license
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It’s a Really Good Idea to Get the Contract Signed
Not signing the agreement wasn’t fatal to the plaintiff’s claim, but it might have avoided the lawsuit altogether. Plaintiff Olson Kundig is an architectural firm whose owner and design principal is Tom Kundig. Defendant 12th Avenue Iron is a custom architectural metalwork fabricator owned by Stephen Marks. In 2009 Kundig and Marks decided to work… Continue reading
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Second and Ninth Circuits Split and Also Agree
I have long disagreed with the Ninth Circuit on a standard that I think is unduly crabbed. I’m talking specifically about the cause of action, and therefore remedies available, when the obligations in an agreement that include a copyright license are not met. The courts are in agreement that the obligations can be put into… Continue reading
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Licenses and the After-Acquired Affiliate
Licenses and releases for after-acquired affiliates can be tricky things to draft. Are after-acquired affiliates also licensed to the rights? Are they licensed on a forward-going basis only, or does the license or release cure earlier infringement? It all depends on how you write it. On November 24, 2016, plaintiff Oyster Optics, LLC sued a… Continue reading
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A Rare Section 117 Win
We have a rare win under Copyright Act § 117(a), a section of the Copyright Act that allows someone to copy or adapt a computer program under very narrow circumstances. Invocation of the section has been largely unsuccessful because it only applies where one is the owner of a copy of the program. However, most… 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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Saved by the Paris Convention
Here’s a drafting lesson: if you’re granting rights to a trademark, you should have the trademark rights. That sounds like an obvious lesson, but I’ll bet it happens all the time, in the same way it happened to defendant Worldwide Entertainment Group. I’ll bet a lot of you have done it. The plaintiff Adria MM… Continue reading
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Breach of a Copyright License in State Court
It’s unusual to see what looks like a copyright case in state court, particularly one that reaches the highest court. It is Associated Management Services, Inc. v. Ruff, a license case in the Supreme Court of Montana. Plaintiff Associated Management Services provides payroll and business services to its parent company Associated Employer, a non-profit association… Continue reading
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Condition or Covenant? The Answer
I posed the question whether an overrun in a book printing was a breach of the copyright license granted for the use of photos in the book or just a breach of a covenant of the agreement. The court described the issue this way: According to Scholastic, “Corbis did not treat [Scholastic’s] ongoing, high-volume …… Continue reading
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