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Every story on LexCircuit filed under ip: court orders, regulation, ethics opinions, litigation and research, each summarized across its sources.

39 stories

UK · EWCACourt order

Court of Appeal caps Convatec costs budget at £4 million and lets inventor claim for combined patents

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales held on October 26, 2026, in Parsons v Convatec [2026] EWCA Civ 1357 that section 106 of the Patents Act 1977, on parties' financial position in costs orders, applies to costs budgeting, and that an employee may claim compensation for the combined benefit of several inventions. Lord Justice Arnold capped Convatec's budgeted recoverable costs at £4 million in former chemist David Parsons' claim, valued at up to £366 million.

Order (ICLG) → · Law Society Gazette, Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
MASS.People moves

Honigman opens Boston office with three Womble Bond Dickinson patent partners

Honigman has opened an office in Boston, its ninth in the United States and its first in the Northeast, by hiring life sciences patent partners Cristin Cowles, Danielle Herritt and Deborah Vernon from Womble Bond Dickinson. The firm announced the move on October 26, 2026. It is Honigman's first new location since it opened in Washington, D.C., in 2020.

Announcement (Global Legal Post) → · Law360 Pulse
N.Y.People moves

Sterlington hires nine-member patent team from Holland & Hart

Sterlington has hired a nine-member patent team led by former Holland & Hart partners J. Scott Karren and Thomas Anderson, the New York firm announced on October 26, 2026. The group includes four counsel, two patent agents and an IP specialist, and focuses on patent portfolios for technology companies in wireless communications, cellular standards, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Karren said more colleagues are expected to join.

Announcement (Sterlington) → · Law360
UKPeople moves

Latham hires Paul Hastings' London IP and tech litigation head Jason Raeburn

Latham & Watkins has hired Jason Raeburn, who headed Paul Hastings' London IP and technology litigation practice, as a partner in London. Raeburn handles disputes involving AI, copyright, technology and life sciences and sits part-time as a deputy master in the High Court's Chancery Division. The hire extends Latham's London technology push, which included a three-partner tech M&A team from Morrison Foerster in May.

Announcement (The Lawyer) → · Legal Business, Law.com International
U.S. FEDLitigation

Elvis Presley rightsholders sue Anthropic over training Claude on 274 songs

Companies that control Elvis Presley's music, led by a unit of Authentic Brands Group, sued Anthropic on October 23, 2026, alleging it trained its Claude models on 274 of Presley's copyrighted songs without permission and that Claude produces unlicensed derivative works. The suit, ABE EPE LLC v. Anthropic, seeks up to $150,000 per song, or roughly $41 million. Anthropic did not immediately comment.

Filing (Billboard) → · Rolling Stone
N.D. CAL.Court order

Judge orders Meta to identify who approved torrenting shadow libraries for AI training

A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco on October 19, 2026, ordered Meta to identify each person who made, authorized or approved decisions to obtain shadow-library datasets such as LibGen and Anna's Archive, including by BitTorrent. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson's order covers the authors' class action led by Richard Kadrey and suits by publishers including Entrepreneur Media that accuse Meta of training AI on pirated works.

Order (Digital Music News) → · Ars Technica
U.S.Court order

Supreme Court lacks quorum in BMG v. Vetter after four justices with Penguin Random House book deals sit out

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, affirmed by default a Fifth Circuit ruling that songwriter Cyril Vetter's U.S. copyright termination recaptured worldwide rights to "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)." Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett and Jackson took no part, leaving five justices, short of the six-justice quorum. BMG's parent, Bertelsmann, also owns Penguin Random House, which has published books by all four.

Order (Supreme Court of the United States) → · Bloomberg Law, Courthouse News Service, ABA Journal

Rulings this week

All court orders

UKPeople moves

Shoosmiths hires RPC technology disputes partner Caroline Tuck in London

Shoosmiths recruited Caroline Tuck as a partner in its London Litigation, Risk & Compliance team to strengthen Technology & AI and commercial litigation capabilities, Solicitors Journal reported October 12, 2026. Tuck joins from RPC, where she specialized in high-value technology disputes, cross-border litigation and arbitration, and served on the firm's AI Board and Steering Committee.

Announcement (Solicitors Journal) → · CDR News, Global Legal Insights
U.S. FEDProduct launches

iDealLegal.ai pitches multi-model Word add-in contract review for small firms

iDealLegal.ai, a bootstrapped startup registered in Wyoming as S&O LEGAL LLC and founded in January 2026 by transactional lawyer Sergey Ovcharov, offers a Word add-in on Microsoft AppSource that runs GPT, Claude and Gemini against lawyer-vetted playbooks and flags model disagreements for human review. In a Legal IT Insider Startup Corner Q&A, the company said it targets firms of 1–20 lawyers and small in-house teams, offers zero data retention on paid plans and has no outside funding.

Announcement (Legal IT Insider) → · Pivot News
D.C.People moves

Greenberg Traurig adds Steptoe life sciences litigator Jonathan Janow in D.C.

Greenberg Traurig has added Jonathan D. Janow as a litigation shareholder in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced Oct. 8. Janow joins from Steptoe, where Law360 Pulse reported he had arrived in February. According to the firm, he represents pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in antitrust, class action, trade secret and other complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts nationwide.

Announcement (Greenberg Traurig) → · Law360 Pulse
D.C.People moves

Latham hires Baker Botts' Lisa Kattan as ITC practice co-chair in Washington

Latham & Watkins said on October 5, 2026, that Lisa Kattan has joined its Washington, D.C., office from Baker Botts as a partner in its intellectual property litigation practice and co-chair of its International Trade Commission practice. Kattan represents technology and life sciences companies in Section 337 investigations and related patent disputes and earlier spent five years at the ITC as a senior investigative attorney.

Announcement (Bloomberg Law) → · PR Newswire
E.D. PA.Court order

Pennsylvania federal court denies Starbucks bid to dismiss, transfer or stay union trademark suit

U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson on October 2 denied Starbucks' motion to dismiss a declaratory judgment lawsuit brought by Workers United in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The union seeks a ruling that its name and raised-fist logo do not infringe or dilute Starbucks trademarks or infringe its copyrights. The court held that a 2024 memorandum of understanding did not end the live controversy and declined Starbucks' alternative request to transfer or stay the case.

Order (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) → · Reuters, USA Herald, Hoodline
SPAINPeople moves

Andersen Iberia integrates Martín & Parés, adding Barcelona litigation partners

Iberian Lawyer and Líder Legal reported on October 2, 2026, that Andersen Iberia integrated Barcelona litigation boutique Martín & Parés Abogados. Eva López Parés and Víctor J. Martín join as litigation partners with four colleagues, lifting the Barcelona office to 42 professionals including 11 partners and deepening commercial litigation, contractual liability, and economic-crime work in Catalonia.

Announcement (Iberian Lawyer) → · Líder Legal
CAL.Regulation

California extends likeness and impersonation laws to AI digital replicas

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1111 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, the Civil Code cause of action for using a person's voice or likeness without consent covers digital replicas, defined as computer-generated, highly realistic representations of a person who did not perform or whose performance was materially altered. Using a digital replica to impersonate someone counts as false impersonation under the Penal Code.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
3D CIR.Court order

Third Circuit affirms Thomson Reuters win over ROSS on Westlaw headnotes and AI training

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on September 29, 2026, affirmed a Delaware federal judgment that ROSS Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters Westlaw headnotes and could not claim fair use for using them to train a competing AI legal research tool, Bloomberg Law and Copyright Lately reported. The precedential opinion, filed under temporary seal on September 29, is now public on the court's website.

Order (Bloomberg Law) → · Copyright Lately, LawSites, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit +1
AUSTRALIAPeople moves

Jones Day adds five partners in Australia across disputes, finance, energy, corporate, and IP

Jones Day hired five partners in Australia, Law.asia and Bloomberg Law reported on September 29, 2026. Dylan McKimmie joined global disputes in Brisbane from Norton Rose Fulbright; Leigh De Jong (financial markets/real estate), Christopher Flynn (energy), Lance Sacks (corporate), and Ken Saurajen (intellectual property) joined in Sydney from MinterEllison, Gilbert + Tobin, Baker McKenzie, and Clayton Utz respectively. Jones Day said it has added 10 lateral partners in Australia in 2026.

Announcement (Law.asia) → · Bloomberg Law, Jones Day
ILL.People moves

Reed Smith hires Neal Gerber emerging tech partner Kate Campbell in Chicago

Kate Campbell joined Reed Smith as a partner in its global corporate group and emerging technologies group in Chicago, Bloomberg Law reported on September 29, 2026. Campbell advises on AI governance, data privacy, cybersecurity, technology transactions, and digital product launches for startups through multinational companies. She joins from Neal Gerber Eisenberg.

Announcement (Bloomberg Law) → · Reed Smith
D. DEL.Litigation

Corteva and Inari settle Delaware seed patent dispute days into jury trial

Corteva Agriscience and gene-editing company Inari Agriculture settled their patent and plant variety protection litigation days into a jury trial in Delaware federal court over Inari's use of Corteva's patented corn and soybean seed deposits. Under a stipulated order of dismissal with prejudice signed by Judge John F. Murphy on September 28, Inari must destroy all Corteva biological materials within 30 days, assign its edited versions of Corteva traits to Corteva, and negotiate licensing agreements; other terms are confidential.

Filing (U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware) → · Reuters, The Patent Lawyer Magazine, Corteva Agriscience
D. DEL.Court order

Delaware federal court denies Pfizer and Moderna bids to dismiss Bayer COVID-19 vaccine mRNA patent lawsuits

U.S. Circuit Judge William Bryson, sitting by designation in Delaware federal court, denied motions to dismiss filed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna in patent infringement litigation brought by Bayer over messenger RNA technology. The court held that Bayer's asserted claims are not directed to patent-ineligible natural laws under Section 101 and that Bayer plausibly pled infringement under Section 271.

Opinion (U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware) → · Reuters, Law360, GuruFocus
U.S. FEDFunding

Repario acquires UnitedLex from CVC to build AI-led legal services platform

JLL Partners-backed e-discovery and managed review provider Repario acquired alternative legal services provider UnitedLex from CVC Capital Partners, LawSites and Legaltech News reported on September 28, 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed. The combined company, led by Repario CEO David Moran, will pair Repario's e-discovery, infrastructure-as-a-service, and managed review with UnitedLex's litigation, contracts, legal operations, intellectual property, AI advisory, and incident response services across the United States, Mexico, India, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

Announcement (LawSites) → · Legaltech News, UnitedLex
UKFunding

News UK invests in ClearDraft AI legal clearance platform for newsroom risk review

News UK, publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, and The Sun, made a strategic investment in ClearDraft, an AI content-clearance platform that flags legal risks before publication, City A.M. reported on September 28, 2026. ClearDraft says its model is procedural rather than generative, scanning drafts for risk patterns so journalists and in-house lawyers can prioritize complex matters including SLAPP threats. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Announcement (City A.M.) → · News UK
SINGAPOREPeople moves

Rajah & Tann hires Amica Law trademark director Anna Toh in Singapore

Rajah & Tann Singapore hired Anna Toh as a partner in its intellectual property practice, Managing Intellectual Property reported on September 28, 2026. Toh joins from Amica Law, where she was a trademark and soft-IP director, and plans to expand Rajah & Tann’s soft-IP capabilities for cross-border portfolio management and commercial strategy across Southeast Asia. The firm lists her as an IP, sports and gaming partner in Singapore.

Announcement (Managing Intellectual Property) → · Rajah & Tann Asia
S.D. CAL.Litigation

San Diego jury awards Taction $5.7 billion against Apple over haptic patents

A federal jury in San Diego on September 25, 2026 found Apple infringed two Taction Technology haptics patents covering vibration technology used in iPhone and Apple Watch Taptic Engine products and awarded about $5.72 billion, Bloomberg Law and Reuters reported. Jurors found the infringement was not willful. Apple said it does not use Taction’s technology and will appeal; the Federal Circuit had revived the case in 2025 after a 2023 noninfringement summary judgment.

Filing (Bloomberg Law) → · Reuters, Patent Litigator, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit +2
GERMANYFunding

Noxtua raises more than €100M Series C as C.H.BECK takes majority stake with MANZ

Berlin legal AI company Noxtua raised a Series C of more than €100 million in which German publisher C.H.BECK becomes majority shareholder and Austrian publisher MANZ joins as a new investor, Tech.eu and Artificial Lawyer reported on September 23, 2026. Prior backers including Global Brain, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, CMS, Dentons, and Dominik Schiener are exiting as Noxtua deepens publisher partnerships for jurisdiction-specific Legal AI Workspaces across Europe.

Announcement (Tech.eu) → · Artificial Lawyer, Startup.eu
S.D.N.Y.Litigation

NYT plaintiffs unseal OpenAI and Microsoft quotes attacking fair-use defense

News plaintiffs led by The New York Times on September 17, 2026 made public previously redacted portions of a Southern District of New York summary-judgment filing against OpenAI and Microsoft. The filing quotes OpenAI and Microsoft executives describing chatbot products as largely substitutive for journalism and characterizing mass scraping of news for training as an unprecedented theft of labor, which the outlets say undercuts the companies' fair-use defense.

Filing (CourtListener RECAP) → · TechCrunch, Ars Technica
N.Y.Funding

Michael Best combines with Kane Kessler to open New York office

Am Law 200 firm Michael Best & Friedrich completed a strategic combination with New York midsize firm Kane Kessler, establishing Michael Best’s New York presence. Kane Kessler brings roughly 40 attorneys and practices including corporate, securities, capital markets, M&A, litigation, IP, and real estate. Kane Kessler managing partner Rob Lawrence will lead the New York office; Michael Best now reports nearly 400 attorneys across 19 U.S. offices.

Announcement (New York Law Journal) → · Above the Law, Law360
LITHUANIAFunding

EnforceShield raises €1.7M seed for AI IP enforcement platform

On September 15, 2026 Lithuanian legaltech EnforceShield said it raised €1.7 million in seed funding led by Vendep Capital with FIRSTPICK VC participating. The Vilnius-based company automates online intellectual-property enforcement workflows and plans US commercial expansion and broader IP lifecycle tooling.

Announcement (Tech.eu) → · FinSMEs, Legaltech News
U.S. FEDLitigation

ACC sues The L Suite over Lloyd AI use of ACC materials and trademarks

On September 10, 2026 the Association of Corporate Counsel sued The Suite, Inc. (d/b/a The L Suite) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The complaint alleges Lloyd, The L Suite's in-house counsel chatbot, used ACC copyrighted benchmarking materials and ACC trademarks without authorization. ACC seeks an injunction and damages in the jury-demand complaint.

Filing (U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (via CourtListener)) → · Delaware Business Court Insider (Law.com)
S.D.N.Y.Litigation

Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI copying and trademark dilution

The Seattle Times Company and Newsday LLC sued OpenAI entities and Microsoft in Manhattan federal court on September 4, alleging unauthorized copying of their journalism to train and operate AI products. The complaint asserted direct and vicarious copyright infringement, removal of copyright-management information, distribution of works stripped of that information, and federal and state trademark dilution. The publishers sought damages, an injunction and destruction of models and datasets incorporating their works.

Filing (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) → · Reuters, GeekWire