• Posts Tagged ‘royalties’

    A Postscript on Damages

    by  • April 27, 2011 • copyright

    Photo by Kevin Burkett. Licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0 Frank Gaylord was the artist who created the figures that are part of the Korean War Veterans Memorial. A photograph of the figures in the snow was used on a postage stamp.  In 2006 Frank Gaylord sued in the Court of Claims, lost, appealed, and then...

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    The Coinco Strategy

    by  • November 13, 2009 • patent

    Mars, Inc. v. Coin Acceptors, Inc., first blogged here, demonstrated what can go wrong with ownership of patents within a corporate enterprise. As a refresher, in Mars the defendant, “Coinco,” successfully attacked the chain of title of the patents in suit. Mars had transferred ownership of the patents between family members during the lawsuit,...

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    It’s Alive! Or On Life Support, at Least

    by  • October 25, 2009 • patent

    Candy company Mars has a convoluted ownership saga for some patents related to currency acceptors in vending machines. In a classic case of the left hand not being introduced to the right, Mars, Inc. had assigned patents to another member of the corporate family, Mars Electronic International, Inc. (MEI),* during ongoing patent litigation. This...

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    Shifting IP

    by  • June 30, 2008 • patent

    Update: See more recent post on related case here. In large corporate entities, intellectual property is often placed and moved around to improve the company’s tax position. The IP department may not be consulted on the shift, finding out only at the last minute when it is asked to execute the assignments that the...

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