Property, intangible

We’re all familiar with the concept of “piercing the corporate veil.” As a general rule, the owner of a legal entity, like the parent of a subsidiary, or the shareholder of a company, is legally insulated from the wrongdoing of the owned company. In some cases though, where the owner and the company haven’t done… Continue reading

Whole Foods Market filed an application to register the mark IDEAL MARKET for grocery stores, giving a first use date in 1940. Opposers Muwafak Kaki and Kaki Inc. opposed on the basis that they were joint owners of an IDEAL MARKET trademark that predated Whole Foods’ first use. Whole Foods filed a motion for summary… Continue reading

When reviewing a settlement agreement, I often ponder the parts where it says something like “Party B agrees not to infringe the trademark in the future.” The agreement doesn’t need it; whether you say it or not Party B isn’t allowed to break the law. I suppose adding the language gives you a breach of… Continue reading

It’s unusual to see what looks like a copyright case in state court, particularly one that reaches the highest court. It is Associated Management Services, Inc. v. Ruff, a license case in the Supreme Court of Montana. Plaintiff Associated Management Services provides payroll and business services to its parent company Associated Employer, a non-profit association… Continue reading

When you see “slip it in” in an email about contract negotiations, it’s a good bet it’s not going to go well for the person trying to “slip it in.” Especially when their goal is to do it “nebulously.” The transaction was, to the defendant Mitel Networks, a vanilla domain name sale. However, the plaintiff’s… Continue reading

One of the interesting things about TTAB proceedings is that there is no live testimony before the people who will decide the case, the judges. That’s generally a good thing; it means the proceeding is less expensive and time-consuming. Trial testimony is done like a deposition, with just the parties and a court reporter, and… Continue reading

Who could resist the lure of bowling and billiards? Surely I can’t, which is why on Tuesday, May 22, you’ll find me at the above locale, Garage Billiards, 1130 Broadway, in Seattle. After your marathon day of fifteen minute meetings and sterno-warmed chicken and penne eaten during your committee meeting, join the fabulous collection of… Continue reading

I asked whether a software development agreement assigned the patent rights in the software. The district court held “yes” but the Federal Circuit disagreed. Here again is the evidence in a letter agreement between plaintiff James (through his company GSP Solutions) and defendant J2 Cloud, known as JFAX at the time: This letter shall serve… Continue reading

Defendant J2 Cloud Services (JFAX) hired plaintiff Greg James to write some software. Unbeknownst to James, JFAX filed a patent on the software. Many years later, James sued JFAX for correction of inventorship. JFAX argued that James didn’t have standing for correction of inventorship because he had assigned his patent rights to JFAX. The district… Continue reading

The opinion is sparse on the facts and the law, so we have to do some interpretation. But it’s worth some thought about how the court construed the scope of an implied copyright license. Defendant Kushner wrote software for plaintiff Vickerman Co. Their relationship ended, Vickerman Co. sued Kushner (the court doesn’t say why, other… Continue reading