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Estate of Saunders v Estate of Garcia
According to the complaint, Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia performed together as the Merl & Jerry Band. It was a partnership with equal shares. The two created Master Tapes, which were jointly owned but in the Garcia estate’s possession. Jerry Garcia’s estate released the recordings on an album (left) entitled Pure Jerry: Jerry Garcia &… Continue reading
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Keeping a Trade Secret Secret May Not Be Enough
The trade secret form of intellectual property is unique because its very existence requires that it have economic value. Patents and copyrights don’t need to (and often don’t) generate a dime. Trademarks must be used in commerce to exist, but they don’t have to be used in an income-producing way. But the definition of a… Continue reading
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It All Looks So Different In the Snow
It’s a fairly sure bet that when the government is sued for infringement of intellectual property, the government will win. In Gaylord v. U.S., the Postal Service was accused of infringing the copyright in the statues of soldiers that are part of the Korean War Veterans Memorial, by using them on a stamp. The Court… Continue reading
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The Watchman Returns
The Law Blog at the WSJ reports that a California court held that 20th Century Fox owns at least the right of distribution in the soon-to-be-released Warner Bros. film The Watchman. I couldn’t find the decision on Pacer, but the complaint gives the background. An interesting insight into how production and distribution rights for movies… Continue reading
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Race To the Swiftest Without Notice
The U.S. patent, trademark and copyright statutes all have recording provisions (“race-notice,” if my property law recollection is correct) that provide a bona fide purchaser in good faith defense to the second purchaser. I don’t remember the last time I read a case that dealt with the assignment of the same intellectual property to two… Continue reading
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Who Owns “Joyce Theater”? – the Mark, Not the Building
John Welch at The TTABlog® (my go-to resource for TTAB law) has blogged on my favorite kind of case, where two different entities claim to be the owner of the same mark. John summarizes the holding of the dispute (landlord wins), but I’m more interested in how the Board got there analytically. It’s the same… Continue reading
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UK “Own Name” Defense
The IPKat posts on a new case involving the “own name” defense under UK trademark law. The Trade Marks Act 1994 provides that “A registered trade mark is not infringed by – the use by a person of his own name . . . provided the use is in accordance with honest practices in industrial… Continue reading
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Disarmed
Han Nee invented, and patented, the use of various silver alloys to be used in reflective and semi-reflective layers of CDs and DVDs. He may have done it while employed for Sony DADC US Inc. (“DADC”) and Sony, Inc. (“Sony”), a company related to DADC somehow. Nee had worked for both companies at different points… Continue reading
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Mattel Now Owns Bratz
As it last stood, Mattel had moved for an order on declaratory judgment that it owned all right, title and interest in the Bratz dolls created while the designer, Carter Bryant, worked at Mattel; for a permanent injunction that MGA cease manufacturing dolls; and that the court impose a constructive trust and transfer the “Bratz”… Continue reading
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Paying Royalties in the Hereafter
Contract cases (like patent cases) often come down to one word. In Imation Corp. v. Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., it was the little word “hereafter.” In 1995 Imation’s predecessor 3M and Philips entered into a patent cross-license for CD and DVD technology. The license terminated on March 1, 2000, except that the patent licenses granted… Continue reading