We’re all generalists for one thing or another. We have specialized knowledge in some field, but the practice of law isn’t so neat that everything you do falls within your core knowledge. Those who trade in contract work may cover many different types of deals and will necessarily rely on forms to take care...
Read more →The Federal Circuit issued two companion decisions involving the same patent license arrangement, one that affected at least three district court decisions. Uniloc USA, Inc., Uniloc Luxembourg S.A., and Uniloc 2017 LLC, which I’ll just refer to as “Uniloc,” sued Apple, Motorola Mobility and Google for patent infringement. However, Uniloc had received funding from...
Read more →Not signing the agreement wasn’t fatal to the plaintiff’s claim, but it might have avoided the lawsuit altogether. Plaintiff Olson Kundig is an architectural firm whose owner and design principal is Tom Kundig. Defendant 12th Avenue Iron is a custom architectural metalwork fabricator owned by Stephen Marks. In 2009 Kundig and Marks decided to...
Read more →Only assignees and some exclusive licensees have standing to bring a claim for patent infringement. In the category of “exclusive licensee,” there is some line drawing that goes on around the meaning of “exclusive.” Where an exclusive license is tantamount to an assignment, the exclusive licensee can sue without joining the owner. Where the...
Read more →This is a situation I don’t recall seeing before, but perhaps that is because it took some chutzpah to make the argument. At any rate, the decision covers some interesting legal history. The decision is about is security interests. In Raffel Systems LLC v. Man Wah Holdings Ltd. Inc., the plaintiff-patentee had granted security...
Read more →Here are the facts: Ness Stewart Irvine was a patentee. Irvine assigned his patents-in-suit to InterAD Technologies, LLC. InterAD assigned them to Zeroclick, LLC (“Zeroclick I”), the plaintiff, a Texas entity. Zeroclick I sued Apple for patent infringement. Erich Spangenberg, listed as the “governing person,” terminated the Zeroclick I entity.1 Non-party Granicus IP, LLC...
Read more →You’ve seen “integration” clauses (also called “merger” clauses) like this: Entire Agreement. This Agreement is an integrated Agreement and constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between and among the Parties with regard to the matters set forth herein and shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the administrators, agents, personal representatives,...
Read more →Plaintiff Tegu is a toy company. It hired defendant Vestal Design Atelier LLC to develop its first toy line. Vestal created prototypes for Tegu for blocks with embedded magnets. These are the relevant provisions on ownership of the intellectual property rights in the agreement: 2.0 Ownership of Intellectual Property. 1. Ownership. Intellectual property rights...
Read more →You’ve all seen this language before. This is from an agreement to transfer rights to a formula for nutritional products in exchange for royalties: If you can’t read the image, it says In consideration of the sum of $1.00 payable by Synergy to HealthBanc upon execution of this Agreement, HealthBanc hereby transfers and assigns...
Read more →Licenses and releases for after-acquired affiliates can be tricky things to draft. Are after-acquired affiliates also licensed to the rights? Are they licensed on a forward-going basis only, or does the license or release cure earlier infringement? It all depends on how you write it. On November 24, 2016, plaintiff Oyster Optics, LLC sued...
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