Universe Sales Co., Ltd. v. Silver Castle, Ltd.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
182 F.3d 1036 (1999)
- Written by Curtis Parvin, JD
Facts
Under a licensing agreement, Universe Sales Co., Ltd. (Universe) (plaintiff) paid royalties to Offshore of California, Inc. (later acquired by Offshore Sportswear, Inc.) (Offshore) (defendant) for the use of trademarks. Offshore claimed it had registered the trademarks in Japan. Universe discovered discrepancies in Offshore’s Japanese trademark filings and brought suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, claiming that Universe had no obligation to pay Offshore royalties and demanding reimbursement of the royalties already paid. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court concluded that Offshore failed to comply with Japanese Patent Office formalities and did not hold valid trademarks. Accordingly, the district court ruled that Universe owed no royalties to Offshore and ordered that Offshore pay restitution for the royalties paid. Following Offshore’s motion for reconsideration, the district court reaffirmed its decision that royalties were not due but vacated the restitution award. Offshore appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, asserting that the district court had improperly failed to consider an opinion offered by Offshore’s expert that Japanese contract law controlled the issue, not trademark law, and under Japanese contract law, an enforceable licensing contract existed between Universe and Offshore. Universe did not offer an expert or other evidence to refute Offshore’s expert, and nothing in the record suggested that the district court conducted its own research and analysis of Japanese law.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Brunetti, J.)
Dissent (Ferguson, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.