Pamela Chestek
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Seizing Cuban Trademarks
The IPKat reports on an effort in a Florida court to seize trademarks owned by the Cuban government in order to satisfy a judgment against it. The Miami Herald does a great job of explaining a complicated situation. I can’t improve on it, other than to provide a search query if you’re interested in seeing… Continue reading
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MGA Now Has Moxie
Never resisting the urge to be defiant, MGA Entertainment announced that it has a new line of dolls called “Moxie Girlz.” mox⋅ie /ˈmɒksi–noun Slang.1. vigor; verve; pep.2. courage and aggressiveness; nerve.3. skill; know-how. Provocative name for a provocative event. You be the judge whether they infringe the copyright in Bratz. (Moxie Girlz) (Bratz) © 2009… Continue reading
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Mongols Can Wear Their Colors
An anonymous commenter to a previous blog post provided a link to today’s opinion finding that the government seizure of the Mongols trademark in United States v. Cavazos was not proper under the RICO statute. You may recall it was widely reported back in October, 2008 that the government had seized the registered trademark of… Continue reading
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The Elephant in the Dark
Knight’s Armament Company and Optical Systems Technology, Inc. (OSTI) collaborated on the production of “clip-on in-line night vision devices” (CNVD), night scopes for use in low light conditions to be placed on a rifle immediately in front of the regular scope. Knight’s Armament contracted to provide the scopes, which were manufactured by OSTI. The contracts… Continue reading
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It Wasn’t the Royal “We”
Third Education Group, Inc. v. Phelps is a short, clean, decision on trademark ownership. Richard Phelps wanted to create a web-based journal and asked Thompson to join him in the endeavor. Phelps thought of the name “Third Education Group” and registered the trademark in his own name. The parties had a falling out and ownership… Continue reading
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Get a License
Ryan Gile, the Las Vegas Trademark Attorney, reports on an interesting and complicated new lawsuit revolving around the ownership of the mark TROPICANA – for casinos and hotels, not orange juice. “The Tropicana’s famous roadside sign, a Las Vegas landmark dominating the Strip and welcoming arriving guests for a half-century.” (from the complaint). The complaint… Continue reading
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Was It a License or an Assignment?
Steve Saleen’s SMS 460 Steve Saleen makes high performance cars. He sold Saleen, Inc. in 2003 and left the company altogether in 2007. In 2008 Steve Saleen started a new company, Steve Saleen’s SMS Supercars. Saleen, Inc’s assets, including the right to use “Saleen” for superchargers, aftermarket parts and high-performance vehicles, was sold to MJ… Continue reading
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Senior User to One’s Self
When a case is captioned Protech Diamond Tools, Incorporation v. Protech Diamond Tool Inc., you know that there’s a fight about who owns a mark. Protech Diamond Tool is actually the second named defendant, but you get the idea. There are at least three different “Protech” entities mentioned in the suit.* The first is non-party… Continue reading
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Is a Name Necessarily a Mark?
(Joseph Abboud, 2005) In 2000, Joseph Abboud sold at least the trademarks for “Joseph Abboud” to his former company, JA Apparel Corp. Others have blogged on the Second Circuit’s reversal of the district court decision that had stopped menswear designer Joseph Abboud from using his own name to promote a new line of clothing he… Continue reading
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Smart Money in Movies
The Netflix Prize is a million dollar award for “substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about how much someone is going to love a movie based on their movie preferences.” It’s now being reported that a team has met the requirements for winning the million dollars, but for a waiting period of 30 days allowing… Continue reading
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