Read all 'Legislation' posts in BLIP: Blogging Patents
May 5, 2008 11:38 AM PDT
In an apparent retaliatory lawsuit, Chris Ohman has sued the Lance Armstrong Foundation ("LAF") for infringing a design patent to its "BARKSTRONG" dog collar design. In his complaint, filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma last week, Mr. Ohman claims to own patent rights to the use of the LAF's signature LIVESTRONG mark on pet collars , and accuses "LIVESTRONG" pet collars sold by the LAF of infringement. The lawsuit appears extremely questionable in light of the fact that the Patent Office expressly denied Mr. Ohman design patent protection for collars with the word "LIVESTRONG " printed on them because of prior art found on none other than LAF 's own website.
Undeterred, Mr. Ohman filed a lawsuit that, when scrutinized by the Court, may well raise concerns. Stay tuned for the continuing battle to see whose collars are the strongest.
The dispute between Mr. Ohman and the LAF appears to have begun in June, 2005 when Mr. Ohman began selling yellow pet collars with the markings BARKSTRONG and PURRSTRONG. Last September, to prevent dilution of its Trademark, LAF filed suit against Ohman in the Western District of Texas. According to the Texas complaint filed by the LAF, Mr. Ohman approached the LAF in July of 2005, a few weeks after filing a design patent application that, if granted, would give Ohman a patent on the use of LAF's signature LIVESTRONG mark for dog collars. Mr. Ohman's tactic did not work, and no license was granted. Meanwhile, the Patent Office refused to grant Ohman a patent with the LIVESTRONG mark, and, as shown below, Ohman was forced to remove it from his proposed drawings.
Figure Deleted in Ohman's Design Patent
(Credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)
March 21, 2008 12:15 PM PDT
The goal of BLIP is to keep the non-patent lawyer apprised of recent developments in the world of intellectual property law. This post is not directed toward that goal. Today's post is devoted to raising awareness about the patent law with the coolest title: "Inventions in outer space."
The collection of laws that govern patents can be found in Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Anyone having any familiarity with patent laws knows about sections 101-103 of 35 U.S.C.--these sections deal with what is patentable and how you judge if a patent is in fact novel or not obvious. But unbeknownst even to most practicing patent lawyers is that two sections later--in section 105--Congress has enacted a law specifically directed to extraterrestrial patents:
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