Pamela Chestek
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Be Careful When You Threaten
Photo from Grand Rapid Press Here’s one to wrap your head around, courtesy of the IPKat. Cedar Springs, Michigan has heretofore been the “Red Flannel Town,” as evidenced by the sign to the left. The logo was used by the town on city vehicles, the cemetery, its letterhead, and in its town seal. The story*… Continue reading
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The Scope of One’s Employment
Work made for hire cases come up pretty often, but when they do the question usually is whether the person was an employee. This is the question that the factors in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid are used to answer. But for a work to be a work made for hire, the work must… Continue reading
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WITTMANN PATCH v. STAR PATCH
I reported in the past about a dispute over the WITTMANN PATCH mark for a surgical device invented by Mark Wittmann. The case arose out of a business relationship that went bad. The court held on a preliminary injunction that plaintiff Starsurgical owned the WITTMANN PATCH mark and that Wittmann had to cease using it.… Continue reading
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Whoops, the State Owns the Mark
Florida VirtualSchool is an agency of the State of Florida. The enabling statute for the school says this: The board of trustees … may acquire, enjoy, use and dispose of patents, copyrights, and trademarks and any licenses and other rights or interests thereunder or therein. Ownership of all such patents, copyrights, trademarks, licenses, and rights… Continue reading
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7th Circuit Closes Trademark Loophole in Bankruptcies
Bankruptcy law has a quirky little thing going on with trademarks. But let’s back up a little and put some context to it. Under Bankruptcy Code § 365(a), the trustee for a company in bankruptcy has the option of rejecting or assuming executory contracts or unexpired leases. This is a fundamental need for a company… Continue reading
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Unexciting Patent Ownership Decision
No one else seems to have reported much on this case, which is understandable – there’s not really any new ground covered. But it is a Federal Circuit decision, so I’ll give you a brief summary. Yale Preston was an employee of Marathon Oil Co. A few days after his employment began, at the same… Continue reading
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Why Trademark Lawyers Should Work M&A
It’s common in many industries for a company to be named after its partners. The names both individually and as part of the firm name develop goodwill, which makes it a challenge when an individual departs – how do you divvy it up? Not how it was done in Basile Baumann Prost Cole & Assocs.,… Continue reading
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1.65% of 33% Ownership
Marques Class 46 Blog reports on a decision out of Poland that I struggle with conceptually. There were three joint owners of the trademark SILMENT. One of the joint owners assigned 1.65% of his 33% ownership to his son. This is where I’m struggling. What does an approximate 1/2% ownership interest in a trademark actually… Continue reading
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Why You Need an Ownership Clause in Your Employee Agreements
An old case popped out on Westlaw for some reason, but it is an interesting one, about ownership of trade secrets created by an employee. So I thought it was worth writing about. Plaintiff Premier Displays & Exhibits and defendant EWI Worldwide are both in the business of design and fabrication of displays and exhibits… Continue reading
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Two Companies Making Pianos, One Mark
Digging into an interesting decision about the duty to defend an insurance claim turns out to be a long tale about a zombie mark, with strategic moves in prosecution, before the TTAB, and in federal court. It’s still going, but as far as I can tell all that should be left to decide is damages. … Continue reading
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