Pamela Chestek
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The EULA Working Against You
GC2 Inc. v. Int’l Game Tech, PLC is a fairly unexciting copyright ownership case. The main argument involves construction of an ambiguous contract. (What other kinds are there?) GC2 provided “video graphics and artwork” for IGT’s gaming machines and conversion kits. The agreement had a license grant and it defined certain devices and fields that… Continue reading
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The Naked Registration
I’ve written before about the trademark dispute over the Camellia Grill restaurant in New Orleans. The restaurant closed after Hurricane Katrina, after which the original owner, Shwartz, disposed of the business in various transactions with Khodr.1 The ultimate ownership of the CAMILLIA GRILL trademark is what I’ve been writing about. To briefly summarize the several… Continue reading
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The Successful Gambit
There’s nothing like a good procedural end run. Some people think it’s not sporting, but they are often very efficient. In re Hansen is a bankruptcy case with a history. Karl Hansen owned some US and foreign patents that he licensed to PixArt Imaging Inc. in 2008. Karl and Lisa Hansen filed for Chapter 7… Continue reading
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What Is the Goal?
Super Sabre Society v. Frazier is an opposition to the registration of a logo, filed in both black and white and color, for association services: Applicant Frazier had been a founder, the first CEO and a board member of the Super Sabre Society, an organization for those who flew the F-100 Super Sabre. No one… Continue reading
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Third Circuit Adopts the Standard Test
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, took an opportunity to clarify the doctrine to be used when deciding, as between a manufacturer and distributor, who owns the trademark. The decision is a wee bit puzzling only because it makes much of what didn’t look like much at the trial court level. The court… Continue reading
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Getting Back on the Rails
I have written extensively in the past about what I consider a misapplication of the anti-trafficking provision of Section 10 of the Lanham Act. Section 10 has a special provision that limits when one can assign an intent-to-use trademark application. After the 1989 amendment to the Lanham Act, companies could file trademark applications before actually… Continue reading
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“Incontestability” and Cancellation
I previously reported on a case that managed to find a non-statutory basis for cancelling an “incontestable” trademark registration, specifically that the application for the registration was void ab initio. The plaintiff and trademark owner was NetJets, with a registered trademark for a software program INTELLIJET. The defendant was a company named Intellijet Group. Both… Continue reading
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What It Takes to Get Attorneys’ Fees
This is a bit of a “duh” case from the Federal Circuit, a nonprecedential decision. The only surprising part of it is that the trial court, Judge Sparks in the Western District of Texas, didn’t impose even greater sanctions. It was quite a show of generosity. The patent-in-suit has a short chain of title; from… Continue reading
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Be Careful What You Wish For
To “plead yourself out of court” is to state facts in a complaint that mean you have already lost. Something like, in a personal injury case, saying “I rear-ended him because he stopped at a red light” would do it. In Reynolds v. Banks it’s not quite exactly that, but pretty darn close. Sandra Banks… Continue reading
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The Family Name
This case is not just a trademark suit with a domestic relations background; it is a domestic relations dispute over the ownership of marital property, which happens to be a trademark. It is a marital settlement that makes any trademark attorney’s heart sink. While they were married, exes Randy Zweifel and Linda Smith held equal… Continue reading
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