Kavya Rallabhandi
Subscribe to Kavya Rallabhandi's PostsKavya Rallabhandi focuses her practice on intellectual property litigation matters. Read Kavya Rallabhandi's full bio.
Rum Wars: Lanham Act Doesn’t Preclude Judicial Review of PTO Renewal Decisions
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Jun 27, 2024
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s ruling, holding that the Lanham Act does not foreclose an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) action for judicial review of the US Patent & Trademark Office’s (PTO) compliance with statutes and regulations governing trademark registration renewal. Bacardi & Co. Ltd. v....
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“Common Sense” Governs Tribal Sovereign Immunity Under Federal Contracting Program
By Kavya Rallabhandi on May 16, 2024
Posted In Trade Secrets
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s ruling, holding that waiver of sovereign immunity for claims related to a federal contracting program means the defendant, a sovereign Indian tribe, can be sued and that the district court failed to consider the valid and enforceable nature of the...
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Badgerow Enforced: District Court Lacks Independent Jurisdiction to Enforce Arbitration Award
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Feb 29, 2024
Posted In Trade Secrets
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s arbitration award because the district court lacked proper subject matter jurisdiction, independent from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), to enforce the award. SmartSky Networks, LLC v. DAG Wireless, LTD, Case No. 22-1253 (4th Cir. Feb. 13, 2024) (Diaz, Thacker, Rubin,...
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Senate Holds Hearing on Legislative Initiative to Address Patent Eligibility
By Christopher M. Bruno and Kavya Rallabhandi on Feb 1, 2024
Posted In Patents
Seeking to undo the current jurisprudence “mess” on the issue of patent eligibility, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property heard testimony on January 23, 2024, on the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) (text here). PERA seeks to address the uncertainty and unpredictable outcomes created by the 2014 Supreme Court of the United States...
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Decoding Algorithms: Structural Sufficiency for Means-Plus-Function Claim Judged From Skilled Artisan’s Perspective
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Oct 19, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reiterated that in the context of construing computer-implemented means-plus-function limitations, if the specification discloses some arguable algorithm, even if a party contends that the algorithm is inadequate, the sufficiency of the purportedly-adequate structure disclosed in the specification must be evaluated in light of the knowledge possessed...
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Almost Paradise? No Authorship for AI “Creativity Machine”
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Aug 31, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
The US District Court for the District of Columbia agreed with the US Copyright Office’s denial of a copyright application that sought to register visual art generated by artificial intelligence (AI) because US copyright law only protects works of human creation. Thaler v. Perlmutter, Case No. CV 22-1564 (D.D.C. Aug. 18, 2023) (Howell, J.) The...
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Hit a Nerve? Obviousness Inquiry Must Address Claims at Issue
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Jul 20, 2023
Posted In Patents
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a Patent Trial & Appeal Board non-obviousness decision, finding that the context of the proposed combination of prior art in the Board’s obviousness inquiry was not directed toward the context of the claim at issue. Axonics, Inc. v. Medtronic, Inc., Case No. 21-1451...
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Quack, Waddle and Duck: Order That Grants Injunctive Relief Is an Injunction
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Jun 15, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded a district court ruling, finding that the district court failed to properly apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) in granting injunctive relief. Wudi Industrial (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. v. Wong et al., Case Nos. 22-1495; -1662 (4th Cir. June 5, 2023) (Gregory,...
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On the Road Again: Alternative Designs May Impact Trade Dress Functionality Analysis
By Kavya Rallabhandi on May 25, 2023
Posted In Trademarks
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded a summary judgment ruling, finding that there were genuine disputes of material fact regarding whether the plaintiff’s alleged trade dress was functional and therefore excluded from trade dress protection. DayCab Co., Inc. v. Prairie Tech., LLC, Case No. 22-5625 (6th Cir. May 11,...
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Out of Tune: Eleventh Circuit Permits Retrospective Relief for Timely Copyright Claims under Discovery Rule
By Kavya Rallabhandi on Mar 9, 2023
Posted In Copyrights
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit furthered a circuit split in holding that, as a matter of first impression, a copyright plaintiff’s timely claim under the discovery rule is subject to retrospective relief for infringement occurring more than three years before the suit was filed. Nealy v. Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Case...
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