Pamela Chestek
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Think of the Trademark License, Too
Two opinions issuing on the same day, one in Connecticut and one in Indiana, are parallel situations. In both cases, there was a contractual relationship that fell apart. The relationships had a trademark aspect to them, but the contracts never addressed the use or ownership of the trademarks directly, leaving the courts to sort it… Continue reading
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University versus Professor
There have been a few news reports of a suit between the University of Missouri and Galen J. Suppes, a professor of chemical engineering, and William R. Sutterlin, a former graduate teaching assistant and post-doctoral fellow. The university has a broad contractual claim to ownership of patents for inventions created by its employees, including those… Continue reading
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JOYCE Still Up for Grabs
Awhile back I blogged on a TTAB opposition and cancellation between the Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. and Ballet Tech Foundation, Inc. The proceeding involved a dispute over who owns the mark JOYCE, the foundation that purchased and renovated a theater named JOYCE or the foundation that ran the facility. The TTAB held that the foundation… Continue reading
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Unfairly Filing Patent Applications
Patent inventorship is defined by law, but there’s more than one way to get rewarded for it. Unjust enrichment, for example. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary v. QLT Phototherapeutics, Inc. is a tale of business misrepresentations and underhanded dealing, described by the court as “manifest unfairness” and “unscrupulous.” Of particular interest here is the maneuvering… Continue reading
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Make a List, Check it Twice
Of the four types of intangible property typically characterized as “intellectual property,” that is, patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret, only one, the patent, is a true grant of rights from the government. If the government says you don’t have it, you don’t have it. Which brings me to a sorry tale of oversights and… Continue reading
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Quickly Decomposing
Agreements that assign employees’ inventions to the employer are commonplace. O’Keefe v. County of St. Clair demonstrates why. Plaintiff John O’Keefe was an at-will Landfill/Resource Recovery Manager for the county landfill. Co-defendant CTI and Associates was a contractor at the landfill, working with O’Keefe on operations and landfill design. O’Keefe and the president of CTI… Continue reading
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A Less than Iron Clad Theory
In the past few years John Welch at the TTABlog has organized a Boston road trip for the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. They’re great events and I highly recommend that anyone nearby make it there. This past October, the TTAB held an inter partes hearing in Iron Man Magazine versus the Ironman Triathalon for… Continue reading
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File Your Annual Report
IP suits occasionally get sidetracked when there are problems with the corporation’s authority to act, like here. Attacking the authority looks like a quick way out of the suit for the defendant, so worth a try. The Exclusive Rights blog brings us the story of a lawsuit almost foiled by the failure of a corporation… Continue reading
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Dilbert on Company Time
Dilbert has been running a series for all of you who aspire to be you own boss but on company time, a lesson that Carter Bryant has learned. Sorry about the formatting, but click on the strip to see the full image: © 2009 Pamela Chestek Continue reading
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Only Registrants Get Statutory Damages for Counterfeiting
The modern corporate enterprise with specialized subsidiaries may have its benefits, but it can also cause some unintended consequences on the intellectual property front. I’ve previously reported on a Mars intra-company assignment of patents that created havoc in at least two suits. Now, oil company Shell has run into a wrinkle in a routine litigation… Continue reading
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- copyright
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- social media
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