“Rappers are skilled in poetry and rhythm—not necessarily in proper copyright registration procedures.” With that comment, the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reverses a decision from the District Court for the Southern District of Florida that invalidated three copyright registrations for the same work and consequently dismissing the lawsuit. You can read...
Read more →I’m SO glad you did, because I can tell you all about the Trolley Pub® transport services – note the care with which I’ve used the term as a trademark, although I will dispense with any effort to use it in adjective-noun form from now on. The Trolley Pub is a pedal-powered street trolley...
Read more →Sometimes it’s difficult to state a claim for a trademark ownership dispute. There is no cause of action per se for declaring or correcting ownership of a trademark.* Resolution of the ownership issue is almost always subsumed into the infringement claim, because the two warring parties are both trying to use the trademark and...
Read more →When we file trademark applications electronically, there is a form declaration for the signatory. At the time Slep-Tone Entertainment filed its applications, this was the language: The undersigned, being hereby warned that willful false statements and the like so made are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001, and...
Read more →Successful movies always seem to be accompanied by copyright infringement lawsuits, generally an optimistic author who believes his or her story was stolen and made into a movie. But in Gomba Music, Inc. v. Avant we have a very different twist, two different claimants to ownership of the copyright in music written by the...
Read more →I’m very interested in C.F.M. Distributing Co. v. Costantine, a case about a failed franchise and a son’s effort to revive it. The effort failed because there were so many former uncontrolled licensees that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board held (as affirmed by the Federal Circuit) that the applicant was not the owner...
Read more →I was all stoked because one of the most complicated trademark ownership cases I’ve ever seen, C.F.M. Distributing Co. v. Costantine, was appealed to the Federal Circuit. Super! Clarification from a Court of Appeals on trademark ownership! Sigh. Affirmed under Rule 36 without an opinion. Oral argument here. The text of this work is...
Read more →When we last visited DeliverMed Holdings, LLC v. Schaltenbrand, plaintiff DeliverMed had lost on all claims, including on some copyright and trademark theories. DeliverMed appealed the holdings that it was not the owner of the copyright in this logo and that the copyright registration was invalid. The district court was colorful in its description...
Read more →I’ve read a lot of cases with convoluted fact patterns, which I guess is how they end up in litigation. But C.F.M. Dist. Co. v. Costantine, an opposition before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, is in the stratosphere of convoluted. Not surprisingly, it’s about a family business. In a 44-page decision, 4 pages...
Read more →DeliverMed Holdings LLC v. Schaltenbrand is a dispute about a failed business involving the tagline “Right at Home, the trademark “DeliverMed,” and a “mortar and pestle” logo: In the last post we covered the court’s opinion, after a bench trial, on the ownership and infringement of the copyright in the logo. Score one for...
Read more →Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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