U.S. Magistrate Judge Doris Pryor for Southern Indiana in Indianapolis set a telephonic initial pretrial conference for Jan. 10 at 11 a.m. EST in Annie Oakley Enterprises’ April 25 amended trademark infringement complaint against Amazon, said Pryor’s order Friday (docket 1:22-cv-02246). Anney Oakley alleges that of all the businesses it has contacted that has infringed one of its trademarks, whether innocently or intentionally, “Amazon alone has consistently failed to take prompt action to cease its infringing activity.” Amazon’s April 29 motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim said Annie Oakley asserts trademark counterfeiting but fails to allege Amazon uses trademarks identical or substantially indistinguishable from trademarks that plaintiffs use in commerce.

The clerk of the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals signed an order Thursday consolidating two Simply Wireless appeals (dockets 22-2211 and 22-2236) of a Nov. 1 decision at the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia order granting T-Mobile summary judgment in the companies’ trademark dispute (see 2211250016). Simply Wireless alleged T-Mobile stole its “Simply Prepaid” advertising and market tagline, but T-Mobile successfully argued that Simply Wireless relinquished claims to the mark when it stopped using it in commerce.

The big takeaway from the district court’s Aug. 24 dismissal of choreographer Kyle Hanagami’s copyright infringement allegations against Epic Games is that dance choreography “may be copyrightable, [but] there are limitations to the copyright’s protection,” said Hodgson Russ in an analysis Tuesday. “The boundaries of protection for dance choreography under copyright law were put to the test” in Hanagami’s case, said the law firm. Hanagami wasn't the first to sue Epic for its use of dance moves, it said. “But what sets his claims apart is the fact his moves were actually copyrighted. Unfortunately, this did not win the day.” Hanagami alleges Epic stole his dance moves for its signature Fortnite games franchise (see 2210070028). The district court commented that Hanagami was and is entitled to copyright protection only as to how the steps “are expressed in isolation within the entirety” of his five-minute copyrighted How Long choreography video, “not each individual step in isolation,” said the law firm. The court, in dismissing Hanagami’s copyright claims, said “no substantial similarity existed” between the dance moves in Hanagami’s video and the rendering of those steps in Fortnite, it said. The opening brief in Hanagami’s 9th Circuit appeal of the dismissal is due Dec. 30 under a newly amended briefing schedule (see 2211220005).

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rescheduled the Nov. 22 dial-in assessment conference in Hanagami v. Epic Games for Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. PST, said an order Friday (docket 22-55890). Los Angeles choreographer Hanagami alleges Epic stole his dance moves for its signature Fortnite games franchise (see 2210070028), and he’s appealing a lower court’s Aug. 24 dismissal of his copyright infringement complaint. Hanagami’s opening brief at the 9th Circuit is due Dec. 30, and Epic’s answering brief is due Jan. 30.

The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals docketed the Simply Wireless trademark appeal against T-Mobile as case number 22-2211, said a notice Wednesday. Simply Wireless is appealing the final judgment (docket 1:21-cv-00597) of U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria that it has “no rights” to the “Simply Prepaid” trademark and that T-Mobile has “priority” over its use. T-Mobile successfully argued at trial that Simply Wireless’s failure to use the Simply Prepaid mark in commerce “was continuous for at least three years” before filing its lawsuit and it therefore “abandoned” any rights it may have owned.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi for Central California in Los Angeles denied the Oct. 17 motion for default judgment from the major Hollywood studios, plus Netflix, to thwart the operations of PrimeWire, which they allege is “relentless” in its “commercial scale piracy” (see 2210180009). Failure to satisfy several key procedural requirements “merits denial of the motion,” said Scarsi’s order Tuesday (docket 2:21-cv-09317). He gave the studios 14 days to file a “renewed” motion for default judgment.

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright for Western Texas in Waco signed an order Tuesday granting the joint motion of plaintiff SafeCast and defendant Dish Network to transfer SafeCast’s June 27 patent infringement complaint to U.S. District Court for Colorado. The case was docketed as 6:22-cv-00677 and assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Kato Crews. SafeCast alleges that the customizable advertising functionality on the Dish Media platform infringes a July 2016 patent on time-shifted viewing of broadcast TV ads. Albright is the district judge whom the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has repeatedly scolded for his refusal to transfer patent cases out of his jurisdiction for more fitting venues (see 2211210049).

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals amended the briefing schedule in the appeal of Los Angeles choreographer Kyle Hanagami, who alleges Epic Games stole his dance moves for its signature Fortnite games franchise (see 2210070028). Hanagami’s opening brief is now due Dec. 30, and Epic’s answering brief is due Jan. 30, said an order signed Monday (docket 22-55890) by Circuit Mediator Kyungah Suk. Hanagami's optional reply brief is due within 21 days after service of the answering brief, said the order. Hanagami is appealing a lower court’s Aug. 24 dismissal of his copyright infringement complaint against Epic.

A bench trial is scheduled to begin March 6 at 10 a.m. EST in Marriott International’s trademark infringement complaint to thwart robocallers from impersonating Marriott telemarketers, said an order signed Thursday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) by senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson, in a separate order Thursday, ruled that defendant Dynasty Marketing Group’s discovery responses “remain inadequate,” and that it failed to provide a witness for deposition, in violation of court rules. Anderson granted the motion of Phillip Griffin to withdraw as Dynasty’s lawyer and ordered substitute counsel to enter an appearance on Dynasty’s behalf within 14 days. Anderson will then issue a recommendation and report on next steps in the case, including possible sanctions against Dynasty for being unresponsive to Marriott’s discovery requests.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika for Delaware, in an oral order Wednesday (docket 1:22-cv-01146), instructed Arm and Qualcomm to confer on a proposed scheduling order for submission to the court by Dec. 16. Arm’s Aug. 16 complaint alleges that Qualcomm, after its $1 billion Nuvia buy, caused Nuvia to breach its Arm licenses, leading Arm to terminate those licenses, in turn requiring Qualcomm and Nuvia to stop using and destroy any Arm-based technology developed under the licenses. Qualcomm and Nuvia nevertheless have continued working on Nuvia’s implementation of Arm architecture in violation of Arm’s rights as the creator and licensor of its technology, it alleges. “Qualcomm’s conduct indicates that it has already and further intends to use Arm’s trademarks to advertise and sell the resulting products” in the U.S., even though those products are unlicensed, said the complaint. Qualcomm used its Snapdragon Summit 2022 Wednesday to tease about the 2023 debut of a new line of custom CPUs, branded Oryon, using technology inherited in the Nuvia acquisition. Noreika instructed Arm and Qualcomm in their proposed scheduling order to estimate “the length and timing of trial.”