Property, intangible

Sybersound Records, Inc. v. UAV Corp. is a 2008 Ninth Circuit decision on joint copyright ownership that wasn’t well-received by either Nimmer on Copyright or Patry on Copyright. In Sybersound, the court held that the transfer of an interest by one joint owner of a copyright could only be a non-exclusive license, not an assignment… Continue reading

Walter Mercado can’t get a break – but then he’s trying to fight two separate district court decisions that both went against him. Odds in the appeals court were slim and he didn’t beat them. The dispute is over an agreement between Mercado, an astrologer, and Bart Enterprises International Ltd., a company to which Mercado… Continue reading

Registrant’s goods Cancellation action Paul Audio, Inc. v. Zhou is just one glimpse of what clearly is a much larger dispute. Baoning Zhou, an individual, is the owner of a registration for the mark C-MARK for audio equipment. Petitioner Paul Audio, Inc., owned by Li Gong, had also applied to register the C-MARK mark for… Continue reading

If an employee has a pre-existing idea that he or she brings to the employer, who owns it? At first blush it seems pretty easy, that the employee would own it. What, though, if the employer puts time, effort and money into developing the idea, then what? This is the situation in Woodfords Family Services,… Continue reading

The Eastern District of Virginia recently held that a beneficial owner of a patent has standing to bring an infringement claim. It appears the Federal Circuit disagrees.  The ‘451 patent was invented by Mayer Michael Lebowitz and James Seivert, both deceased. The Lebowitz Trust now owns Mr. Lebowitz’s ownership interest in the patent. The Trust… Continue reading

There’s been a fair amount written about “heritage,” “dead” or “zombie” brands, including by me. These are brands that aren’t being used anymore by the original owner, but they still have resonance with consumers. A third party comes along specifically with the intent of exploiting the consumer recognition by creating a new offering around the… Continue reading

Yesterday’s post covered the relative ownership of the trademarks YOGI and YOGI TEA between cross-claimant Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Puri (“Bibiji”) and Golden Temple of Oregon (“GTO”), where an arbitration held that Bibiji was the owner of the trademarks. GTO therefore dropped its infringement claim against defendant Wai Lana Productions, but Bibiji’s claim against Wai Lana… Continue reading

Like life, trademark ownership can get complicated.  About a year and a half ago I reported on a brewing dispute over the ownership of the trademark YOGI TEA. Golden Temple of Oregon (GTO) sued Wai Lana Productions for trademark infringement of its YOGI and YOGI TEA mark. Wai Lana defended itself on the basis that… Continue reading

Awhile back I reported on a new infringement lawsuit involving the Bratz dolls, this time a claim by a photographer that the dolls infringed an ad the photographer created for apparel and footwear company Steve Madden: Carter Bryant, the designer of the Bratz dolls, gave the ad to the sculptor who created the first “sculpt”… Continue reading

A short primer from the TTAB on when one can correct the name of an incorrectly named registrant and when instead the application is void ab initio.  In Key West Innkeeper’s Association, Inc. v. The Popular House, Inc., the application was filed in the name of “Carlson,Jody,E”, a corporation, then the applicant was changed during… Continue reading