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A Virginia jury has ruled against cable giant Cox Communications in a copyright infringement case, awarding the plaintiffs $1 billion. EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and Universal Music had sued Cox over illegal piracy by the company’s subscribers. The labels had alleged that over 10,000 songs were pirated while the company failed to do…

In February 2018, Uber reached a settlement with self-driving technology company Waymo concerning allegations of intellectual property theft. Waymo had sued Uber, claiming that its autonomous vehicle technology misappropriated its trade secrets. As part of the agreement, an independent investigator was hired to look into Waymo’s allegations. The end results seem to have confirmed Waymo’s…

The smiley face logo, with X’s for eyes, has become emblematic of 90s grunge band Nirvana. The iconic rock group filed a lawsuit last December against Marc Jacobs, accusing the fashion house of stealing their logo. Now, Marc Jacobs is countersuing Nirvana in a case that raises interesting intellectual property law questions. First, some history…

Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, is expecting the state to appeal a critical ruling over evidence. And he’s ready. Prosecutors have until October 1 to challenge a judge’s ruling that throws out critical video evidence against Kraft. The order by Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser was handed down in May.…

CEIVA Logic Inc. has sued Amazon over alleged patent infringements. CEIVA is renowned for pioneering network-connected smart displays about 20 years ago. Now, CEIVA says, the tech giant is liable for infringing on two of its U.S. patents: Patent 6,442,573: “Method and Apparatus for Distributing Picture Mail to a Frame Device Community” Patent 9,654,562: “Method…

Nike recently filed a lawsuit against Skechers, accusing the shoe company of infringing at least 12 design patents. In its complaint, Nike claims that Skechers uses competitors’ shoe designs in order to gain market share. The dispute concerns Skechers’ Sketch-Air 92, Sketch-Air Status, Sketch-Air Blast, and Sketch-Air Atlas styles, among others. In particular, Nike has…

Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski was recently hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit – over a picture taken of herself. In the lawsuit, photographer Robert O’Neil claims that the 28-year-old posted one of his photos to her Instagram account. The image includes Ratajkowski, with her face obscured by a bouquet of flowers. The suit was…

Oklahoma has appealed a federal judge’s ruling involving a man featured in a Netflix documentary. The state was ordered to either release Karl Fontenot or hold a new trial within 120 days. Fontenot is serving life in prison for the 1984 killing of an Ada, OK convenience store clerk. In August, U.S. District Court Judge…