Pamela Chestek
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A Very Short License
The Trademark Blog reports on a new case where two companies claim to own the same mark. In the complaint, the plaintiff and trademark registrant claims that it licensed the mark to the defendant but later terminated the license. The defendant’s website says that it acquired the business from the plaintiff. Here is the relevant… Continue reading
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Making Your Bed
The 7th Circuit decision in Sunstar, Inc. v. Alberto-Culver Co. is interesting in two ways: it provides some insight into how one company is managing the Japanese market, and also provides a little education on Japanese trademark licensing law. Alberto-Culver, owner of the VO5 family of marks, wasn’t having any success in the Japanese market,… Continue reading
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The Twenty Year Registration Is Dead*
No more twenty year registrations. *Well, except for the grace period. Docket six months. © 2009 Pamela Chestek Continue reading
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Copyright Infringement Masquarading as Ownership
The Tennessean, in an article entitled “‘Atomic Dog’ singer wins claim to phrase,” reports that “The phrase ‘bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea’ belongs exclusively to funk legend George Clinton, a panel of federal judges ruled this week.” Well, no. The question was whether three musical elements – the use of the word “dog”… Continue reading
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The Coinco Strategy
Mars, Inc. v. Coin Acceptors, Inc., first blogged here, demonstrated what can go wrong with ownership of patents within a corporate enterprise. As a refresher, in Mars the defendant, “Coinco,” successfully attacked the chain of title of the patents in suit. Mars had transferred ownership of the patents between family members during the lawsuit, a… Continue reading
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The Restaurant Owns It, of Course
When the dispute over the ownership of the name of the famous restaurant “Tavern on the Green” started, I posted a poll asking whether the restaurant or New York City owned the name. The results are in, with responses overwhelmingly in favor of the restaurant, 93% to 6% (okay, well there were only 15 votes).… Continue reading
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Contract Interpretation Quiz
Interpret this contract, reproduced below in full: In consideration of the sum of One Dollar ($1.00) and other good, valuable, and adequate consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is acknowledged, the undersigned does hereby sell, assign, transfer, and set over to Bridgeport Music, Inc., its respective successors and assigns, fifty percent (50%) of his… Continue reading
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Memorylink Gets to Fight Another Day
Last February, plaintiff Memorylink was on the losing side of a motion to dismiss almost all counts of a complaint against Motorola, a company with which it had a joint development agreement. During their relationship, Motorola filed a patent application that had both Motorola and Memorylink inventors listed, then filed a second application with just… Continue reading
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It’s Alive! Or On Life Support, at Least
Candy company Mars has a convoluted ownership saga for some patents related to currency acceptors in vending machines. In a classic case of the left hand not being introduced to the right, Mars, Inc. had assigned patents to another member of the corporate family, Mars Electronic International, Inc. (MEI),* during ongoing patent litigation. This created… Continue reading
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Logo Designer Loses Again After No Show
A few days ago, the court in the Middle District of Florida held that the company that designed the logo for the “Beef O’Brady” restaurant did not own the logo for promotional goods, as blogged here. A few days later, the court also adopted the magistrate’s report and recommendation and granted a preliminary injunction against… Continue reading
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Learn more about me at my website, Chestek Legal
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