By Porter Wright on Though the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are “not meant to create a routine right of direct access to a party’s electronic information system,” a federal district court recently held that the benefits of allowing the plaintiff direct access to the defendant’s entire business database outweighed the burden of producing it. [See Advanced Tactical Ordnance … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Stating that it “will not presume the creation of jointly owned or non-exclusively licensed trademark rights,” the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an individual defendant and his company did not retain any ownership rights in an unregistered trademark his company had acquired in an asset sale and then transferred in another asset … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On June 19, 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision in a trademark case where the applicant sought registration for IP TRANSLATOR, using a class heading of “educational services” to identify the services. Prior to this decision, an applicant for trademark protection in the European Union could use a class … Continue Reading
By Dave Shouvlin on Co-Authored By: Robert J. Morgan For those businesses that might be tempted to enjoin another’s use of a common name, be advised: you might be inviting unexpected grief. In a “where the rubber hits the road decision,” the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Court of Appeals ruled recently in the case of Bedford Auto Dealers Ass’n v. … Continue Reading
By Dave Shouvlin on Think choice of grammar or poor word choice is not relevant in patent claims? Think again. Indifferent word selection nearly sunk this infringement action as well as the patent. Judge Christopher A. Boyko of the Northern District of Ohio recently tackled the difficult issue of patent indefiniteness following IPXL Holdings, L.L.C. v. Amazon. com, Inc., 430 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Remember to register transliterations as well as English versions of your trademarks in China and elsewhere. NBA legend Michael Jordan initiated a suit in China alleging the unauthorized use of his name by a Chinese sportswear and footwear manufacturer. Michael Jordan became a worldwide basketball star in the 1980s and 1990s. Qiaodan Sports Company Ltd., … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on When Starbucks recently announced a change to their iconic logo, I took interest not only as an attorney specializing in trademark and advertising law, but also as a fairly regular consumer of Starbucks coffee (and, I confess, a Starbucks "Gold Level" card holder). This article discusses issues pertinent to both and addresses some interesting theories … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a sovereign state or territory. There are currently over 270 such domain extensions— from the Ascension Island (.ac) to Zimbabwe (.zw)—delegated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). A number of the world’s countries have licensed their TLDs for … Continue Reading
