trademark
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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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Motherless IP Children
The IPKat has a great post on acquiring trademarks that escheat to the Crown. The comments section gives some tips on how to go about it, and promises an update. © 2009 Pamela Chestek Continue reading
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They’re Not Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats
Although styled as a likelihood of confusion case, Kuklachev v. Gelfman International Enterprises, Inc. is really just a description of a bald-faced attempt at a trademark grab, driven by a largely untold story of a business falling out. It’s a no-brainer as a trademark ownership case; while the court dealt with a lot of theories… Continue reading
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Who Owns “Joyce Theater”? – the Mark, Not the Building
John Welch at The TTABlog® (my go-to resource for TTAB law) has blogged on my favorite kind of case, where two different entities claim to be the owner of the same mark. John summarizes the holding of the dispute (landlord wins), but I’m more interested in how the Board got there analytically. It’s the same… Continue reading
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UK “Own Name” Defense
The IPKat posts on a new case involving the “own name” defense under UK trademark law. The Trade Marks Act 1994 provides that “A registered trade mark is not infringed by – the use by a person of his own name . . . provided the use is in accordance with honest practices in industrial… Continue reading
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Mattel Now Owns Bratz
As it last stood, Mattel had moved for an order on declaratory judgment that it owned all right, title and interest in the Bratz dolls created while the designer, Carter Bryant, worked at Mattel; for a permanent injunction that MGA cease manufacturing dolls; and that the court impose a constructive trust and transfer the “Bratz”… Continue reading
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A Patently Untenable Trademark Claim
Plaintiff Robert Welsh d/b/a Big Ten Development pitched the idea of a “Big Ten Network” to the Big Ten Conference. Big Ten Conference wasn’t interested at the time, but several years later introduced the “Big Ten Network” and filed trademark applications to register the mark in various classes. Welsh brought suit under § 38 of… Continue reading
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Trifecta of IP Protection
The legal blog with what has to be the longest name ever, the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Trademark Attorney Blog, brings our attention to an almost perfect trifecta of intellectual property ownership, where jeans are protected by patent, trademark and copyright. Almost perfect, because while the same stitching design on the back pockets is protect… Continue reading
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Buy Your U.S. Cohiba Cigars Now
You know a lawsuit has been going on a long time when the decision starts with “The parties’ familiarity with the prior proceedings and facts underlying this dispute is assumed. In brief,” and then goes on for 7 pages of a 33 page opinion just to explain the procedural history of the case. Empresa Cubana… Continue reading
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Not So Fast
In Halicki Films, LLC v. Sanderson Sales & Marketing, plaintiff Denice Shakarian Halicki and various related entities owned some rights – exactly what, to be decided by the court – in Eleanor, billed as “the only Ford Mustang in history to receive STARRING credit in a motion picture.” There are really two Eleanors: a yellow… Continue reading
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