...Assessment No. 2 | Business Law | Monopolies, Mergers and Intellectual Property Rights | Frederick Wade 4/5/2011 | Contents PART ONE Monopolies, Mergers and Competition (a) Role of the Competition Commission 3 (b) Monopolies and Mergers within the EU 3- 5 (c) Dominant position within the EU 5- 6 PART TWO Intellectual Property Right (a) Passing off products 6- 7 (b) Patent and Registration 7- 8 (c) Penalty for and Infringement of a Patent 8 (d) Employees Inventions 9 (e) Trade Marks 9- 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY Works Cited 11 1. Monopolies, Mergers and Competition (a) Role of the Competition Commission The Competition Commission is an independent public body which conducts in-depth inquiries into mergers, markets and the regulation of the major regulated industries, ensuring healthy competition between companies in the UK for the benefit of companies, customers and the economy. All of the Competition Commission enquiries are undertaken following a reference made by another authority, most often the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) (which refers merger and market inquiries), or one of the sector regulators (which can refer markets within their sectored jurisdictions or make regulatory references in relation to price controls and other licence modifications) or as a result of an appeal from a decision of one of the sector regulators. Reference: Competition Commission...
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...Part I 1) Jackson sues Peniata and Wilber for trademark infringement alleging that “St. Paul Bistro is confusingly similar to “St. Paul Café”. Will Jackson prevail in her suit? Why? Answer: Jackson does have a case against Peniata and Wilber for Trademark 2) Jackson sues Peniata and Wilber for trade dress infringement. Will Jackson prevail in her trade dress infringement suit? Why? Answer: I do believe that Jackson does have a Trade dress infringement requires that a business' design and presentation to the public be confusing to the public in a particular geographic area. St. Paul Bistrl, and St. Paul Cafe are only 1/4 miles apart from each other business uses extremely similar decor, many of the same menu items and, up until recently, the same chef. Therefore, Jackson has a cause of action for trade dress infringement. 3) Jackson sues Peniata and Wilber for copyright infringement in connection with the menus. Will Jackson prevail in her copyright suit? Why? 4) Jackson sues Wilber for misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with the recipes and operating methods of running a restaurant. Will Jackson prevail in her misappropriation of trade secrets suit? Why? 5) Jackson sues Peniata for tortious interference with contract for interfering with the Wilber Employment Contract. (A) Is the non-compete provision in the Wilber Employment Contract enforceable? Why? (B) Will Jackson prevail in her tortious interference with contract suit? Why? Part...
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...the right to use the name Rally as the lead name of her business. The Lanham Trademark Act which has a subsidiary division called the Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995, which protects company’s ownership rights to names, logos or symbols that depict the name of that business. In this case the name "Rally" has been identified as a prominent car dealership, we then have a brand new company in which its business is in food services. The intertwining of the same names is making it very difficult for anyone to distinguish between pizza pallor and a car dealership. The company "Rally Motors" has the legal right to prevent any other company from infringing on the use of the name "Rally". As Herman made very clear in the video presentation, "If I let you name your business "Rally", then I'll have a used car salesman calling his business "Rally", and he'll open p right across the street" (Rally Round the Trade Name skit). If Herman where to allow this to possibility continue , sooner or later, there would be other companies that would develop wit the same type of business plan and possibly overrun Herman’s car dealership. The usage of the name "Rally” for Gabby's pizzeria is a prime example of the Trademark Infringement, which considered is a violation of the exclusive rights to a trademark without the authorization of the owner or any licensees (Common Wealth Consolidated Act). The infringement takes place when Gabby uses the name "Rally" as her pizzeria name, with prior...
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...The purpose of this outline is to identify and recognize the Tangible and Intellectual property rights significant to the Information Technology sector. The research should identify what the managers in that industry can do to protect the property rights of the organization, and what the managers in that industry should do to assure that the organization protects the intellectual property rights of others. This will require an understanding of tangible and intellectual property in general, plus research about the tangible and intellectual property issues in the selected industry. Tangible Properties that is significant in the Information Technology sector According to Webster and Dictionary.com Tangible is having actual physical existence, as real estate or chattels, and therefore capable of being assigned a value in monetary terms, capable of being touched, real or actual, rather than imaginary or visionary. According to LAW-531, rEsource Ch 16, Tangible property is the type of property we can see and touch. Delivery trucks, desks, computers, inventory, and the Building and land in which a business is located are all forms of tangible property. Information technology computer hardware includes computers components input keyboards, output screens or monitors, and peripherals including cables, scanners, surge protectors, optical drives, digital imaging equipment, printers, data processing equipment, Fax machines. The IT sector has much to offer in this category...
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...create another monument such as that one. In today’s world we have laws to protect all types of intellectual property. Intellectual property is divided into four parts: patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets. A patent is defined as a government authority to an individual or organization conferring right or title, especially the sole right to make, use, or sell some invention. It grants property rights on inventions and excludes those other than the patent holder from making, selling, or using the invention. There are three types of patents: utility, design, and plant. A utility paten is the most common type and covers any process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. A design patent covers any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. A plant patent covers any new variety of asexually produced plant. A design patent lasts 14 years while a utility or plant patent lasts 20 years. To obtain a patent, the application process is complication and expensive. There’s a famous patent infringement war between Motorola Mobility, Inc. and Apple Inc. One particular case took place in the United States District Court of the Southern District of Florida and started in November 2010. Motorola brought action against Apple for their infringement of several asserted patents and was...
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...Trademarks and Related Property Extracts from Business Law: Texts and Cases by Miller Clarkson A trademark is a distinctive mark, motto, device, or implement that a manufacturer stamps, prints, or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces so that they can be identified on the market and their origins made known. In other words, a trademark is a source indicator. At common law, the person who used a symbol or mark to identify a business or product was protected in the use of that trademark. Clearly, by using another's trademark, a business could lead consumers to believe that its goods were made by the other business. The law seeks to avoid this kind of confusion. In this section, we examine various aspects of the law governing trademarks. Statutory Protection of Trademarks and related property is provided at the federal level by the Lanham Act of 1946. The Lanham Act was enacted, in part, to protect manufacturers from losing business to rival companies that used confusingly similar trademarks. The Lanham Act incorporates the common law of trademarks and provides remedies for owners of trademarks who wish to enforce their claims in federal court. Many states also have trademark statutes. Before 1995, federal trademark law prohibited only the unauthorized use of the same mark on competing–or on noncompeting but "related"–goods or services. Protection was given only when the unauthorized use would likely confuse consumers as to the origin of those goods and services...
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...M UM B A I S I L I C O N VA L L E Y BANGALORE S I NG A P ORE M UM BA I -BK C NEW DELH I M UNI CH Intellectual Property Law in India December 2013 © Copyright 2013 Nishith Desai Associates www.nishithdesai.com Intellectual Property Law in India About NDA Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) is a research based international law firm with offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Silicon Valley, Singapore, New Delhi, Munich. We specialize in strategic legal, regulatory and tax advice coupled with industry expertise in an integrated manner. We focus on niche areas in which we provide significant value and are invariably involved in select highly complex, innovative transactions. Our key clients include marquee repeat Fortune 500 clientele. Core practice areas include International Tax, International Tax Litigation, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Fund Formation, Fund Investments, Capital Markets, Employment and HR, Intellectual Property, Corporate & Securities Law, Competition Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, JVs & Restructuring, General Commercial Law and Succession and Estate Planning. Our specialized industry niches include financial services, IT and telecom, education, pharma and life sciences, media and entertainment, gaming, real estate and infrastructure. IFLR1000 has ranked Nishith Desai Associates in Tier 1 for Private Equity (2014). Chambers & Partners has ranked us as # 1 for Tax, TMT and Private Equity (2013). Legal Era, a prestigious Legal Media Group...
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...Beach State College Abstract Business owner Bob D’Amato, who was unaffiliated with Audi, the automobile maker, in any official manner, used the domain name www.audiosport.com to sell Audi items such as t-shirts, hats, and other accessories. The site was linked to a dealership in Florida; an establishment whom D’Amato said gave him permission to use the Audi trademarks (Roger E. Meiners, 2012 p. 243-244). . Audi Ag and Volkswagen of America Inc. v. D’Amato D’Amato stated that he did not have any affiliation with Audi. This statement did not protect him for engaging in infringement, dilution, and cybersquatting since he deliberately designed his website by displaying the Audi Trademarks and affirmatively misrepresented its affiliation with Audi, to lead consumers to believe that his website was affiliated with Audi "Who are we? We are a cooperative with Audi of America, and will be providing the latest products for your Audi's and information on Audi sport North America"(Plaintiffs' Motion, Exhs. 17-21). D’Amato has testified that he never received written permission from anyone to display the Audi Trademarks (D'Amato Dep. at 56-57, 85, 91-93). Defendant also implemented an email subscription service offering "audisport.com" email addresses ( Id. at 114-118). Defendant also offered to sell advertising space on the website. This could harm Audi because the company could be suit for damages to third persons. The website states, “Thank you for your interest in advertising...
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...Trademark “Trademark” means a mark capable of being represented graphically and which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of others and may include shape of goods, their packaging and combination of colors. "A trademark includes any word, name, symbol, or device, or any combination thereof, adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant, to identify his goods and distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. The primary purpose of a trademark is to ‘distinguish the goods of one person from another’19 Therefore a trademark enables a consumer to identify the goods and their origin. Hence in case, if an advertiser uses a competitor’s trademark to make a comparison between his goods and those of his competitor, and in the process disparages them, then such an act on the part of the advertiser would not only invoke issues related to comparative advertising and product disparagement, but would also invoke issues related to trademark infringement. Object of Trade Mark IS to deal with the precise nature of the rights which a person can a acquire in respect of a TM-The mode of acquisition of such rights -the method of transfer of those rights to others-the precise nature of infringement of such rights-and the remedies available in respect thereof. Functions of a Trade Mark 1. It identifies the product of its origin 2. It guaranties its unchanged quality 3. It advertises the products 4. It creates an image for products...
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...medium, and it must show some level of creativity. In this case, Criminal Intent was obviously published in a durable medium; however its level of originality and creativity are minor at best. On the other hand, the titles of the Rolling Stones songs are entitled to legal protection. First of all, titles such as Honky Tonk Woman and 19th Nervous Breakdown would probably be considered more creative and original than in the case with Criminal Intent. Therefore, the Rolling Stones song titles meet all three requirements for protection of artistic expression. Also, this protection would be largely due to the popularity the songs achieved when they were released. The Federal Trademark Dilution Act of 1995 aims to protect trademarks from unauthorized uses even when it is unlikely to confuse consumers. Under Trademark law, an expression may be given protection if it acquires a secondary meaning, meaning that the term or expression has become closely associated with a particular company (in this case, these specific song titles being associated with Rolling Stones). For these reasons, my professor’s use of Rolling Stone song titles for his books would not be considered a legal use. Raymond Chandler’s “idea book” would be considered a trade secret. Trade secrets are the only type of intellectual property where an “idea” can be protected. A trade secret must meet the following requirements: the information must not be generally known, it must have economic value that...
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...Article Review: Intellectual Property Oscar Thompson LAW/421 December 12, 2015 Barry Preston Article Review: Intellectual Property In this article it clearly speaks about infringement on the part of Google, Inc. Google being a fortune 500 company and having their hand in all different aspects the company tends to get sued quite a bit. The article speaks on how there has been multiple counts of trademark violations in keywords, created ideals, and sponsor links. The article goes into more detail about a specific case that took place in a United States Court of Appeals, where the plaintiff, “Hyperphrase held two business patents related to some systems and methods that linked online records. The technical process used by these systems and methods is similar to the one used by Google through its "AdSense" and "AutoLink" methods.” (Google v. Hyperphrase, 2007) The Issue The legal business issue raised in the article is that of trademark infringement that would also be considered a theft of intellectual property. Being that Hyperphrase feels that Google has demonstrated deceptive business practice they feel resolving the matter in a court of law is the only to prevent further damages. “This intriguing case so far has two significant juridical teachings. First, we learned that business patents and its electronic use are slowly but steadily becoming the object of intellectual property litigation. For the time being, this litigation is centered...
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...copyrightable works, patented inventions, Trademarks, and trade secrets. Although largely governed by federal law, state law also governs some aspects of intellectual property. Intellectual property describes a wide variety of property created by musicians, authors, artists, and inventors. The law of intellectual property typically encompasses the areas of Copyright, Patents, and trademark law. It is intended largely to encourage the development of art, science, and information by granting certain property rights to all artists, which include inventors in the arts and the sciences. These rights allow artists to protect themselves from infringement, or the unauthorized use and misuse of their creations. Trademarks and service marks protect distinguishing features (such as names or package designs) that are associated with particular products or services and that indicate commercial source. Patent A patent secures a sole right for a limited period of time to prevent others from using the invention commercially. This sole right represents a key competitive advantage and serves to protect the assets produced by corporate research and development. The actual drafting of a patent application is decisive for the extent of the protection obtained. We possess expertise in all fields of technology. Trademark A trademark often represents a substantial asset and is for many companies far more valuable than the products or services they offer. A trademark may consist of one or more words...
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...transfer to an invention or trademark or particular use of that idea (2013). A company often owned 3 form of IP which is patents, trademark and copyrights. Firstly, Patents can be seen as a legal permission or licenses from government to creators that prohibit other to transfer product itself or using the exclusive method of that product for a period of time. To support this idea, Partel & Ward (2011, p.886) claims that innovators is provided the right to ban other competitor to reinvent the invention by patents. For example, if the company is operating in technological industry, it will have patent on it product such as software, hardware. In addition, a company can also patent on it production process such as production of cosmetic product. Moreover, Patents are significantly important to multinational firms. The reason for this is that patent protect firm comparative advantage to it competitor, making the firm market value increased. Partel & Ward (20111, p.887) concluded that the value of firm daily stock market is higher when a patent is granted. However one important feature of patent that multination enterprise (MNE) has to consider is that there are no global patents. A patent is only valid with in a country border and each country patents regulation can be different to others. Due to this patents can be overlap each other. Secondly, another intellectual property asset that is owned by the company is it trademark. Trademark can be defined as recognition...
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...A trademark or trade mark is a distinctive sign or indicator of some kind which is used by an individual,business organization or other legal entity to uniquelyidentify the source of its products and/or services toconsumers, and to distinguish its products or servicesfrom those of other entitiesA trademark is a device which can take almost any form,as long as it is capable of identifying and distinguishingspecific goods or services. A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, soundor a combination of these elements. There is also a range of non-conventionaltrademark comprising marks which do not fall into these standard categories,may therefore be visible signs (e.g. colors, shapes, moving images, holograms,positions), or non-visible signs (e.g. sounds, scents, tastes, textures). The law of trademark deals with the mechanism of registration, protection of trademark and prevention of Thefraudulent trademark. law also provides for the rights acquired by registration of trademark, modes of transfer and assignment of the rights, nature of infringements, penalties for such infringement and remedies available to the owner in case of such infringement. Term/Duration of a Trademark in IndiaThe term of registration of trademark is 10 (Ten) years, butmay be renewed subject to the payment of the prescribed fee,in accordance with the provisions of the Trademarks Act,1999. An application for renewal of a trademark can be filedwithin six months from Constantia...
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...walls of any room in any house or open areas. BUG wants to expand its product internationally, but is hesitant to pursue because of possible detriments that it may have in regards to the different types of legal protections, civil liabilities, torts, and down to its privacy, security, infringement issues, and email contract validity. BUG Inc. hired a group of specialists to define these problem areas and discuss the importance of why it should be taken care of. Bug, Inc. should have several protections for its intellectual property. The protections include trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents. The Uniform Trade Secret act and common law protect the secret processes, formulas, methods, procedures, and lists that provide Bug, Inc. with economic advantage. This protection lasts for the life of the entity or owner. For example, customer lists with contact information, buying patterns, and credit histories involving Bug, Inc. are protected by the Trade Secret act. Services marks and trade dress fall into the realm of trademarks. The Lanham act along with some state and federal common law help protect Bug, Inc.’s trademark, which is a logo of a ladybug wearing a set of headphones. Trademarks are defined as words, symbols, or phrases that identify a particular seller’s product or service. Trade dress...
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