Property, intangible

I recently wrote about the difference between standing in patent cases and copyright cases, and the always erudite Ron Coleman over at Likelihood of Confusion contributed on the topic. There is, in my mind, a flaw in copyright jurisprudence that essentially bars a defendant from challenging the chain of title for ownership of a copyright.… Continue reading

Here’s a bit of an odd case — too much of a stretch for the court’s taste, but I suppose a hat tip for the try, and the plaintiff got out of it without being sanctioned. The case involves “assignor estoppel.” Assignor estoppel is an equitable doctrine that prevents an assignor of a patent from… Continue reading

I confess that I haven’t paid enough attention to Aalmuhammed v. Lee, 202 F.3d 1227 (9th Cir. 2000) and its direction on the issue of “authorship” in a joint work. In Aalmuhammed, the Ninth Circuit observed that not everyone who contributes to a work is an author and set out, in the context of a… Continue reading

Medical Products Laboratories, Inc. v. Premier Dental Products Co. had the makings of a good tale about joint ownership of a trademark, but alas, it was decided on a statute of limitations basis rather than anything more substantive. Maybe we’ll see something later in the state court. Medical Products was a contract manufacturer for Premier… Continue reading

This is a blog about ownership of all types of intellectual property, but it is undoubtedly the ownership of trademarks that provides the most litigation fodder.  I think it is because no one thinks of the trademarks, or else they only become important in hindsight. Taylor v. Thomas is a typical example of what a… Continue reading

I’m curious about the different legal standards that the courts apply in patent versus copyright cases when deciding whether a plaintiff who acquired the rights through transfer has standing. Patent law seems draconian, as exemplified by Abraxis Bioscience, Inc. v. Navinta, LLC.  In Abraxis (blogged here and here), standing for a patent infringement suit was… Continue reading

One of the most misunderstood aspects of copyright law is work-made-for-hire.  The lay understanding is that a work created at the request of another in exchange for payment is a “work for hire.” That’s not true, as explained by the Supreme Court in 1989 in Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid, but nevertheless it must… Continue reading

Short and to the point from the Federal Circuit: a reversion of the assignment of a patent as a remedy for a breach of contract claim does not give the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Appeal transferred to the Fourth Circuit. Patently-O gives you the details here. The… Continue reading

Section 10 of the Lanham Act has what’s called an “anti-trafficking” provision, which prohibits the assignment of intent-to-use applications “except for an assignment to a successor to the business of the applicant, or portion thereof, to which the mark pertains, if that business is ongoing and existing.” The provision was added by the Trademark Law… Continue reading

Mind your licenses – if you want the mark to remain valid, it behooves you to comply with the terms of the license. Non-party Ansell Incorporated, later called Ansell Healthcare Products (Ansell), owned the mark CONDOM SENSE for prophylactics, claiming first use in 1988. In 1992, it filed an intent-to-use application for the mark CONDOM… Continue reading