Companies involved in trademark, patent dispute | San Jose ...

One company is appealing a $60 million judgment against it because it allegedly used another company's trademark after negotiations for a long-term contract failed. The San Diego, California medical device company filed the trademark infringement dispute asking the United States appeals court to overturn the judgment, stating that it was "shocking."

In the case, the jury said that one company used the mark and hid the fact that it knew about the mark when it filed the trademark application at the patent office. The company filed a brief with the appeals court and the brief accused the court of ordering an excessive award. The brief also alleged that the judge in the lower court made an error by ruling that the company share some of its profit with the injured company. The brief also alleged that the judge gave the jury "improper instructions."

In another case, two companies convinced a jury that they did not violate patents for software to make seat reservations for concerts and plane seating. A closely held company sued airlines and their ticketing agents for infringing on three patents. After a nine-hour deliberation, the jury found in favor of the airline companies and their ticketing agents. The closely held company takes advantage of customers who want to control where they sit at concerts. The company reserves the seats. For every transaction, it makes a $0.50 royalty on concert seats and a $0.30 royalty on airline seating.

The top 100 concerts of 2012 sold 54.2 million seat reservations in 2011, while airlines seated 586.1 million domestic passengers between January 2011 and November 2011.

When people and companies are embroiled in difficult business litigation disputes, they typically seek out experienced legal counsel to help them navigate the complex maze of law, legal negotiations, and in some cases, trials.

Source: Bloomberg.com: "FastShip, Live Nation, Google, VW, CA: Intellectual Property," Victoria Slind-Flor, March 22, 2012

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