District of Massachusetts IP Blog

Oral Argument Held on Appeal of Preliminary Injunction

In October 2011 Judge Gorton entered an injunction against Amphastar regarding methods for manufacturing generic enoxaparin.  Amphastar appealed, and the Federal Circuit heard argument on January 24, 2012.  A recording of the argument can be found below.

Momenta Pharm., Inc. v. Amphastar Pharm., Inc., 2012-1062 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 24, 2012)

Download 2012-1062

MIT Sues Licensee for Failing to Pay

MIT (Cambridge, MA) has sued Capire, Inc. (Durham, NC) for failing to pay MIT for its licensing fees and cost reimbursements. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology v. Capire, Inc., 11-3870 (Mass. Superior Court, Middlesex County, Oct. 31, 2011)

Band Photo Leads to Suit

An individual photographer from Asheville, NC has sued Inyourspeakers Media, LLC (Harvard, MA) for copyright infringement relating to unauthorized use of a photograph of the band Bassnectar. 

Oppenheimer v. Inyourspeakers Media, LLC, 11-40211-FDS (D. Mass. Nov. 3, 2011)

Single Serve Coffee Cartridges Dispensed

Keurig, Inc. (Reading, MA) has sued JBR, Inc. (Lincoln, CA) for infringement of Patent Nos. D502,362, 7,165,488, and 7,347,138 related to single serving beverage cups and brewers.  Defendant sells infringing “OneCup” beverage cartridges for use with plaintiff’s patented brewers.  Plaintiff is steamed. 

Keurig, Inc. v. JBR, Inc., 11-11941-MBB (D. Mass. Nov. 2, 2011)

Fluorescent Lamp Seller Sued

Philips Electronics North America Corp. (Andover, MA) has sued Lux Electronics Prods. (Brookline, MA) and its president for infringement of Patent Nos. 5,552,665 and 6,222,312 directed to fluorescent lamps. 

Philips Electronics North America Corp. v. Lux Electronics Prods., Inc., 11-11930-GAO (D. Mass. Oct. 31, 2011)

EFF Serves Rule 11 Motion In Borderline Copyright Case

In late September Astrolabe sued two researchers claiming that their use of time zone data infringed Astrolabe’s copyright in its atlas software.  This blog pondered whether such a use was really infringing.  It appears the folks at the EFF have pondered the same thing and have teamed up with Fish & Richardson to serve a potential Rule 11 motion against Astrolabe.  The suit apparently scared one of the rearchers into disabling his database (it has since been restored by ICANN).  As of the date of the Rule 11 letter the complaint had not yet been served, but the gauntlet has certainly been thrown. 

Astrolabe, Inc. v. Olson, 11-11725-GAO (D. Mass.), letter served on Jan. 12, 2012 

Full PI Issued Against Generic Pharma After TRO

Momenta Pharm. sued a number of competitor drug manufacturers who were about to launch products that Momenta felt were infringing its Patent Nos. 7,575,886 and 7,790,466 directed to methods of manufacturing the drug in question.  Judge Gorton issued, then extended, a TRO to prevent the use of the accused methods pending a full preliminary injunction hearing.  Following preliminary discovery during this time, the claim on the ‘466 patent was dropped.  A full hearing was eventually held, and an injunction on the ‘886 patent was ordered. 

Judge Gorton issued a detailed memorandum walking through the various arguments (including one related to the Hatch-Waxman safe harbor).  He felt that the plaintiff had met the four-factors required to get a PI, and so entered one. 

Momenta Pharm., Inc. v. Amphastar Pharm., Inc., 11-11681-NMG (D. Mass. Oct. 28, 2011)

BMI Sues Another Club

Broadcast Music, Inc. (New York, NY) has sued the owners of the Golden Banana (Peabody, MA) for copyright infringement stemming from the establishment’s playing music from the BMI catalog without a license. 

Broadcast Music, Inc. v. D & B Corp., 11-11923-WGY (D. Mass. Oct. 28, 2011)

Individual Sued for Unauthorized BitTorrent Sharing Following Identification by ISP

Liberty Media Holdings, LLC (San Diego, CA) has sued an individual residing in Boston for copyright infringement.  The complaint alleges that the individual distributed unauthorized copies of the "adult" movie “Down on the Farm” using BitTorrent.  An earlier case Liberty Media Holdings, LLC v. Swarm Sharing Hash AE3 and Does 1–38, 11-10802-WGY could only identify potential infringers by hashtag.  Early discovery in that case permitted the plaintiff to identify the infringers through their ISPs.  After plaintiff contacted the defendant in this case (originally Doe 19 in the original suit), he “took the position that the unlicensed copying and distribution of the Motion Picture over a BitTorrent file sharing network was somehow not illegal.”  

Probably because of his brazenness, he was dismissed from the earlier suit and is now being sued all by his lonesome. 

Liberty Media Holdings, LLC v. Fraga, 11-11789-WGY (D. Mass. Oct. 9, 2011)

TRO Granted And Extended Against Generic Drug Ramp-Up

Momenta Pharm. sued a number of defendants for patent infringement related to a generic version of one of Momenta’s patented drugs.  Because no sales had yet occurred, Judge Gorton granted a two-week temporary restraining order against the defendants, with a full preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for the end of the two-week period. 

After the hearing Judge Gorton extended the injunction by seven days during which the court asked the plaintiff for extra briefing regarding one claim term in dispute. 

Momenta Pharm., Inc. v. Amphastar Pharm., Inc., 11-11681-NMG (D. Mass. Oct. 7 and 21, 2011)