Author Archives: Kenan Farrell

Indiana Patent Litigation Update

04 Thursday Jun 2009

Posted by in Litigation, Patent

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NEW Patent Litigation Alert:

Thomas Mason et al v. Galbreath Inc. et al.

Court Case Number: 3:09-cv-00248-TLS-CAN

File Date: Monday, June 01, 2009

Plaintiff: Thomas Mason, Richard Rohrer, Galfab Inc.

Plaintiff Counsel: Kenneth P. McKay of McKay & Associates PC, Daniel S. Tankersley – Attorney at Law

Defendant: Galbreath Inc., Wastequip Inc., Pioneer, a Wastequip Company

Cause: 35:271 Patent Infringement

Court: United States District Court, Northern District of Indiana

Judge: Judge Theresa L. Springmann
Referred To: Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein

Source:  RFC Express

Indiana Copyright Litigation Update – Supreme Court Decision

29 Friday May 2009

Posted by in Copyright, Litigation, Supreme Court

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Copyright Litigation Decision – Supreme Court of Indiana

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Conwell v. Grey Loon Outdoor Marketing Group, Inc.
No: 82S04-0806-CV-00309 (May 19, 2009)
Supreme Court of Indiana
Before: Sullivan, Dickson, Shepard, Rucker, and Boehm

Click here for full opinion.

COPYRIGHT; OWNERSHIP (A contractor who created copyrighted material for a principal was the owner because the work for hire doctrine applies only to employees, and the contractor never transferred the copyright.)

Opinion (Shepard): Plaintiff Piece of America (POA) contracted Grey Loon Outdoor Marketing Group (Grey Loon) to build a website. Grey Loon subsequently finished the website, and hosted it as well.  Eventually, POA failed to pay for ongoing hosting and work, and Grey Loon removed the website without making backup copies.  POA sued Grey Loon for conversion of the website.  Conversion requires ownership of the object converted.  If an employee creates copyrighted material in the scope of employment, the material belongs to the employee.  However, Grey Loon was an independent contractor, and therefore was the owner of the website.  Grey Loon also never transferred ownership of the website to POA. The court held that Grey Loon had merely granted an implied nonexclusive license to POA and therefore, Grey Loon was the owner of the copyright for the website.  Affirmed.

Source:  Willamette Law Online

People, be sure you clarify ownership of your website in your Website Design and Hosting Agreement.  More often than not, the copyright will remain with your designer unless you negotiate for it, which could raise the designer’s fees.

For a complete analysis of the facts of the case, check out Exclusive Rights, a copyright law blog.

Sotomayor's Supreme Court Case History – Intellectual Property

28 Thursday May 2009

Posted by in Copyright, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Supreme Court

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During Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s 17 years as a federal judge, the U.S. Supreme Court has reviewed her decisions on at least eight occasions, including the following copyright case:

Tasini vs. New York Times, et al (1997), 972 F. Supp. 804: As a district court judge in 1997, Sotomayor heard a case brought by a group of freelance journalists who asserted that various news organizations, including the New York Times, violated copyright laws by reproducing the freelancers’ work on electronic databases and archives such as “Lexis/Nexis” without first obtaining their permission. Sotomayor ruled against the freelancers and said that publishers were within their rights as outlined by the 1976 Copyright Act. The appellate court reversed Sotomayor’s decision, siding with the freelancers, and the Supreme Court upheld the appellate decision (therefore rejecting Sotomayor’s original ruling). Justices Stevens and Breyer dissented, taking Sotomayor’s position.

Source: CNN

Patent Searching Terminals Now Available at Indianapolis Central Library

27 Wednesday May 2009

Posted by in Patent, Tech Developments

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The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library now provides five dedicated PubWEST patent searching terminals at its downtown Central Library location, thanks to a donation to the Library Foundation by Woodard, Emhardt, Moriarty, McNett & Henry LLP.  The five dedicated PubWEST computer terminals are located on the fourth floor of the Central Library at the east end.

The Central Library is one of two designated Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) in Indiana, the other being the Siegesmund Engineering Library at Purdue University in West Lafayette.  As a designated PTDL, the Central Library is able to provide free public access to PubWEST, a web-based examiner search tool used by patent examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in addition to a variety of other patent and trademark resources.  The PubWEST system is only available to the public at designated PTDLs and is a valuable inventor resource which is not otherwise available on the Internet.

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