Pamela Chestek
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Bona Fide Purchaser in Good Faith
ZDNet reports that there will be a new “Commodore 64” computer. It’s being described in a press release (scroll to August 25, 2010 entry) as an updated computer in “an exact replica of the original beige chassis Commodore C64.” Original Commodore 64. Photo: Bill Bertram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pixel8).Photo licensed under CC-BY-SA But hat tip to whoever had… Continue reading
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Numb Nuts
Ok, so the only reason I’m blogging about this case is so I can show the logo for Orange County Choppers (OCC), of “American Choppers” fame. As logos go, it’s one of the best ones out there. Which may explain why there’s a lawsuit revolving around OCC merchandise. It all started in 2003, when OCC… Continue reading
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Awesome Job by Ryan Gile at Las Vegas Trademark Attorney
Wow. Ryan Gile at the Las Vegas Trademark Attorney has written a 3,700 word tome, with diagrams, on the convoluted and complicated (an understatement) ownership interest in the trademark “Tropicana” for hotels. I can’t begin to imagine how long it took to write it, much less understand all the transactions before being able to write… Continue reading
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Fraud is Very Popular
John Welch at the TTABlog asks, would you have opposed? It’s another case where a claim of fraud was premised on the theory that the applicant wasn’t the owner of the mark. The applicant Galaxy Metal Gear, Inc. Direct Access Technology, Inc. (DAT) applied for METAL GEAR for hard drive enclosures. It had them manufactured… Continue reading
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Copyright Owner, Employee, or Both?
Ashley Gasper has several hats. He is an adult film star using the stage name Jules Jordan. (Not what you think, it’s a USPTO link. Click away.) He is the president and sole shareholder of Jules Jordan Video, Inc. (innocent too – Wikipedia), the creator of the videos in which Gasper stars. He produces,… Continue reading
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A House’s Right of Publicity
Photo by Julian Walker, licensed as CC-BY-ND Robinson v HSBC Bank USA is a case I characterize as a harm in search of a legal theory. You have some sympathy for the plaintiffs, but not every wrong suffered gets you legal relief. Plaintiff Douglass Robinson owns a much-photographed house in the Haight neighborhood of San… Continue reading
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Rhymes with Orange
Some of you may recall I did some posts about “Moose Tracks” ice cream, a registered trademark but a generic flavor name in my book. So I couldn’t resist posting today’s comic from one of my favorite cartoonists, Hilary Price and Rhymes with Orange: The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons… Continue reading
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Fraud is Really Hard to Prove
The TTABlog reports on a case involving a fairly common type of dispute, between a manufacturer and importer, albeit with a twist. I’ll elaborate a little more on the claim that relates to the ownership of the mark. The importer was the registrant of the mark ZYTNIA for vodka; the Polish manufacturer filed a petition… Continue reading
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Who Owns Facebook?
It’s old news now that a gentleman named Paul Ceglia claims to own 84% of Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook web site. Ceglia coughed up a contract that purports to pay Zuckerberg $1000 to write code for a project Ceglia called StreetFax and also to pay Zuckerberg $1000 towards the development of “The Face Book” in exchange… Continue reading
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Divorce Entitled to Full Faith and Credit
Co-inventor Mundi Fumokong was married to Fonda Whitfield when he filed for two related patent applications. In California, all property acquired by a married person during marriage is presumed to be community property, including patent applications. Fumokong and Whitfield later filed for a “quickie” divorce (those are the court’s words), more formally called a summary… Continue reading
About Me
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