• Posts Tagged ‘exclusive licensee’

    The Standing of an Exclusive Trademark Licensee (or not)

    by  • July 6, 2020 • right of publicity, trademark • 1 Comment

    July 7, 2020: Updated to add footnote 2. Section 32 of the Lanham Act is for infringement of registered trademarks. The section says that the liability for infringement is to the “registrant.” That category undisputedly includes a successor-in-interest, such as an assignee. A minority of courts have also held that “registrant” encompasses an exclusive...

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    When Is It a License?

    by  • August 20, 2018 • trademark • 0 Comments

    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...

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    I Think This One Is Wrong

    by  • September 18, 2017 • trademark • 1 Comment

    Moreno v. Pro Boxing Supplies, Inc. is a precedential decision and, IMHO, clearly contrary to the Board’s controlling precedent. Opposer and petitioner Julie Moreno is the exclusive US licensee of the unregistered trademark CASANOVA for boxing equipment: Applicant and Registrant Pro Boxing Supplies is the owner of a registration for CASANOVA in standard character...

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    Suing the Patent Owner

    by  • May 2, 2016 • patent • 0 Comments

    As we all know, standing is difficult in patent cases. There are two types of “exclusive” licensees (in my view, making jurisprudence very confusing). First is the “virtual assignee” who has essentially all of the rights of the patent owner and can sue for infringement without having to join the patent owner. Second is...

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    It Doesn’t Work That Way

    by  • June 1, 2015 • trademark • 0 Comments

    When we last visited Florida VirtualSchool v. K12, Inc., the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit certified a question to the Supreme Court of Florida. As a refresher, in Florida VirtualSchool we have a state entity, FVS, enforcing a trademark. The defendants argued, successfully at the trial court stage, that FVS did not...

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    A Patent Owner Who Doesn’t Own the Patent

    by  • July 16, 2013 • patent • 1 Comment

    I’ve often written about the various categories of potential plaintiffs in patent infringement suits. Depending on what rights a licensee acquired, it may or may not have constitutional standing to bring a patent infringement lawsuit. A new case, CopyTele, Inc. v. E Ink Holdings, Inc., comes at it from a somewhat different angle —...

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    When “Exclusive Licensee” Equals “Registrant”

    by  • July 8, 2013 • trademark • 0 Comments

    Heraeus Germany makes dental products and distributes them in the United States through a sister company, plaintiff Heraeus Kulzer LLC (Heraeus America). Defendant Omni Dental Supply imports gray market products it claims are made by Heraeus Germany but intended for distribution in other countries, primarily China. In order to stop Omni, Heraeus Germany made...

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    Neither Fish Nor Fowl

    by  • June 11, 2013 • patent • 0 Comments

    Ah, here’s an interesting one. The plaintiff claims to be an exclusive patent licensee, the defendant is the United States, the case properly filed in the Court of Federal Claims, and the defendant has challenged standing. But rather than the usual situation where the court is examining whether enough rights were transferred for the...

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