These types of things are always so confusing. Same with the case with Coca Cola that I've read about.
They tried to screw over this designer a while back. He came up with a campaign to put a classic car on all coke bottles. It would be the new "Classic Coke" campaign. Well Coke saw it and said they weren't interested. The designer finds out 6 months later that they are going ahead with it, but not giving him a cut or anything. So he runs to the patent office with all his work to file patents of all his designs on coke bottles and the campaign.
Little did he know that what the Patent Office actually did was give him the patent to the contour bottle that made Coke famous. Now they are fighting it out saying who owns the patent. Coke was allegedly done some underhanded things to try and win this case.
http://www.rense.com/general6/skolcoke.htm
Himbo