A federal jury has awarded $10.65 million to a North Carolina engineering company after finding that another company took its plans for a new product and used them to secure patents by wrongly portraying the technology as its own invention. ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

BY KIRK TESKA As is our custom this time of year, the following are the top 10 IP cases of the year. Tampa Brady NFL quarterback Tom Brady is once again seeking to acquire more federal trademark registrations. Last year ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

BY KIRK TESKA It’s that time of year again. Without further ado, following are the top 10 IP cases of 2019: Tom Terrific A U.S. Trademark Office examiner was on her game when Tom Brady applied to register “Tom Terrific” ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

Where the disputes in this case are related to the use and performance of a drug and will ultimately affect the drug’s value as intellectual property, this action is properly designated as a business court case under G.S. § 7A-45.4(a)(5). ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

SciGrip, Inc. v. Osae (Lawyers Weekly No. 020-010-18, 38 pp.) (Michael Robinson, J.) 2018 NCBC 10 Holding: After defendant Osae left plaintiffs’ employ, he went to work for defendant Scott Bader, Inc., in the United Kingdom. Although Osae frequently traveled ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

Firebirds International, LLC v. Firebird Restaurant Group, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 004-021-17, 14 pp.) (Robert Conrad Jr., J.) 3:16-cv-00774; W.D.N.C. Holding: Non-party El Fenix is a subsidiary of the Texas defendants, and defendants allegedly infringe plaintiff’s various “Firebirds” trademarks. Even ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

Krausz Industries Ltd. v. Smith-Blair, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-001-17, 25 pp.) (Robert Numbers II, USMJ) 5:12-cv-00570; E.D.N.C. Holding: Where defendant sought the opinion of one law firm as to whether defendant’s product infringed plaintiff’s patent and retained another law ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

A recent change to North Carolina law extended the reach of the state’s business court to cover intellectual property disputes, even if the cases don’t touch on questions of IP ownership, a Business Court judge has ruled. Southeastern Automotive, an ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

A federal jury in western North Carolina has awarded nearly three times the amount of damages that a plaintiffs’ expert had estimated were reasonable in a patent infringement dispute, according to a defense attorney involved in the case. “I’ve always ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property

Jimmy John’s, a sandwich shop, promises “subs so fast you’ll freak.” But it was revelations that the company had made workers sign contracts promising not to swap their aprons for those of hoagie-making rivals that freaked out New York’s attorney ...

Tagged with: Intellectual Property non-compete clause