Federal Circuit Patent Updates - January 2015

The Board dismissed this petition for cancellation of Roman Atwood's registration for the mark SMILE MORE for various goods (stickers, backpacks, shirts) and for retail store service featuring clothing, denying petitioner's claim that the term fails to function as a mark.

Universal Music Group's lawsuit against DistroKid raises a critical question about AI disclosure in consumer markets: when does the use of artificial intelligence become material information that must be disclosed to consumers? The case centers on allegations that DistroKid distributed mass-generated AI music while creating the impression it was created by legitimate human artists, potentially violating existing consumer protection laws even without specific AI disclosure requirements.

On Oct. 7, 2026, at 18:00 UTC, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will publish every new generic top-level domain (gTLD) application proceeding in the 2026 new gTLD Round, including who applied...

The U.S. Copyright Office recently released a report on the human authorship requirement for materials to qualify for copyright protection.

The U.S. government has filed a Statement of Interest of the United States of America under 28 U.S.C. § 517 in the Southern District of New York multidistrict litigation over OpenAI’s use of copyrighted works to train large language models. The filing appears to be the federal government’s first direct intervention in the wave of artificial intelligence (AI) training copyright cases, and it advises the court to treat model training (separate from use of AI to generate outputs) on copyrighted text standing alone as a highly transformative fair use under current law.

There was a significant ruling in the Doe v. Github case involving training of AI code generator models on open source. The United States Court of Appeals for The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court ruling dismissing part of an action brought under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) by programmers against GitHub, Inc., and other defendants. The issues centered on whether defendants removed copyright management information (CMI) from content used to train the AI code generator models.

Is this AI-generated, or is it real? As generative AI tools have become increasingly capable of creating realistic images, videos, and audio, they have also made it easier to impersonate real people without their consent. In response, states are increasingly adopting laws that impose civil and criminal liability for certain AI-generated content that replicates an individual’s identity, likeness, voice, or other personal attributes.

A business decides to file a trademark. Someone on the team searches for a familiar online legal-services brand, clicks the first result, and lands on a site with a similar-sounding name, a polished design, five-star reviews, and a low flat fee. The application gets filed. Months later the business learns the “service” was not who they thought it was, the filing was signed by someone with no authority to sign it, and the USPTO has suspended the application along with hundreds or thousands of others from the same shop.

In recent video game news, gaming giant Nintendo filed and settled a lawsuit against the developers of the popular Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu.

The Ninth Circuit held that GitHub Copilot's AI-generated code did not violate DMCA's copyright management information (CMI) removal provisions, even when output resembled source code, because the system generated new works through probabilistic patterns rather than retrieving and stripping information from existing copies. This decision establishes a critical distinction between AI systems that learn and generate versus those that retrieve and reproduce, with significant implications for how courts evaluat

The USPTO has released its latest economic impact report on IP-intensive industries, announced a new community engagement office in North Carolina, and issued several administrative updates including relief for Japanese applicants affected by a severe earthquake. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board has also designated new precedential and informative decisions addressing obviousness-type double patenting and Markush groupings.

The SEC has proposed a comprehensive overhaul of transfer agent regulations that would formally recognize distributed ledger technology and blockchain-based recordkeeping systems within the existing regulatory framework. This modernization effort imposes enhanced operational, safeguarding, and compliance obligations while establishing technology-neutral standards that could significantly impact tokenization initiatives and digital asset market infrastructure.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown released the state's first Data Privacy Report, examining how the modern data economy incentivizes personal information collection and retention. The report catalogs resulting harms and recommends that lawmakers strengthen privacy protections, enforcement, and public education while highlighting Washington's continued lack of a comprehensive consumer privacy statute despite inspiring other states' privacy laws.

California's Air Resources Board has released significant modifications to its greenhouse gas emissions reporting regulation, deferring the first reporting deadline to November 10, 2026, and clarifying key requirements for companies doing business in California with over $1 billion in annual revenue. The updates provide additional flexibility for 2026 reporting while enforcement of the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act remains paused pending federal litigation.

As discussed in previous client alerts, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital services has dramatically increased demand for data centers.

The US International Trade Commission has opened a rare public comment period on how it should fulfill its data collection and reporting obligations under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a long-dormant authority recently invoked by the Trump Administration to impose restrictions on Canadian imports. This presents a unique opportunity for companies and stakeholders to shape from the ground up how the Commission interprets discriminatory foreign trade practices, evaluates allegations, and reports findi

The sports and gaming industries are evolving faster than existing legal frameworks can accommodate, creating unprecedented jurisdictional battles, regulatory shifts, and commercial opportunities. From the escalating fight over prediction markets between federal regulators and states to the emergence of responsible gaming as a standalone policy priority, the first half of 2026 has reshaped the legal landscape governing these sectors while raising fundamental questions about innovation, consumer protection

The US Department of Justice has signaled a potential expansion of enforcement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and Section 951, despite earlier indications of limited criminal enforcement. Recent regulatory developments, policy announcements, and high-profile prosecutions of US officials suggest a renewed focus on foreign agent disclosure requirements and potential criminal liability for undisclosed relationships with foreign governments.

As investment in data center infrastructure accelerates globally, disputes are emerging from contractual and investment-related risks that commonly accompany large-scale infrastructure projects. This analysis examines the growing wave of contractual claims among owners, contractors, and subcontractors, as well as investment treaty claims that may arise when governmental actions impact overseas data center developments.

The U.S. Department of Justice has announced three major settlements totaling over $558 million against healthcare providers partnering with Medicare Advantage plans for allegedly submitting false diagnosis codes. These enforcement actions reveal DOJ's intensified scrutiny of risk-sharing payment arrangements between Medicare Advantage plans and healthcare providers, while demonstrating the significant benefits that self-disclosure and cooperation can provide to companies facing potential False Claims Act l