Hyundai Motor Co. won its appeal of a $34 million verdict that said South Korea’s largest automaker infringed a Texas company’s patent for computerizing the sale of car parts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday said Orion IP LLC’s patent was invalid and vacated the verdict stating that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. Orion, a patent-licensing firm based in Longview, Texas, had sued 20 automakers, claiming infringement of a patent for a way to help a salesperson select auto parts without relying on catalogs or order forms.  The other auto companies settled before trial.  Hyundai argued that companies other than Orion had come up with the idea of electric parts catalogs in 1987, and the patented computer-assisted system a year later wasn’t different enough to be considered a new invention.

The International Football Association, soccer’s governing body, has warned PepsiCo Inc. that its potentially infringing the group’s trademark rights.  The Zurich-based Federation Internationale de Football Association, commonly known as FIFA, objected to a question Pepsi placed on a Chinese web site in April that made reference to the World Cup.  In a cease-and-desist letter, counsel for FIFA told Pepsi such references are “misleading” and demanded both that it be removed and that Pepsi issue an apology.  FIFA has already more than 3,000 cases involving trademark infringements or unauthorized attempts to piggyback marketing to Word Cup promotions.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 will start June 11 in South Africa.

Ruling against Microsoft, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday confirmed a patent held by Toronto-based i4i.  The tiny Canadian company had taken the software giant to court in 2007 over violations of its patent in Word applications and won the case and got $290 million in damages last December. The U.S. Court of Appeal had upheld a lower court order banning Microsoft from selling its patent-infringing Word processing software from January 11. the patent pertains to use of technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language.  The Canadian company had said Microsoft stole its technology when it created Word 2003 and 2007. The so called “449 patent” was developed by Michel Vulpe, founder of i4i.

Dish Network Corp. may have to remotely disable millions of its customers’ DVR boxes if it loses a patent infringement case brought by TiVo.  Company officials say they are prepared to shut down approximately 7 million DVRs if the court sides with TiVo, which first brought a law suit against Dish Networks in 2004. TiVo claims that Dish Networks’ DVRs include technology which infringes on its real-time TV pausing and rewinding features. Although Dish Networks is prepared to shut down the DVRs immediately if it loses the case and the court issues an injunction, a more likely scenario is that it will pay damages and technology licensing fees to TiVo, having to remotely disable the DVRs as a last-resort move. A three-judge federal appeals panel in Washington sided with TiVo in March.  Dish Networks, the second largest satellite TV provider in the U.S., has asked the full appeals court to review the case.

Nokia, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, filed another patent-infringement lawsuit against Apple, this time over iPad.  The lawsuit, the fifth patent complaint between the two companies in the past year, broadens the fight to include Apple’s iPad touch-screen computer tablet. Nokia filled its law suit today in federal court in Madison, Wisconsin.  This recent battle between these industry giants helped push Apple shares down as much as 8.5% in New York trading, their steepest drop since October 2008. In the three years since iPhone was introduced, Apple has sized Nokia’s position as the company that defines the high-end smartphone market. The five patents in the newest complaint relate to enhance speech and data transmission, and antenna configurations that improve performance and ads space.  The patents are not the same ones at issue in prior cases between the two companies. Nokia is currently battling Apple in a different law suit accusing Apple of infringing 10 patents, demanding royalties on more than 51 million iPhones sold since 2007.

Lets review the latest legal skirmish between industry giants,  the world’s largest cell phone maker (Nokia) is suing the world’s largest smartphone maker (Apple) who is counter-suing Nokia and also suing the world’s faster growing smartphone operating system designer (HTC).   The future seems very litigious.

Absolut Vodka has reached a settlement in its long-running battle against UK station Absolute Radio over alleged trademark infringement. The decision brought an end to 18 months of legal proceedings between Absolute Radio’s owners, the Times of India Group, and Absolut’s owners V&S Vin & Sprit. The terms of the agreement is confidential but allow both companies to continue to trade under the existing names. The feud began when the Times of India Group bought Virgin Radio two years ago and relaunched it as Absolute Radio.  The vodka brand issued a writ soon after claiming there had been an infringement of its trademark and that there was a risk of confusion between the two companies. Both parties have expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the case and issued statements declaring it would allow them to built on their respective brand’s standing and status.

Building on a four century tradition of producing vodka at Ahus, Absolut Vodka was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith.  Absolut is the third largest brand of alcoholic spirits in the world after Bacardi and Smirnoff, marketed in 126 countries. The largest export of Absolut is the United States where close to 73 million liters were sold in 2003.  More than 40% of the imported vodka in the United States is Absolut.

Taiwan-based smartphone maker HTC has singed a patent-sharing deal with Microsoft, allowing the company to use Microsoft technology in its Android-based smartphones. The deal, worth an undisclosed sum, will allow HTC direct access to the Microsoft patent portfolio in order to make smarter and more consumer-friendly Android-based handsets. A non-disclosure agreement prevents both companies from specifying exactly which Microsoft technologies would be used. Horacio Gutierrez, a corporate Vice President and deputy general counsel in Microsoft’s licensing and intellectual property division, said in a statement that “HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property.

This patent licensing deal comes as HTC prepares to defend itself in a law suit filed by Apple, which accuses HTC of ripping of Apple’s technology in its range of Android-based handsets.

U.K. drug maker Shire PLC has filed a law suit against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, alleging that the Israel-based generic drug maker infringed two patents for Shire’s hyperactivity medicine Intuniv.  Intuniv is used to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years. Shire, the U.K.’s third-largest drug company, said its law suit results from an Abbreviated New Drug Application for making copycat versions of Intuniv by Teva, the world’s largest generic drugs maker. Shire’s hyperactivity product, which uses the active ingredient guanfacine, only went on the sale in the U.S. late last year and is protected by three patents, which runs until 2015, 2020 and 2022. Teva’s application refers to just two of those patents.  Alleging Trademark/patent infringement by Shire PLC is the latest one that Teva is facing in the U.S. as Teva is still fighting Pfizer for various patent infringements.

A court fight is escalating over who owns the rights to “Who Dat?” as the NFL and the New Orleans Saints filed trademark counterclaims against the company that made a recording that became the popular cheer of Saints fans.  On March 4, Who Dat? Inc., filed suit in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, claiming Trademark rights to the phrase. Brothers Sal and Steve Monistere owned a recording company that produced the local hit in 1983.  Since then, their company has sold various “Who Dat” goods. In a reply filed Thursday, NFL Properties and the Saints say the law suit is a transparent and opportunistic effort to capitalize on the equity and popularity of the New Orleans Saints as their fans celebrate their Super Bowl victory.

Austin-based DDB Technologies LLC, an intellectual property firm which owns a number of patents has filed a patent infringement suit against ESPN over three patents it owns.  The DDB patents cover live simulation of sporting events, play-by-play text, graphics and animation, and generating information about the state of game.  DDB said the lawsuit was filed in the United States District court for the Western District of Texas.  DDB said it has previously licensed its patents to SportLine.com and MLB Advanced Media, and had been in litigation with MLB since 2004 before a recent settlement. DDB claims it met with ESPN in the late 1990s when they established the patent, and then ESPN created its own version of Gamecaset, which now DDB claims infringed on their patents.