naked license
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Shocking Result – You Can’t Cancel a Registration the Other Party Doesn’t Own
“The issue before the Court is whether an entity other than the trademark registrant and owner may properly be sued for trademark cancellation.” And my head explodes. One owns a property, a trademark registration. A claim that the property right doesn’t exist can only be brought against the entity that claims to own the property […] Continue reading
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A Thing of Beauty
I don’t think I have ever been so excited about an exhibit in a case before. It’s one that makes the heart of a person who writes about trademark ownership sing. Just look at it: Yes, it is a pawn ticket. I have looked at many documents claiming to be a trademark assignment and this […] Continue reading
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Licenses, Consents or Assignments?
Lawn Managers, Inc. v. Progressive Lawn Managers, Inc. is about a trademark and a divorce, a case we’ve visited before. Where we last left it, the federal court was abstaining to allow the parties to figure things out in family court. As it turns out that order was vacated; on reconsideration the court concluded that […] Continue reading
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Who Should Own the Trade Dress?
Oneida Group, Inc. v. Steelite International U.S.A. Inc. is a demonstration of how our jurisprudence is essentially useless in deciding trademark ownership claims. The dispute is over ownership of the trade dress in the highly successful “Botticelli” and “Nexus” tableware patterns, part of Oneida’s “Sant’ Andrea” line: The tableware is considered premier and sold to […] Continue reading
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The Promiscuous Licensor
I recently took the federal courts to task for what I submit is a disconnect between the statutory definition of “abandonment” and the “naked license” defense. My argument is that trademark owners are simply being punished for behavior that is seen as too lax, without any regard for whether that laxness has actually effected a […] Continue reading
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Let’s Kill the “Naked License” Defense
Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile know that I’m not a fan of the naked licensing defense. The Trademark Reporter was kind enough to print a Comment I wrote explaining why I dislike it so. Click on the image for a copy. Thanks to The Trademark Reporter for granting permission […] Continue reading
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Yikes
Whether a license provision is categorized as a “condition” or a “covenant” will determine what remedies are available. Noncompliance with a covenant of the agreement is a merely a breach, so you get contract remedies. If the noncompliance means you failed to satisfy a condition, then you have no license and are subject to infringement […] Continue reading
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Google is, Irrelevantly, Confirmed as the Senior User of the ANDROID Mark
Before Google acquired Android, Inc., and later released the Android operating system, Erich Specht had registered the mark ANDROID DATA. Specht claimed Google infringed his trademark; Google was successful in the trial court with a claim that Specht had abandoned the trademark, as I previously blogged. The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit now […] Continue reading
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“Hustler is Larry Flynt, You Know”
The Flynt family, of HUSTLER fame, has been embroiled for years in several lawsuits over the ownership of the business and use of the HUSTLER mark. As you might expect for a business based on pornography, the corporate form was ever-changinga “morass” as described by the court—as the family tried to limit its liability, and […] Continue reading
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An Embarassment of Ownership Issues
Opposed mark TTAB decision Restifo v. Power Beverages, LLC has, count ’em, seven different trademark ownership theories discussed in it. My kind of case. In 2006 opposer Restifo and trademark applicant Kidd first discussed a business arrangement for making YING YANG VODKA. Kidd described his method of doing business this way: [a]s an alcohol beverage, […] Continue reading
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