Pamela Chestek
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Does a “Beneficial” Patent Owner Have Standing?
Often there is the concept of “beneficial owner” in intellectual property-related transactional documents. My limited experience is that the concept is useful for tax purposes, i.e., one can have legal title in one company and “beneficial” ownership in another in order to create a favorable tax position. This presents some interpretive problems in the United… Continue reading
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WYHA (Would You Have Abandoned)?*
ZAO Gruppa Predpriyatij Ost v. Vosk International Co. is a very long decision with very little meat. Sixty-eight pages, of which the first 34 are evidentiary rulings suitable for the final exam for any evidence course. Applicant Vosk International Co. had an agreement with opposer and manufacturer ZAO Ost Aqua to import ZAO Ost Aqua’s… Continue reading
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Trick Question
A debtor-in-possession had a contract it wanted to assign. The contract included a trademark license, but it was somewhat unusual in structure. For starters, it was a trademark sublicense, not a direct license, for the mark “Jag Jeans”: There is no registered trademark for “Jag Jeans,” although there are several for “Jag” owned by Jag… Continue reading
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The Fight for Bratz – With a New Plaintiff
Just when you thought the Bratz story was over, it gets better. You know, the fight over the pouty-lipped dolls, where the designer, Carter Bryant, who was employed by Mattel off and on, claimed to have designed them while the relationship was off and then took the design to MGA Entertainment. Mattel sued MGA, won… Continue reading
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What Does a Patent “Cover”?
What does “cover” mean in a patent assignment clause? Plaintiff Openwave Systems, Inc. developed software for network computing but decided to sell off the client-side part of the business, keeping the server-side. It sold the business to Purple Labs S.A., predecessor to defendant Myriad France S.A.S. Some patents were assigned in the transaction, but the… Continue reading
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The Mongols Have Their Colors Back (For Real)
The whole Mongols trademark seizure case is a little confusing, so this story is put together from a few different decisions in two different cases. Two marks, the MONGOLS word mark for “association services, namely, promoting the interests of persons interested in the recreation of riding motorcycles” and the “Image Mark“ for “jackets and t-shirts”… Continue reading
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Numb Nuts, Part II
Former licensee’s current web page I previously reported on a bit of a bone-headed dispute between Orange County Choppers (OCC), of “American Chopper” television fame, and a company that designed T-shirts for it, Olaes Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a ODM (ODM). OCC made the mistake of suing ODM for royalties and ODM counterclaimed against 25 companies that… Continue reading
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How to Steal a Trademark
You don’t see it happen much at all, but a band managed to successfully, including on appeal, claim ownership of the band’s name, despite contractual agreements that conceded the name was owned by the original management company and its successor. We’re talking about an unregistered trademark here, for the band Exposé. (There was an early… Continue reading
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Sibling Rivalry
I have sympathy for small businesses. Just working stiffs, plumbers for example, trying make a living day to day. You have to watch the pennies, you’ve got equipment costs, rent and salaries and rising health insurance costs and there’s only so much the market will bear. Trademarks are going to be really low on the… Continue reading
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- copyright
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- patent
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- social media
- trade dress
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