Malibu Textiles, Inc. v. Carol Anderson, Inc. is a good demonstration of the confusion that, almost 20 years after CCNV, still surrounds whether a work is a “work made for hire.” In Malibu, designs for lace were created by an independent party but Malibu filed copyright applications for the lace designs listing ownership as...
Read more →The Los Angeles Intellectual Property Trademark Attorney Blog reports here that there is an ownership dispute over the music in a 1987 live-action version of Snow White. The blog reports: MGM asserts that defendant, Arik Rudich, is an individual now residing in Israel, who composed certain music and/or songs included in the picture, which...
Read more →I’m a little late to the game, but I just got around to reading Robert Brauneis’ “Copyright and the World’s Most Popular Song,” available here, blogged here, here, and here. It’s an interesting and thorough investigation into whether “Happy Birthday” is still protected by copyright. The telling of the story covers initial ownership of...
Read more →A friend reminded me to read Paul Goldstein’s “Errors and Omissions” (he was reminded by the publication of Professor Goldstein’s new book, “A Patent Lie“). I brought it for my summer beach reading and was highly entertained to read a novel about the topic of the blog, ownership of IP. The premise is that...
Read more →Pinnacle Pizza Co. v. Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc., does some contract interpretation on ownership of trademarks in a franchise relationship – not the trademarks originally licensed, but a trademark created by a franchisee. Pinnacle Pizza was a franchisee for Little Caesar Enterprises pizza (I’ll use “Little Caesar” to refer to the company; the trademark...
Read more →In Angel Flight of Georgia, Inc. v. Angel Flight America, Inc., the 11th Circuit decision left open more questions than it answered. Two entities with an admirable purpose, providing free transportation for donated organs and medical patients, were using the same trademark, ANGEL FLIGHT, in the same territory – plaintiff Angel Flight Georgia (AF-GA)...
Read more →Update: See more recent post on related case here. In large corporate entities, intellectual property is often placed and moved around to improve the company’s tax position. The IP department may not be consulted on the shift, finding out only at the last minute when it is asked to execute the assignments that the...
Read more →It turns out that the success of Trailer Trash Barbie was indeed the fact that it was a Barbie. After Paul Montwillo (doing business under the name Paul Hansen) and his business partner, William Tull, settled a lawsuit Mattel brought in 1997 against them for their sale of Barbie dolls turned into “Trailer Trash...
Read more →Francisco Coll-Monge (deceased at the time of the suit) founded two non-profit companies in the 1960’s, Inner Peace Movement, Inc. (IPM) and Peace Community Church (PCC), to promote self-actualization programs. He registered various trademarks, including INNER PEACE MOVEMENT and PEACE COMMUNITY CHURCH, in his own name. The district court got it wrong but the...
Read more →A blog on IP ownership appropriately starts with Bryant v. Mattel, Case 2:04-cv-09049-SGL-RNB in the Central District of California, otherwise known as Mattel v. MGA Entertainment. This, of course, is the case about Bratz dolls – seems the designer, Carter Bryant, worked at Mattel twice and claims to have designed the dolls between his...
Read more →Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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