assignment
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Answer to “Today’s ‘Who Owns the Trademark’ Quiz”
I asked who owns the RESTORADERM trademark? When I read the facts in the Third Circuit opinion I thought it was a no-brainer. But apparently I was wrong, because the district court came out one way and the appeals court the other. Sköld won in the trial court. Galderma moved for summary judgment on ownership… Continue reading
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Today’s “Who Owns the Trademark” Quiz
The opening sentence: “This case proves once again that people will fight for a catchy name.” My kind of case. Plaintiff Thomas Sköld coined the name “Restoraderm” for a proprietary skin care formulation. (When the court uses the word “coined,” you know it has grasped the difference between a word and a trademark.) In 2001… Continue reading
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Who Is Not a Beneficial Owner of Copyright
Six years into the case, we’re on to the third decision on ownership in the case of Roberts v. Gordy and have yet to reach the question of infringement. In the first opinion, the district court held that, although there were three registrations for the infringed work, none was effective and so the court dismissed… Continue reading
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The Things You Don’t Think Of
We have a story of three firearm and ammunition companies. The parties in the case are DoubleTap Defense, LLC (DTD), a company that had an application to register the trademark DOUBLETAP for pistols, and Hornady Manufacturing Co., owner of several TAP-formative registrations for ammunition. The third company, not a party, is Double Tap Ammunition (DTA),… Continue reading
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A Service Mark Is Not Always a Trademark
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the site on which the World Trade Center in New York sits. The original two towers complex was completed in 1973 and included the “Top of the World” observation deck and gift shops, which were operated under a lease with the Port Authority. As part… Continue reading
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Are These Registrations Valid? The Answer
In my last post I posed questions about the validity of two registrations. If you guessed that both registrations were valid, you were right. The first application was filed and assigned at a time when the entity had been administratively dissolved. DC Bocce claimed that the non-profit still had the capacity to sue and be… Continue reading
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Are These Registrations Valid? A Quiz
Non-profit DC Bocce League was incorporated in DC in 2004. Its status was revoked in 2007 but it continued to operate through 2010. It filed its formal articles of dissolution on November 4, 2010. The respondent, owner of the challenged registrations, is Major League Bocce, LLC d/b/a DC Bocce League. It is a Delaware LLC… Continue reading
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The Agreement At Work
I have a crush on the trademark assignment agreement of the Tavern on the Green mark. It’s a tour de force of drafting. In a nutshell, for decades the City of New York leased the premises for the famous Tavern on the Green to a restauranteur. In 2009 the restauranteur lost its lease, but by… Continue reading
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Just “Slip It In Nebulously”
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
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Were the Patent Rights Assigned? The Federal Circuit Says No
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
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