Property, intangible

A Florida lawyer is sending threatening letters claiming others cannot say they are the “Florida Tea Party,” based on his registration of it as a political party. The recipients filed a declaratory judgment action on trademark theories. Complaint here. Reuters coverage here. South Florida Tea Party, Inc. et al versus Tea Party, S.D. Fla. 10:cv-80062-KAM… Continue reading

It’s a small point, but an important one: The recording of a [patent] assignment with the PTO is not a determination as to the validity of the assignment. However, we think that it creates a presumption of validity as to the assignment and places the burden to rebut such a showing on one challenging the… Continue reading

The Seattle Trademark Lawyer blogs about a newly-filed suit over a dispute about the ownership of the “Angels” name and show content for a Pussycat Dolls tribute band. The complaint says coyly that the defendant Goldberg Entertainment “engaged” the plaintiff Kristen Colliander (um, “employed”?), that the defendant purchased the website “kristencollianeli.com” (Ms. Colliander’s stage name)… Continue reading

There’s a somewhat puzzling complaint newly filed in the Northern District of California. Zorro Productions, Inc. (ZPI) filed an unfair competition suit against Mars, Inc., maker of M&M’s candies, and its advertising agency, BBDO Worldwide, Inc. The complaint alleges that ZPI is the owner of all rights, including without limitation, trademarks and trade dress, both… Continue reading

Pinnacle Pizza was a franchisee of Little Caesar Enterprises (LCE), the corporation that manages the “Little Caesars” franchises. Pinnacle Pizza created a promotional program for its stores called “Hot ‘N Ready,” which guaranteed a hot, medium pepperoni pizza for $4 within five minutes of the order every Tuesday. There was some discussion about who conceived… Continue reading

The Coinco strategy is an attack on standing because the company has shuffled patent ownership around between corporate family members.  If the plaintiff is not the family member that owns the patent, then it can’t bring the suit. In Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the patent-in-suit was owned by a wholly-owned… Continue reading

You just can’t trust your readership.  When the City of New York first claimed that it owned the name of the landmark New York City restaurant “Tavern on the Green,” I posted a poll asking readers’ opinion.  The result from the many, many voters (15) was resoundingly in favor of the restaurant. We were wrong,… Continue reading

Artist Frank Gaylord created the bronze figures that are part of the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  He sued the U.S. Postal Service when a photo of the sculptures was used on a stamp. In take one, the Court of Claims split the baby, deciding that the photo was a fair use of the sculpture, but also… Continue reading

The IP Finance blog has risen to the occasion, updating us on the dispute over ownership of the “MG” trademark. It has been resolved, for the moment, in favor of Nanjing Automobile Corporation.  Nanjing has worldwide rights to the MG mark and the English company that claimed to own it was ordered to change its… Continue reading

Stanford Law School‘s Center for Internet and Society is not where I usually get content for my blog. But Larry Downs has written an interesting story about an experience with buying what could easily be characterized as a counterfeit camera battery on Amazon.com. The twist is that the vendor claims he didn’t brand the battery,… Continue reading