assignment
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Most Excellent Conference
Yesterday there was a conference devoted to my favorite topic, Ownership and Control of IP Rights. What a shame it was on a different continent so I couldn’t attend. Luckily, the IPKat summarizes it here, here and here. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Continue reading
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What is SALBA and Who Owns It?
For me, Ralston v. Salba Corp. was one of those “whoops, keep an eye out for that next time” kind of cases. Note to self – in the future, check for a reversionary right in the property being licensed. Plaintiffs William and Richard Ralston and Great Western Tortilla Co., a company that had been owned… Continue reading
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Case Not to Miss
It’s a small point, but an important one: The recording of a [patent] assignment with the PTO is not a determination as to the validity of the assignment. However, we think that it creates a presumption of validity as to the assignment and places the burden to rebut such a showing on one challenging the… Continue reading
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There’s Always Your First Name
From the caption you can guess the story in MacKenzie-Childs, Ltd. v. Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs: Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs started a business, didn’t have the business anymore, and then there was a dispute over who owned the name. The MacKenzie-Childs story is a little different from Joseph Abboud but still comes out the same.… Continue reading
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Ball Bearing Trademark Rolling Free, Like a Fumbled Football
Both plaintiff and defendant sell ball bearings using the same four-digit codes. The codes provide information on the characteristics of the bearings. But this isn’t a copyright case about the numbering system, it’s a claim that the series numbers are trademarks. The plaintiff, RBC Nice Bearings Inc., f/k/a Nice Ball Bearing Co. (“Nice”), started selling… Continue reading
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The Missing Schedule
The Patent Prospector summarizes a decision from the Federal Circuit where the ownership of patents hinged on whether they were “related to” pending litigation at the time of an earlier intra-company assignment agreement. If the patents were related, they weren’t assigned and U.S. Surgical Corporation, not plaintiff Tyco Healthcare, remained the owner of the patents.… Continue reading
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A Very Short License
The Trademark Blog reports on a new case where two companies claim to own the same mark. In the complaint, the plaintiff and trademark registrant claims that it licensed the mark to the defendant but later terminated the license. The defendant’s website says that it acquired the business from the plaintiff. Here is the relevant… Continue reading
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Making Your Bed
The 7th Circuit decision in Sunstar, Inc. v. Alberto-Culver Co. is interesting in two ways: it provides some insight into how one company is managing the Japanese market, and also provides a little education on Japanese trademark licensing law. Alberto-Culver, owner of the VO5 family of marks, wasn’t having any success in the Japanese market,… Continue reading
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The Coinco Strategy
Mars, Inc. v. Coin Acceptors, Inc., first blogged here, demonstrated what can go wrong with ownership of patents within a corporate enterprise. As a refresher, in Mars the defendant, “Coinco,” successfully attacked the chain of title of the patents in suit. Mars had transferred ownership of the patents between family members during the lawsuit, a… Continue reading
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Contract Interpretation Quiz
Interpret this contract, reproduced below in full: In consideration of the sum of One Dollar ($1.00) and other good, valuable, and adequate consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is acknowledged, the undersigned does hereby sell, assign, transfer, and set over to Bridgeport Music, Inc., its respective successors and assigns, fifty percent (50%) of his… Continue reading
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