Pamela Chestek
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Why There Are Nonprecedential Decisions
When we last visited Taylor v. Taylor Made Plastics, Inc., the trial court held that the spouse of the inventor acquired a legal ownership interest in the inventor’s patent in the divorce. I was a bit surprised; the language in the divorce was this: The Court finds that the proceeds from the production of the… Continue reading
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A Post-Lexmark Clarification for Patents
Here’s a little soupçon of a decision, a teaching moment from the Federal Circuit. It’s an easy fact pattern: a patent is in an inter partes reexamination, after the case has been fully briefed the patent owner assigns the patent, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rejects the claims, and the former owner appeals the… Continue reading
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Making an Inaccurate Claim Because It’s Cheaper
Yesterday, May 1, 2014, the Copyright Office raised most of its fees. There was one fee that didn’t go up for a subset of claimants, though, those that are for registration of “single author, same claimant, one work, not for hire.” So it’s the “not for hire” part that gives me pause. The Copyright Office’s… Continue reading
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You Don’t Have to Parody the Owner of the Mark
The Office of the Lieutenant Governor for Louisiana owns a state trademark registration for LOUISIANA PICK YOUR PASSION: The Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which is under the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, also registered the word mark PICK YOUR PASSION with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. MoveOn.org used the trademark*… Continue reading
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Four Agreements, No Standing
Today’s post is another of the many currently-pending lawsuits by photographers against textbook publishers (recursive link) for under-reporting the number of copies of books that were published. In this case, the defendant publisher Pearson Education challenged the standing of plaintiff Viesti Associates, Inc., a stock photo agency. Viesti had four different agreements with photographers, two… Continue reading
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Sometimes Everyone DOESN’T Know What It Means
I have often wondered about the distinction commonly used in photography contracts for “editorial” use. I never quite knew what it meant, but then I’m not a specialist in that industry. Industries have their own terms of art and I figured that everyone who works in photography knows what kind of use crosses the “editorial”… Continue reading
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Google is, Irrelevantly, Confirmed as the Senior User of the ANDROID Mark
Before Google acquired Android, Inc., and later released the Android operating system, Erich Specht had registered the mark ANDROID DATA. Specht claimed Google infringed his trademark; Google was successful in the trial court with a claim that Specht had abandoned the trademark, as I previously blogged. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit now… Continue reading
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Never Use the Words “Intellectual Property” When It Matters
“Intellectual property” is a meaningless phrase when it comes to a description of legal rights. It it is catch-all term for at least three different types of intangible property: patent, trademark and copyright, and maybe boat hull designs, and maybe Indian tribal names, and maybe trade secrets, and maybe the right of publicity—you get the… Continue reading
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You Are Not the Only One Confused by the Law of Patent Standing
Here are the musings of a bewildered district court judge trying to figure out the difference between a patent owner, an exclusive licensee, and a “de facto” patent owner. The patent owner, a professor named Morris, had exclusively licensed just about everything to plaintiff BRK and the court had to figure out if BRK had… Continue reading
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