Pamela Chestek
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Inventing a Chemical Compound
Plaintiff Olusegun Falana was hired to work on synthesizing chemical compounds for use in liquid crystal display screens. The compounds had to perform over a range of temperatures. Falana developed a protocol for synthesizing compounds and, using the protocol, synthesized “Compound 7.” Compound 7 had a much improved temperature range, but it still wasn’t adequate.… Continue reading
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Sketchy Standing Decision
The only good thing about the latest Federal Circuit standing decision is that it’s nonprecedential. This is the sequence of events, taken from both the majority’s and dissent’s statement of them: In 2002, The Dow Chemical Company (“Dow”) assigned patents to a holding company, Dow Global Technologies, Inc. (“DGTI”). The dissent described the assignment as… Continue reading
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The Yankees Still Own Their Logo
Last April there was an interesting complaint filed (blogged here) by a woman who claimed that her uncle, Kenneth Timur, now deceased, had designed the New York Yankees logo in 1936 but hadn’t been compensated for it. The plaintiff’s proof of authorship was the fact that her uncle, when he revised the logo in 1952,… Continue reading
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Defining Terms (Especially the “Agreement”)
Sometimes you read a decision and don’t know what the arguments really are until you read the dissent. Abbott Point of Care, Inc. v. Epocal, Inc. is one of those cases. Out of the Federal Circuit, it’s a question about whether a former employee’s duty to assign inventions survived various changes in the relationship and… Continue reading
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The Danger of Terms of Art
Sherman & Associates, Inc. v. Oxford Instruments, PLC discusses the fairly commonplace question of whether plaintiff Sherman & Associates, who was only a patent licensee, has standing to sue. The answer hinged on interpretation of the contract between it and the patent owner, ASM America, Inc. Sherman & Associates was originally the owner of the… Continue reading
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Sybersound Records Takes Some Hits
Sybersound Records, Inc. v. UAV Corp. is a 2008 Ninth Circuit decision on joint copyright ownership that wasn’t well-received by either Nimmer on Copyright or Patry on Copyright. In Sybersound, the court held that the transfer of an interest by one joint owner of a copyright could only be a non-exclusive license, not an assignment… Continue reading
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Just Another Skirmish or the War?
Registrant’s goods Cancellation action Paul Audio, Inc. v. Zhou is just one glimpse of what clearly is a much larger dispute. Baoning Zhou, an individual, is the owner of a registration for the mark C-MARK for audio equipment. Petitioner Paul Audio, Inc., owned by Li Gong, had also applied to register the C-MARK mark for… Continue reading
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Giving An Idea to Your Employer
If an employee has a pre-existing idea that he or she brings to the employer, who owns it? At first blush it seems pretty easy, that the employee would own it. What, though, if the employer puts time, effort and money into developing the idea, then what? This is the situation in Woodfords Family Services,… Continue reading
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