Property, intangible

The IP Finance blog has an excellent post on pitfalls in the sale of trademarks out of bankruptcy. The whole article is useful (and good advice on both sides of the Atlantic), but the most interesting part is the story of how the family of MG marks was split, so that one mark went to… Continue reading

The concept of “intellectual property” is often used as a generic category, particularly in contracts. So what does it mean for an amusement park? The “Hard Rock Park” was an amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This isn’t going where you think; it’s not about the HARD ROCK marks. The park had been designed… Continue reading

The Las Vegas Trademark Attorney gives us the jot and tittle of a dispute between Ozzy Osbourne and Anthony Iommi over the ownership of the BLACK SABBATH name. An interesting twist beyond the usual band name story, because Ozzy assigned the name to Iommi in 1980. What does it take to recapture ownership of a… Continue reading

It’s still hot and heavy in the Bratz litigation. There are these enticing entries on the district court docket: 05/18/2009 5510 PHASE 2 DISCOVERY MATTER – ORDER NO. 34 filed by Special Master Robert C O’Brien Regarding Motion to Compel Production of Hard Drives from Computers Used by Isaac Larian after February 27, 2008 (O’Brien,… Continue reading

Here’s an interesting story on the derivation of the word “tabloid” for a newspaper. It’s a trademark registered in the United Kingdom in 1884 for compressed medicines, a portmanteau of “tablet” and “ovoid.” The use of the mark was later expanded to tea, first aid kits, snake bite kits, photographic chemicals, and other goods. Burroughs… Continue reading

The Exclusive Rights blog reports on a case from the Supreme Court of Indiana, where one company hired another to design and host its web site. An often-told story; the hiring company stopped paying the bills and the designing company shut down the web site, then sued on the bill. In response, the defendant counterclaimed… Continue reading

Applera Corp. v. MP Biomedicals, LLC is an infrequent occurrence, a patent-related case in state court. In the case, the two original contracting parties entered into a royalty-bearing patent license for the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) process for amplification of DNA. The license included terms for ascertaining royalties based on whether the products would infringe… Continue reading

Sometimes the TTAB is an alternative reality. It’s happening right now as it struggles with trademark ownership disputes. In Arturo Santana Gallego v. Santana’s Grill, Inc., there was family falling out. The TTAB reached a conclusion that may be right, but in a way that is so doctrinally irrelevant that we can’t know. The cast… Continue reading

MGA Entertainment has asked for, and was granted, an expedited hearing for a stay of the injunction pending its appeal to the Ninth Circuit. The hearing will be May 18. In expected fashion, MGA couldn’t pass up an opportunity for a smackdown in its press release: Mattel’s iteration of the brand will necessarily bear little… Continue reading

Patent numbers 5,138,459, 6,094,219, 6,233,010 and 6,323,899 had three named inventors, Marc Roberts, Matthew Chikosky and Jerry Speasl. They invented the subject matter of the patents while working for Mirage Systems, Inc., then formed their own company, Personal Computer Cameras, Inc. St. Clair Intellectual Properties invested in the company, and when Personal Computer Cameras was… Continue reading