Pamela Chestek
-
Neither Fish Nor Fowl
Ah, here’s an interesting one. The plaintiff claims to be an exclusive patent licensee, the defendant is the United States, the case properly filed in the Court of Federal Claims, and the defendant has challenged standing. But rather than the usual situation where the court is examining whether enough rights were transferred for the license… Continue reading
-
Abandoned and Adopted
Well, here’s a teaser of a case we might never know more about. The mark INTRAV has been registered since 1968 for travel agency services and is now owned by International Expeditions, Inc. A company called Christine E, LLC filed a petition to cancel the mark on the basis of abandonment: After diligent inquiry, Petitioner… Continue reading
-
Another Copyright Troll Learns a Lesson on Standing
I don’t normally write about what some might characterize as “copyright trolls,” others cover it well enough. You know the story, though, a company is set up solely to do copyright enforcement and starts suing masses of people. The problem is that copyright law does not permit the assignment of a cause of action; the… Continue reading
-
What You Can’t Put on a Copyright Registration — UPDATED
Ruh-roh, I think a court went off the rails. I don’t have a good feeling about this. The case is, in part, about infringement of copyright. As you know, one cannot bring suit for infringement of a U.S. copyright unless the copyright is registered. 17 U.S.C. § 411. But it gets a little confusing with… Continue reading
-
First Use Wins
Here’s a a short and sweet one. Two guys, Mohammad Jarrah and Justin Truesdell, had some kind of business relationship—Jarrah claims Truesdell was an employee and Truesdell claimed he and Jarrah were partners. Whatever it was, the relationship ended. Jarrah then opened an establishment in Houston called “Rebels Honky Tonk” in August, 2009. Then Truesdell… Continue reading
-
Patents and Divorce
It’s divorce week here at Property, Intangible. I just reported on a case before the Supreme Court of Hawai’i that decided the relative ownership interest of divorcing spouses in copyrights created during the marriage. Now we have a case about patents, this time a federal district court case deciding standing. The statutory sections involved are… Continue reading
-
How to Do an E-Signature Right
For a two-week period of time, from July 16, 2012 through August 8, 2012, Craigslist presented users with the following statement when submitting a post: Clicking “Continue” confirms that craigslist is the exclusive licensee of this content, with the exclusive right to enforce copyrights against anyone copying, republishing, distributing or preparing derivative works without its… Continue reading
-
Copyright and Divorce
I recently wrote about a little-used (or so I thought) section of the Copyright Act, Section 201(e). It is a quirky little section that prohibits involuntary government transfer of copyright in certain cases: Involuntary Transfer.— When an individual author’s ownership of a copyright, or of any of the exclusive rights under a copyright, has not… Continue reading
-
The Benefit of the Bargain
We routinely include arbitration provisions in agreements and I often wonder whether an arbitration is really any easier or cheaper than litigation. But what I didn’t realize before was how much latitude arbitrators have in what they can award, including, in this case, reforming the contract to grant a license far beyond what either party… Continue reading
-
Who Owns the Pen Name?
John Welch recently blogged about a case in the Southern District of New York where a trademark registration was cancelled for fraud. The case has an interesting twist, because the fundamental question really was: who owns a pen name? Plaintiff Melodrama Publishing, LLC and defendant Danielle Santiago entered into two contracts for Santiago to write… Continue reading
About Me
Learn more about me at my website, Chestek Legal
Recent Posts
Categories
- copyright
- domain name
- moral rights
- patent
- right of publicity
- social media
- trade dress
- trade libel
- trade secret
- trademark
- Uncategorized