More Intellectual Property Trivia Questions (The Outtakes)
If you thought the actual trivia quiz questions were hard, wait until you see the outtakes. Photo credit: The word Quiz in red 3D letters // ShutterStock
Recently I posted our IP trivia quiz from WIPIP. To prepare those trivia questions, my colleagues (Tyler Ochoa and Brian Love) and I made a list of potential questions and then picked our favorites. In this post, I’m sharing the questions we didn’t use. Because they are the outtakes, I didn’t refine the questions’ precision or validate the answers, so there’s a higher chance you’ll find errors or ambiguities in these questions and answers. Validate any answers before relying on them! Still, I hope you enjoy.
Patents
Q: What is the name of Federal Circuit Chief Judge Randall Rader’s current band?
A: DeNovo
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Q: In FY2013, how many patents were issued to Puerto Rico residents?
A: 18. Source (page 198)
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Q: In FY2013, how many patents were issued to Cuba residents?
A: 12. Source (page 201)
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Q: Name the four cities that house, or will house, satellite USPTO offices.
A: Detroit, Denver, San Jose and Dallas. Source.
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Q: When he published his 3 volume treatise the “Law of Patents” in 1890, where did William Callyhan Robinson work?
A: Yale Law School
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Q: Who said “ingenuity should receive a liberal encouragement”?
A: Thomas Jefferson
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Q: Who played the role of intermittent windshield wiper inventor Robert Kearns in the 2008 movie, Flash of Genius?
A: Greg Kinnear
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Q: Who was the first appointed Federal Circuit judge who had experience as a district court judge?
A: Kathleen O’Malley
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Q: How much did RIM pay NTP to lift the permanent injunction threatening to shutdown the Blackberry network in 2006?
A: $612 million
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Q: What was the fine for infringement under the 1474 Venetian patent act?
A: 100 ducats
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Q: Name the inventor who filed a patent caveat for the telephone on the same day Alexander Graham Bell filed his application
A: Elisha Gray
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Q: Which former or current Federal Circuit judge ranks sixth all time on the list of advocates with the most Supreme Court oral arguments? Bonus Q: within 5%, how many arguments did this advocate make at the court?
A: Daniel Friedman, and 80.
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Q: What is the name of the wood pavement patentee in City of Elizabeth v. Pavement Company?
A: Samuel Nicholson.
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Q: What was the priority date of Jerome Lemelson’s patent, issued in 1994, that was the subject of the famous patent opinion in Symbol Technologies v. Lemelson? Bonus Q: how many total US patents were issued to Lemelson?
A: 1954, and 606 (source for the latter)
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Q: Who said that the patent system is “adding the fuel of interest to the fire of genius”? Bonus Q: what technology did he patent?
A: Abraham Lincoln, and an improved manner for buoying vessels over shoals (source for the latter)
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Q: What year was US Patent Number 1 issued, and to whom?
A: On July 13, 1836, US Patent Number 1 was issued to John Ruggles for traction wheels. After the Patent Act of 1836, the Patent Office started a numbering system for the issued patents. John Ruggles was also a senator from Maine who was instrumental in the passage of the Patent Act. Source.
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Q: Who was the first woman known to receive a patent in her own name?
A: Mary Dixon Kies. In 1809, she received a patent for a way to weave “straw with silk or thread.” Source.
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Q: What is the relationship between the brand “Liquid Paper” and the band The Monkees?
A: The inventor, Bette Nesmith Graham, is the mother of band member Michael Nesmith. Source.
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Q: Who was issued the first patent issued in North America, and for what?
A: Samuel Winslow in Massachusetts in 1641 for a process of making salt.
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Q: Who is the world’s most prolific patent inventor?
A: Kia Silverbrook, with over 4600 patent families. Source.
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Q: Order the following inventors in terms of most number of issued patents: Thomas Edison, Edwin Land, Jerome Lemelson, George Westinghouse, Shunpei Yamazaki
A: #1: Shunpei Yamazaki (3193), #2: Thomas Edison (1084), #3: Jerome Lemelson (606), #4: Edwin Land (535), #5: George Westinghouse (361). Source.
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Q: Who was the first Superintendent of the U.S. Patent Office? Bonus Q: what was his other claim to fame?
A: William Thornton, and he was the first Architect of the Capitol, and his design was selected as the basis for the U.S. Capitol building.
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Q: Who was the first woman to be Director of the U.S. Patent Office?
A: Trick question; there has not been a female Director. Teresa Stanek Rea was Acting Director from February 1, 2013, and Michelle Lee is now a Deputy Director.
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Q: Who was issued U.S. Patent No. 1,000,000, and for what?
A: Francis H. Holton, and a puncture-proof automobile tire. Issued in 1911.
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Q: Who was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,000,000, and for what?
A: John O’Brien (assigned to DuPont), and Polysaccharide Fibers. Issued February 14, 2006.
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Q: In what year was Chisum on Patents first published?
A: 1978
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Q: For whose benefit was the first private act extending the term of a patent enacted, and for what?
A: Oliver Evans, for an automated flour mill comprising five machines. In 1808.
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Q: Academy-Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine died in December 2013. Her sister, Olivia de Havilland, was also an Academy-Award-winning actress. What other members of the family have a connection to intellectual property?
A: Their father, Walter de Havilland, was a British patent attorney; and their cousin, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was a famed aviation engineer and inventor on numerous patents.
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Copyrights
Q: What was the copyright term for a work in the 1790 Copyright Act?
A: 14 years with a 14 year renewal. Source.
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Q: The 1920 song “Avalon,” attributed to Al Jolson and Vincent Rose, was held to infringe an opera by what composer?
A: The opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini.
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Q: When he was criminally prosecuted, David LaMacchia was a student at what institution?
A: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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Q: What is the subject matter of 17 USC 119?
A: “Secondary transmissions of distant television programming by satellite”
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Q: How many performances did the play Abie’s Irish Rose run for in its initial Broadway run? (within 5%)
A: 2,327 (at the time the longest run in Broadway theater history)
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Q: Complete the post-colon title of Justice Breyer’s famous 1970 article, “The Uneasy Case for Copyright:…” [Exact matches only]
A: A Study of Copyright in Books, Photocopies, and Computer Programs
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Q: Who said “the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone”?
A: Motion Picture Association of America head Jack Valenti
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Q: What does “CONTU” stand for?
A: National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works
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Q: In 2005, rap singer Terius Gray, professionally known as Juvenile, won a copyright infringement lawsuit in the Fifth Circuit. What was the name of the allegedly infringing song, and what was the professional name of the artist who claimed infringement?
A: “Back That Azz Up”/ “Back That Ass Up” and Jerome Temple, professionally known as D.J. Jubilee. Source.
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Q: This science fiction book by Rob Reid involves alien cultures coming into contact with Earth music and being bankrupted by the resulting fines and penalties from copyright infringement.
A: Year Zero. Source.
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Q: Who is the “Anne” of the “Statute of Anne”?
A: Anne, Queen of Great Britain
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Q: Who was the first Register of Copyrights?
A: Thorvald Solberg
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Q: Who was the first woman to be Register of Copyrights?
A: Barbara Ringer
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Q: Who registered the first U.S. copyright under federal law, and for what work?
A: John Barry, for The Philadelphia Spelling Book
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Q: What was the first motion picture registered for copyright protection, and when was it registered?
A: Edison’s Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, aka Fred Ott’s Sneeze, in 1894
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Q: Name the Joan Crawford movie at issue in the 1940 Supreme Court case Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures? Bonus Q: The damages ruling effectively left the movie in legal limbo. What year is the movie likely to become publicly available again? (within 3 years)
A: Letty Lynton and 2025.
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Q: In Effects Associates v. Cohen, Judge Kozinski opined about oral copyright transfers. What movie was the subject of the litigation?
A: The Stuff
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Trademarks
Q: What is the year of the first U.S. trademark registration?
A: 1870.
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Q: name the first federal trademark registration applied for and registered.
A: Applied for: “Attorney David A. Burr was the first one to the Office, on July 28, 1870, representing J.J. Turner & Co., who sought to protect “EXCELSIOR No. 1 Peruvian Guano” for use in connection with fertilizer.”
Registered: “Averill Chemical Paint Company which, on August 30, 1870, filed an application for a design mark depicting an eagle with a ribbon together with the words “Economical, Beautiful” for liquid paint. U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1 was, according to the notation in the historic ledger, issued on October 25, 1870.”
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Q: How many oppositions were filed with the TTAB in FY13?
A: 5,278. Source.
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Q: Who does the Curtiss Candy Company say inspired the name of the “Baby Ruth” candybar?
A: Ruth Cleveland, the daughter of former president Grover Cleveland.
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Q: Who was issued Trademark Registration No. 1,000,000, and for what mark?
A: Cumberland Packing Corp., for a musical staff element of “Sweet ‘N Low” logo, for “Low Calorie Sugar Substitute,” in 1974
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Q: In what year was McCarthy on Trademarks first published?
A: 1973
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Other
Q: Name the singer who vocally impersonated Bette Midler in the Mercury Sable advertisement at issue in Midler v. Ford. Bonus Q: what was the name of Bette Midler’s backup band that she was a member of? Double bonus Q: What ad agency made the commercial?
A: Ula Hedwig; the Harlettes; Young & Rubicam
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Q: How many years is a maskwork right protected per 17 USC 904?
A: 10 years
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International IP
Q: As of November 22, 2013, how many nations are members of the Berne Convention? Bonus Q: What country was the most recent to accede to the Berne Convention?
A: 167, and Mozambique
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Q: As of September 21, 2013, how many nations are members of the Paris Convention, and what country was the most recent to accede to the Paris Convention?
A: 175, and Samoa
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Q: In what revision of the Berne Convention was the minimum term of life-plus-50-years first introduced?
A: 1908 Berlin
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Q: In what revision of the Berne Convention was the minimum term of life-plus-50-years made mandatory?
A: 1948 Brussels
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Q: In what revision of the Berne Convention was the reproduction right expressly made a mandatory requirement?
A: 1967 Stockholm
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Q: In what revision of the Paris Convention was the priority period for filing patent applications in other countries first set at 12 months?
A: 1883 Paris; trick question!
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Q: In what revision of the Paris Convention was the priority period for filing applications for registration of trademarks and other industrial designs first set at 6 months?
A: 1925 The Hague
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Q: What was the original priority period for filing applications for registration of trademarks and industrial designs in the Paris Convention?
A: 4 months
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Q: In what revision of the Paris Convention was Article 6bis on the prohibition of registration of well-known foreign marks first introduced?
A: 1925 The Hague
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Q: In what revision of the Paris Convention was Article 6quinquies requiring the registration and protection of a registered mark in all other countries “as is” (“telle quelle”) first introduced?
A: 1958 Lisbon
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Q: What was the first country held in violation of the patent provisions of the TRIPS Agreement?
A: India – Patent Protection for Pharmaceutical & Agricultural Chemical Products (mailbox rule)
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Q: What was the first country held in violation of the copyright provisions of the TRIPS Agreement?
A: United States – Section 110(5) of the Copyright Act