3 Count: Cataract Case

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1: Alcon to Pay J&J $199 Million to Settle Eye-Laser Tech Case

First off today, Christopher Yasiejko at Bloomberg Law reports that Alcon Inc has agreed to pay Johnson & Johnson $199 million as part of a settlement over alleged intellectual property violations with regard to equipment and software used to provide corrective surgery for cataracts.

The lawsuit pitted three of J&J’s subsidiaries against Alcon, a company that makes and sells tools for the procedure. According to the lawsuit, Alcon violated both various patents held by J&J, and software used to operate the equipment. The patent portion of the case had previously been put on hold pending rulings about the validity of the patents, leaving just the copyright portion ahead of a scheduled trial on Monday.

However, that trial did not happen, with the two sides reaching a settlement of $199 million to resolve the dispute. Previously, J&J had won the right to have the jury consider profit disgorgement, which could have involved up to $3.7 billion in damages. The judge, however, had accused J&J of being “greedy” with their demands and Alcon was going to provide evidence that the company was aware of the alleged infringements as far back as 2014, but only filed the case in 2020.

2: EFF and GitHub back Yout in Stream-Ripping Dispute with the Record Companies

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that both the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft, have filed an amicus brief in support of Yout in their ongoing case against the RIAA.

Yout filed the lawsuit seeking a ruling of non-infringement. Yout provides a YouTube ripping service that allows users to download temporary streams onto their computer. The RIAA had argued that the service was infringing their copyright by circumventing technical protections to prevent stream ripping. This was an argument that won over the district court, which ruled that Yout was infringing, and their case should be dismissed.

However, Yout has appealed with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. That is where the briefs have been filed. There, the EFF is arguing that there are legitimate uses for Yout’s service and the law should support those services as it could have a knock on effect with other technology. GitHub said that they are neutral in the case, but worries that the district court ruling could also negatively impact other legitimate technologies.

3: Experts Warn of Patrick Mahomes NFT Scams, Copyright Infringement

Finally today, Linda Wagar and Brianna Lanham at Fox4 report that, after the Kansas City Chiefs won this year’s Superb Owl, officials are warning of potential scams and copyright infringement, in particular with NFTs of the team’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

Collectors note that there are official NFTs of Patrick Mahomes, including one that sold for $246,000 in 2021. However, the marketplace is also rife with counterfeit ones that are not officially endorsed and often include images that are copyright infringing.

As such, collectors encourage potential buyers to stick to official NFT platforms, such as NFL All Day, to ensure that you purchase a legitimate NFT.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.