• About Pamela Chestek

    The Standing of an Exclusive Trademark Licensee (or not)

    by  • July 6, 2020 • right of publicity, trademark • 1 Comment

    July 7, 2020: Updated to add footnote 2. Section 32 of the Lanham Act is for infringement of registered trademarks. The section says that the liability for infringement is to the “registrant.” That category undisputedly includes a successor-in-interest, such as an assignee. A minority of courts have also held that “registrant” encompasses an exclusive...

    Read more →

    One Work or Two?

    by  • May 26, 2020 • copyright • 0 Comments

    I read the headlines about Johnson v. Nike with passing surprise, because the case was decided of on a motion to dismiss. The designs aren’t that different and what crossed my brief attention led me to think that it was a copyright infringement case about the similarity of these two designs: But it is...

    Read more →

    Second and Ninth Circuits Split and Also Agree

    by  • May 18, 2020 • copyright • 1 Comment

    I have long disagreed with the Ninth Circuit on a standard that I think is unduly crabbed. I’m talking specifically about the cause of action, and therefore remedies available, when the obligations in an agreement that include a copyright license are not met. The courts are in agreement that the obligations can be put...

    Read more →

    Accrual of an Authorship Claim

    by  • May 13, 2020 • copyright • 0 Comments

    Copyright ownership claims are not unusual. But what about authorship? Often the distinction doesn’t matter because, in infringement claims, the owner stands in the shoes of author. But it does matter to termination – the author (or the author’s heirs) is the only one with termination rights; a mere owner cannot exercise a termination...

    Read more →

    You Can’t Just “Re-Form” a Plaintiff

    by  • April 27, 2020 • patent • 0 Comments

    Here are the facts: Ness Stewart Irvine was a patentee. Irvine assigned his patents-in-suit to InterAD Technologies, LLC. InterAD assigned them to Zeroclick, LLC (“Zeroclick I”), the plaintiff, a Texas entity. Zeroclick I sued Apple for patent infringement. Erich Spangenberg, listed as the “governing person,” terminated the Zeroclick I entity.1 Non-party Granicus IP, LLC...

    Read more →

    Only Owners (Or Licensees) Can Bring a Claim Under the Federal Trade Secrets Act

    by  • April 20, 2020 • trade secret • 0 Comments

    In 2016 the United States enacted trade secret law at the federal level. Before that, trade secret law was available only at the state level, meaning a patchwork of different standards and no federal jurisdiction for claims. The Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”), changed that. Like trademark law, the federal trade secret law does...

    Read more →