Intellectual Property

In today’s world, advertising is inescapable. We are bombarded every day by marketing messages on our phones, computer screens and television screens. Even while reading a newspaper online, pop-up ads frequently appear, often to our annoyance. One might wonder: how did all this come about, and what purpose does it serve? As we’ve previously written, brands help consumers decide from

In December 2024, we wrote about the many celebrities involved in the production of their own works and some of the resultant U.S. patent office activity. Many more celebrities have invented products not directly related to their day jobs. Below are tales about a few more and because its March, we thought it a perfect time to focus on some

You may notice that this is the first IP column by Z. Peter Sawicki with a new co-author! Fear not, James L. Young is still involved, sharing wisdom and providing editorial guidance, and is available to share practice tips and anecdotes in our musings about intellectual property. In this article, we want to discuss “firsts” when it comes to protecting

They often make it look so easy when celebrities entertain us in their movies, songs and dance routines. What we fail to typically appreciate are the intense production aspects behind what we see and hear. Many celebrities are involved in the production of their own works. On occasion, their involvement has led to unique innovations, some of which we can

In the late 1950s – near the tail end of the baby boomer birth year bracket – the USA had just started construction of the nationwide interstate highway system, all telephones had rotary dials, there was no cable/satellite TV, to buy food you went to the grocery store and likely paid cash, and if you needed a prescription drug you

A cat stretched in a barracks; a prisoner observed this and then developed an invention that left a considerable mark on society. Who was the cat? No one really knows. Who was the prisoner? His name was Joseph Pilates. Sound familiar? Invention creation is intriguing and could be considered situational. For example, consider: (1) a failed experiment occurring in a

Last century, when we were kids and it came to mobile food our choices were limited – there were hot dog pushcarts, the musical ice cream man truck, and maybe an occasional trailer that had been converted into a walk-away diner. In the 1970s, taco trucks started showing up on the West Coast (LA), but it was not until “The

This unsettled question has been in dispute since 2015 when two European dairy consortiums – one from Switzerland and one from France – filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking registration of GRUYERE as a “certification mark” for cheese. This filing did not sit well with the International Dairy Foods Association (among others), so they