Property, intangible

a blog about ownership of intellectual property rights and its licensing


abandonment

  • 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

  • The Melody Can Barely be Heard

    Class 46 brings our attention to the auction of a Spanish brand for a department store chain “Galerías Preciados.” Fogasa, an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Education, acquired the family of marks as the result of a bankruptcy. Fogasa has tried to auction the brand three times; in 1997 the value was… Continue reading

  • What’s on Your Pocket?

    Not surprisingly, Levi Strauss & Co. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. is a case about enforcing the “arcuate” pocket stitching design on Levi’s jeans. Levi’s is not one to be meek in enforcing its registered trademark, shown below:But it’s butting up against a litigious player in its own right, Abercrombie & Fitch (various dockets… Continue reading

  • Mongols Trademark Seizure

    There have been a lot of posts about the government’s seizure of the MONGOLS trademark, used by a biker gang. You can find blogging about it here, here and here, and commentary here and here on what it means under trademark law principles. Ryan Giles at the Law Vegas Trademark Attorney had the comment that… Continue reading

  • A Crocodile Has a Skinnier Snout

    For a foreign take on the amount of use needed to preserve trademark rights,  the IPKat offers a post on use of the word mark CROCODILE by Lacoste in the UK here. © 2008 Pamela Chestek Continue reading

  • Patsy’s Restaurant Wars

    The never-ending saga of competing “Patsy’s” restaurants in New York simmers on. I count 13 decisions in the Westlaw database from at least three separate suits, plus there have been four petitions to cancel filed at the PTO. The latest decision, resolving all outstanding issues between the parties at the trial court level, starts this… Continue reading

  • Licensing, Naked or Clothed

    In the Moose Tracks ice cream post, I mentioned that it didn’t look like a naked license situation because Denali was doing everything necessary to defeat a claim of naked licensing. Nevertheless, there was some suggestion in the survey that consumers didn’t associate the “Moose Tracks” flavor with any particular source, i.e., that they thought… Continue reading

  • There’s Only One Mustang Ranch

    The Seattle Trademark Lawyer reports on a 9th Circuit decision affirming ownership of the mark MUSTANG RANCH. It’s a long saga, where the government seized the ranch and all its property then stumbled around for years trying to figure out what to do with it. David and Ingrid Burgess then adopted the mark and later… Continue reading

  • Heavy Hitting in Las Vegas

    The Law Vegas Trademark Attorney gives us background on a newly-filed dispute over the mark HEAVY HITTER(S). It’s an interesting situation – it looks like an advertising agency registered the mark HEAVY HITTER (although the certificate says HEAVY HITTERS) for legal services and relied on licensees’ use to support its registration. Glen Lerner, of Law… Continue reading

  • Goodwill for Sale

    The area of “residual goodwill” seems to be a hot one lately. I posted recently on River West Brands and Chrysler LLC v. Pimpo, two “residual goodwill” situations, and the TTABlog recently posted on a third one involving the LaSalle trademark for automobiles. “Residual goodwill” describes the significance of a trademark when it is no… Continue reading