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Ninth Circuit Ignores the Law Again
One of the treats of writing a blog is that you can take issue with decisions – and so I take issue with a recent decision out of the Ninth Circuit in FreecycleSunnyvale v. Freecycle Network. The Ninth Circuit has now extended its questionable version of the naked licensing doctrine as last stated in Barcamerica… Continue reading
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At Least They’re Thinking About It
Neil Wilkof writing for the IPKat recently posted about joint ownership of a trademark, in particular what termination options might be available when the relationship falls apart. He’s done a great job wrestling down the pros and cons of the various ways one can deal with the disposal of the trademark once a joint venture… Continue reading
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A Routine Trademark Ownership Dispute
The case about the ownership of the LIGHT STAR TRAVEL trademark is almost blissfully routine. It simply boiled down to whether one entity acquired ownership of another – if so, the alleged acquiror owned the trademark, if not, the original owner retained ownership. It looks like the parties are acting without the advice of counsel,… Continue reading
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Assigned or Not?
The ‘086 patent was owned by Astra L and the ‘524 and ‘489 patents were owned AZAB. On, and effective on, June 28, 2006 and pursuant to an earlier-executed Asset Purchase Agreement, a third company, AstraZeneca-UK (“AZ-UK”), purported to assign the three patents to plaintiff Abraxis. Does Abraxis have standing? It’s not as clear-cut as… Continue reading
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The Hard Rock Hotel Fires Back
Photo by David Herrera Things are getting more interesting in Hard Rock Cafe International (USA), Inc. v. Hard Rock Hotel Holdings, LLC. As previously blogged, this is a spat between a trademark licensor and licensee where the licensor claims a breach of the license agreement. Hard Rock Hotel has fired back in its answer: The… Continue reading
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Things I Don’t Write About
John Steinbeck and Bob Marley copyright ownership disputes. They are complicated and make my head hurt. Luckily, others take on the task. Eddy Ventose, of the law faculty of the University of the West Indies, has taken on the Bob Marley story. Citation: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (2010) doi: 10.1093/jiplp/jpq166, first published… Continue reading
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The Heebie Jeebies
As former counsel for Reebok, my eye caught on “reabok.com”; it was a clear typosquat. I looked more carefully at the list of domain names in dispute and it wasn’t the only typosquat or cybersquat: belis.com, daffy.com, epsun.com, fivebars.com, gunit.com, helmsley.com, livs.com, mascaron.com, oncologics.com, pirreli.com, profesia.com, reabok.com, remolacha.com, satz.com, sunlet.com, vespas.com, vitallium.com, zire.com, and redroof.org. … Continue reading
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The Difference Between a First Name and a Trademark
“Zoe” may indeed be used as a trademark by Renault, which means, according to the lawyer for two plaintiffs named Zoe Renault, that they will “now be subject to a lifetime of ribbing and that, as they grew older, would be prey to such quips as ‘Can I see your airbags?’ or ‘Can I shine… Continue reading
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When an Assignor is Not Estopped
Assignor estoppel is an equitable doctrine that precludes the assignor of a patent from later challenging the validity of the patent. The reach of the doctrine is limited, though, as explained in Borgwarner, Inc. v. Honeywell International, Inc. The patents-in-suit are for a titanium compressor wheel made by investment casting. In mid-2000, Plaintiff BorgWarner engaged… Continue reading
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The Supreme Court and Ownership of Patents
The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari to decide a question of patent ownership. The case is Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. and involves interpretation of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1990. The Bayh-Dole Act discusses, in the case of federally-funded research, the relative rights of patent ownership… Continue reading