The October 2026 edition of Haynes Boone’s IP Beacon® provides timely legal insights for businesses, innovators and intellectual property owners navigating developments in patent prosecution, patent litigation, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and artificial intelligence.
Highlights from this edition are featured below, including analysis of recent federal appellate decisions, emerging AI regulation and online content protection. Read the full newsletter for additional updates from Haynes Boone’s global Intellectual Property Practice Group, recent firm involvement and upcoming industry events.
Read the full October 2026 IP Beacon® newsletter.
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Hasty Provisional Costs Millions in Lost Revenue: Lessons from Enanta v. Pfizer
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Partners Jeffrey A. Wolfson and Jeffrey Morton, Ph.D. examine the Federal Circuit's decision in Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Pfizer Inc., where a single-digit discrepancy in a provisional patent application cost Enanta its priority date and invalidated its patent claims against Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment, Paxlovid. They explain why provisional applications deserve the same rigorous drafting and technical review as nonprovisional filings and why experienced human review remains essential as patent preparation increasingly relies on AI-generated drafts.
AI Slop or IP Gold? The Business of Brainrot
In an article for Texas Lawyer, Partner David A. Bell and Associate Preston C. Mason look at a federal lawsuit over "brainrot" characters. These viral AI-generated memes appear in the popular Roblox game Steal a Brainrot. They explain how the dispute over who owns the trademark rights to these characters could shape brand protection strategies for AI-generated and internet-native content as memes become valuable commercial assets.
Fifth Circuit Rejects 'Server Test' and Adopts 'Transmit Requirement' for Online Copyright Claims
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Associate Michael J. Lambert examines a Fifth Circuit decision rejecting the "Server Test" for online copyright display claims and adopting a new "transmit requirement" framework. The court's two-part test — asking where a transmission originates and whether the source permitted it — reshapes the legal landscape for embedding copyrighted content online, with significant implications for copyright owners, media companies and content aggregators.
Federal Circuit Defines Contours of the ‘Skilled Searcher’ Standard for IPR Estoppel
In an article for Thomson Reuters Westlaw Today, Partner Jonathan Bowser examines a recent Federal Circuit decision in Ironburg Inventions Ltd. v. Valve Corp. that further defines the "skilled searcher" standard — the test for determining when a patent challenger is barred from raising new arguments after an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding. He discusses how the ruling provides new guidance on search methodology and hindsight bias and highlights why thorough, well-documented prior art searches are more critical than ever for IPR petitioners.
Why Delayed Investigations May Kill Your Trade Secret Claims
In an article for Bloomberg Law, Partner Lee F. Johnston examines the Federal Circuit's decision in Insulet v. EOFlow, which overturned a $59 million trade secret damages award after finding the company waited too long to file suit. He discusses how a "wait-and-see" approach to investigating potential misappropriation by former employees can be fatal to trade secret claims and underscores the importance of prompt investigation, employee departure audits and timely IP enforcement.
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Introducing the AI Legal News Series
Haynes Boone has launched AI Legal News, a new series on the legal developments shaping artificial intelligence. Through the series, Haynes Boone Partners Gregory Huh and Calmann Clements, together with the firm's Intellectual Property Practice Group, offer timely insight into AI's intellectual property implications, regulatory shifts and industry applications, including the AI Legal News alerts featured in this edition.
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Partner Gregory Huh analyzes a Department of Homeland Security order that bars DeepSeek from federal civilian procurements and requires agencies to remove its products, including third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek technology. He explains how the order reaches vendors through federal contract requirements and why companies should map where DeepSeek's open-weight models, including fine-tuned versions, appear in their offerings.
Eight States Sue OpenAI in Parallel Over ChatGPT’s Marketing and Design for Minors
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Partner Gregory Huh and Associate Joshua Shetler examine the separate lawsuits eight state attorneys general filed against OpenAI over how ChatGPT is marketed to families and designed for the minors who use it. Focusing on Montana's complaint, they explain how state laws protecting minors online allow enforcers to challenge AI chatbot engagement features directly and why the requested relief, including age verification, data deletion and supervised model testing, could reshape how AI developers operate.
Third Circuit Rejects Fair Use for ROSS’s Copying of Westlaw Headnotes
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Partners Calmann J. Clements and Gregory Huh analyze what appears to be the first federal appellate ruling on fair use in AI training. In that ruling, the Third Circuit held that Westlaw headnotes are protected by copyright and that ROSS Intelligence's copying of them to train a legal research AI tool was not fair use. They explain that the court recognized licensing content as AI training data as a legitimate market for copyright owners, while noting that the ruling's reach into generative AI disputes may be limited.
Ninth Circuit Rejects DMCA Section 1202(b) Theory Against Copilot Output in Doe v. GitHub
In a Haynes Boone client alert, Gregory Huh analyzes the Ninth Circuit's ruling in Doe v. GitHub, Inc., which held that programmers cannot use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to sue over AI-generated code that omits their attribution notices. The court found that a generative AI model like GitHub Copilot creates new works rather than stripping identifying information from existing ones — a distinction that forecloses this theory of liability in the Ninth Circuit, where most generative-AI copyright litigation is concentrated.
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Haynes Boone Opens San Diego Office, Expanding California Presence in Leading Life Sciences Market
Haynes Boone has opened its San Diego office, the firm's 21st office worldwide and fourth in California. The office is led by Jeffrey Morton, Ph.D., office managing partner and co-chair of the firm's Biotechnology Practice Group. The office places the firm closer to one of the world's leading life sciences markets, where it supports clients from early innovation and intellectual property strategy through financing, commercialization and dispute resolution.
Haynes Boone Advises IVI RMA North America on Partnership with Illume Fertility
Haynes Boone advised IVI RMA North America, a KKR-backed fertility care provider, in its partnership with Illume Fertility, expanding IVI RMA's network across Connecticut and New York. Partner Gavin George and Associate Mallika Dargan advised on the IP and data privacy diligence for the transaction, which involved advanced reproductive technologies and related proprietary services.
Haynes Boone represented Cathay Capital and its portfolio company in a series of acquisitions that launched ReDream Brands, a leading direct-to-consumer platform for sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment. Partner Gavin George and Associate Mallika Dargan advised on the IP and data privacy aspects of the multi-transaction deal, which involved consolidating four recognized consumer health brands under a single platform.
