Other Barks & Bites for Friday, August 4: Ted Cruz Proposes Bill to Clarify NCCA NIL Rules; GSK Accuses Pfizer of Infringing on its RSV Vaccine Patent; American Axle Claim Upheld in District Court

This week in Other Barks & Bites: Senator Ted Cruz introduces draft legislation to clarify federal law on college athletes’ name, image, likeness (NIL) rights; American Axle gets win on remanded claim in district court; inventors lament “As Seen on TV” infringement; AstraZeneca pays Bristol Myers Squibb to settle patent infringement lawsuit.

Bites

Inventors Blast ‘As Seen on TV’ Companies’ Rampant Infringement

On Thursday, August 3, CBS reported that the “as seen on TV” companies Telebrands and Ontel are currently facing almost 100 lawsuits accusing the companies of infringing on intellectual property rights. The companies are accused of producing knock-offs of the inventor’s products and using their “as seen on TV” strategy to sell the copycats. CBS interviewed two inventors,  Juliette Fassett, creator of a 3-D tablet stand called the Flippy, and Josh Malone, Bunch O’Balloons inventor, for the segment. Fassett, who spotted a knock-off of her product on a late-night TV ad, said “I can’t stand bullies. And these bullies just happen to have millions and millions and millions of dollars of what should be my money.” In 2017, a district court jury ruled that Telebrands had to pay $12.3 million in damages for the willful patent infringement of the popular Bunch O’Balloons product.

GSK Accuses Pfizer of Patent Infringement Related to RSV Vaccine

On Wednesday, August 2, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline filed a lawsuit against Pfizer accusing its competitor of infringing on four of its patents. GSK alleged that Pfizer’s RSV vaccine infringes on Arexvy, GSK’s vaccine that was the first FDA-approved RSV vaccine. Pfizer’s vaccine has been in development since 2013 and the company planned to bring it to market for the 2023 Fall RSV season. GSK is demanding a jury trial and seeking damages as well as halting the production and sale of Pfizer’s version of the vaccine.

Senator Cruz Introduces NIL Rights Bill for Universities, College Athletes

On Wednesday, August 2, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a discussion draft of a bill before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce that seeks to provide legal certainty on college athletes’ NIL rights. A landmark Supreme Court decision granted college athletes name, image, and likeness rights in 2021, allowing student-athletes to sign endorsement deals while remaining amateur athletes. Two years on, many universities have raised concerns about inequality within the NIL system that allows institutions from certain states to offer more lucrative deals due to differences in state laws. Several big athletic conferences and universities have expressed interest in federal regulation of NIL deals. NCAA President Charlie Barker commented on Cruz’s potential legislation, “the NCAA is excited to see this legislation move forward. It would empower the Association to continue the work it’s already begun to modernize college sports to best serve student-athletes.”

Dua Lipa Sued for Copyright Infringement

On Monday, July 31, producer Bosko Kante filed a lawsuit alleging that Dua Lipa infringed on his copyright in remixes of the British pop star’s song “Levitating”. In the lawsuit, the producer asks for $20 million in estimated profits from the song. The lawsuit refers to Bosko Kante as “one of the world’s top talk box artists,” and he alleges that one of Dua Lipa’s producers approached him in 2019 to produce a talk box performance for “Levitating”. After a contractual disagreement, Bosko Kante said that he did not give a license or permission for the talk box performance to be used in any remixes. Dua Lipa has previously faced two separate copyright lawsuits related to the song with one being dismissed in June.

American Axle Take Two: District Court Finds Driveshaft Claim Eligible on Remand

On Friday, July 28, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware found on remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that claim 1 of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 7,774,911 is patent eligible and rejected Neapco Holdings’ motion for summary judgment of invalidity and non-infringement. The court also granted American Axle’s motion for summary judgment of no anticipation as to one prior art reference but denied its motion as to no anticipation of another. The U.S. Supreme Court denied American Axle’s petition for writ of certiorari in June 2022.

Barks

AFP Sues X, Formerly Twitter, over Copyright

On Wednesday, August 2, French news agency Agence France-Presse announced a copyright lawsuit against X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. The French firm is pursuing the case in order to compel the social media company to remunerate AFP and other news agencies under the neighboring rights legislation. This form of copyright allows news companies to receive payment from digital platforms when they share their work.

USPTO Updates a Trademark Classification

On Wednesday, August 2, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a final rule that incorporates classification changes in accordance with the Nice Agreement. 90 countries are party to the Nice Agreement which classifies goods and services for registering trademarks. The rule is a minor change that aligns the English class heading for Class 3 with the French class heading. The changes will go into effect on January 1, 2024.

Copyright Office Finalizes Rule on Copyright Claims Board Procedures

On Monday, July 31, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) issued a final rule related to Copyright Claims Board (CCB) procedures on district court referrals, proof of service forms, default proceedings, and the appearance of law student representatives before the CCB. The final rule is unchanged from an interim rule that was instituted on December 19, 2022. Now the CCB is allowed to accept alternative proof of service forms and clarify the rules around law student representation.

AstraZeneca Pays $510 Million to Bristol Myers Squibb to Settle Patent Dispute

On Friday, July 28, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca settled a patent infringement dispute centered on the companies’ cancer immunotherapies. The joint stipulation of dismissal was approved by a Delaware judge thus settling three separate lawsuits. As part of the deal, AstraZeneca will pay Bristol Myers Squibb and its subsidiary a total of $510 million.

This Week on Wall Street

Amazon Beats Q2 Earnings Expectations Amid AI Hype

On Thursday, August 3, Amazon announced its second-quarter earnings with an 11% increase in net sales, topping earnings predictions. Along with other tech stocks, Amazon’s stock has popped in recent months in large part thanks to hype around AI. In the earnings report, the company details its plan to use Amazon Webs Services generative AI to expand the business. In a conference call, CEO Andy Jassy said, “we think AWS is poised to be customers’ long term partner of choice in generative AI.”

Apple Rakes in $10 Billion in Deposits Since Launching Savings Account in April

On Wednesday, August 2, Apple announced that since offering a savings account through Goldman Sachs in April, the tech company has surpassed $10 billion in deposits. Apple offers a variety of financial products and services in an effort to keep its broad base of customers in the Apple ecosystem. “With each of the financial products we’ve introduced, we’ve sought to reinvent the category with our users’ financial health in mind,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet.

Quarterly Earnings – The following firms identified among the IPO’s Top 300 Patent Recipients for 2022 are announcing quarterly earnings next week (2022 rank in parentheses):

• Monday: Palantir (234)
• Tuesday: Honda (25), Disney (244)
• Wednesday: None
• Thursday: Alibaba (103)
• Friday: None