Pamela Chestek
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Small Comfort for MGA Entertainment
At least the insurance company is coughing up something on the advertising injury clause. Not sure how much, “terms of the settlement were filed under seal so Mattel does not obtain ‘any strategic advantage through information obtained from the settlement agreement – including, but not limited to, information regarding the funding of MGA’s defense.’” (the… Continue reading
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Who Owns the Chirp?
The TTAB recently decided a case about the registrability of a “chirp” made by Motorola phones. Motorola filed an application to register “an electronic chirp consisting of a tone at 1800 Hz played at a cadence of 24 milliseconds ON, 24 ms OFF, 24 ms ON, 24 ms OFF, 48 ms ON.” Nextel Communications opposed… Continue reading
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Uh-oh Moment
Terra Sul Corp. a/k/a Churrascaria Boi Na Brasa v. Boi Na Braza, Inc. is one of those “uh oh” cases. It’s a fairly routine examination of a petitioner’s first use date to determine who is senior user of the mark. The “uh oh” is a theory that the mark, when transferred from the sole proprietor… Continue reading
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“Filed,” Not “Executed”
It pays to read the statute sometimes. If the statute says “the applicant shall file in the Patent and Trademark Office . . . ,” having the former applicant file it isn’t going to work. The former applicant signed the document before it assigned the mark, but then filed the document after the assignment to… Continue reading
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No Good News for MGA Entertainment
The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Kozinski, Paez and Tallman) has summarily denied MGA Entertainment’s motion for a stay pending appeal: “MGA Entertainment, Inc., MGA Entertainment HK Ltd. and Isaac Larian’s (‘MGA’s’) motion for a stay pending appeal is denied. MGA has not met the prevailing standard to show a substantial likelihood of… Continue reading
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Who Was Opportunity Knocking For?
Opportunity Knocks, Inc. d/b/a Cartoonmaps.com makes cartoon maps. Beginning in 2006, Brandon and Bridgette Maxwell paid over $35,000 for Opportunity Knocks to help them create graphical city maps for Cheyenne, Wyoming, Crested Butte, Colorado and Telluride, Colorado. Bridgette Maxwell quit her job to focus on the graphic map business. In 2008, Opportunity Knocks found that… Continue reading
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Will the Real MG Please Stand Up
The IP Finance blog has an excellent post on pitfalls in the sale of trademarks out of bankruptcy. The whole article is useful (and good advice on both sides of the Atlantic), but the most interesting part is the story of how the family of MG marks was split, so that one mark went to… Continue reading
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What Exactly is “Intellectual Property”?
The concept of “intellectual property” is often used as a generic category, particularly in contracts. So what does it mean for an amusement park? The “Hard Rock Park” was an amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This isn’t going where you think; it’s not about the HARD ROCK marks. The park had been designed… Continue reading
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Who Owns “Black Sabbath”?
The Las Vegas Trademark Attorney gives us the jot and tittle of a dispute between Ozzy Osbourne and Anthony Iommi over the ownership of the BLACK SABBATH name. An interesting twist beyond the usual band name story, because Ozzy assigned the name to Iommi in 1980. What does it take to recapture ownership of a… Continue reading
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“KILL BRATZ”
It’s still hot and heavy in the Bratz litigation. There are these enticing entries on the district court docket: 05/18/2009 5510 PHASE 2 DISCOVERY MATTER – ORDER NO. 34 filed by Special Master Robert C O’Brien Regarding Motion to Compel Production of Hard Drives from Computers Used by Isaac Larian after February 27, 2008 (O’Brien,… Continue reading
About Me
Learn more about me at my website, Chestek Legal
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- copyright
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- social media
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