equitable title
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Why There Are Nonprecedential Decisions
When we last visited Taylor v. Taylor Made Plastics, Inc., the trial court held that the spouse of the inventor acquired a legal ownership interest in the inventor’s patent in the divorce. I was a bit surprised; the language in the divorce was this: The Court finds that the proceeds from the production of the… Continue reading
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Patents and Divorce
It’s divorce week here at Property, Intangible. I just reported on a case before the Supreme Court of Hawai’i that decided the relative ownership interest of divorcing spouses in copyrights created during the marriage. Now we have a case about patents, this time a federal district court case deciding standing. The statutory sections involved are… Continue reading
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Beneficial Owners Don’t Have Standing
The Eastern District of Virginia recently held that a beneficial owner of a patent has standing to bring an infringement claim. It appears the Federal Circuit disagrees. The ‘451 patent was invented by Mayer Michael Lebowitz and James Seivert, both deceased. The Lebowitz Trust now owns Mr. Lebowitz’s ownership interest in the patent. The Trust… Continue reading
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Does a “Beneficial” Patent Owner Have Standing?
Often there is the concept of “beneficial owner” in intellectual property-related transactional documents. My limited experience is that the concept is useful for tax purposes, i.e., one can have legal title in one company and “beneficial” ownership in another in order to create a favorable tax position. This presents some interpretive problems in the United… Continue reading
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