research and Development ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Trade Secrets
A federal magistrate judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in a trade secrets dispute involving CBD-based pain cream, recently granted summary judgment in favor of all but one...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a $66 million dollar judgment against beauty industry giant L’Oréal for patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and a related breach...more
5/25/2021
/ Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Judgment As A Matter Of Law ,
L'Oreal ,
Misappropriation ,
Money Judgment ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patents ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Trade Secrets
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a $66 million dollar judgment against beauty industry giant L’Oréal for patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and a related breach...more
5/19/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Appeals ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Breach of Contract ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
L'Oreal ,
Misappropriation ,
Money Judgment ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Validity ,
Patents ,
Prejudgment Interest ,
Prior Art ,
Reversal ,
Trade Secrets
As you may recall from our prior posts regarding the advisory jury verdict and subsequent district court ruling in the 5Pointz litigation (Cohen et al v. G&M Realty LP et al.), in 2018, Judge Block in the U.S. District Court...more
Earlier this month, a federal magistrate judge in the Northern District of Illinois granted a defendant’s request for a protective order to avoid in-person depositions of its experts, by requiring that the depositions instead...more
Last month, the D.C. Circuit revived a False Claims Act (“FCA”) retaliatory discrimination claim by a former employee of Howard University contending that she was fired by the University for objecting both internally and...more
Earlier this month, a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of New York, Judge Lois Bloom, issued a report and recommendation (“R&R”) that the ultimate sanction of default judgment be entered against certain...more
5/23/2019
/ Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Bad Faith ,
Crime-Fraud Exception ,
Default Judgment ,
Depositions ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Disputes ,
Fraud ,
Misrepresentation ,
Professional Misconduct ,
Protective Orders ,
Sanctions
Earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit ruled that under the Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1836, et seq.) (“DTSA”), a defendant is not the “prevailing party” by virtue of a plaintiff voluntarily dismissing a DTSA claim,...more
We previously posted about an Oregon federal district court’s summary judgment rulings, favorable to Adidas, in the storied battle between heavyweights Adidas and Skechers. (Adidas America, Inc. v. Skechers USA, Inc. (D. Or....more
5/29/2018
/ Adidas ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fashion Branding ,
Fashion Design ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Sketchers ,
Trade Dress ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
We previously posted about an advisory jury verdict rendered in the 5Pointz litigation (Cohen et al v. G&M Realty LP et al.), a case involving the whitewashing of the famous exterior aerosol (or “graffiti”) art in the space...more
The False Claims Act authorizes civil penalties between $10,781 to $21,563 per false claim, as well as three times the amount of damages which the government sustains (i.e. treble damages). The Eighth Amendment provides that...more
Earlier this month, in Cohen et al v. G&M Realty LP et al., a jury impaneled in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that a developer violated the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (“VARA”) when...more
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit provided important guidance on the standard applicable to resolving disputes over the rightful ownership of a trademark where the mark has been used by a group of...more
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a district court’s dismissal of a qui tam action under the oft-litigated, “public disclosure bar,” where the transactions that gave rise to an inference of...more
6/29/2016
/ Army ,
Corporate Counsel ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Original Source ,
Philip Morris ,
Public Disclosure ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
U.S. Navy ,
US Air Force ,
Websites
The FCA first-to-file bar provides that if an action involving the same subject matter is already pending, “no person other than the Government may intervene or bring a related action based on the facts underlying the pending...more
The Ninth Circuit last week held that pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3730(d)(3) of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), a qui tam relator who is convicted of conduct giving rise to the fraud that is the subject of the FCA lawsuit must be...more
7/21/2015
/ Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Government Investigations ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblowers
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a relator based on the district court’s finding of a violation of the False Claims...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated a federal district court’s award of $657 Million for treble damages under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), restitution, and prejudgment interest. See...more
5/12/2015
/ Actual Damages ,
Aircraft Equipment ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Competitive Bidding ,
Damages ,
Fair Market Value ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Remand ,
Restitution ,
Treble Damages ,
US Air Force ,
Vacated
The Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) 8(a) Mentor-Protégé Program provides a useful mechanism for 8(a) small business concerns to develop and grow by virtue of receiving various forms of assistance from qualifying...more