Human beings are amazing! Collectively, we are clever and excel at many things. We have harnessed fire, invented the wheel, eradicated noxious diseases, created the internet (and smart phones so we are never without it), and put a man on the moon! We are good at lots of stuff, but there is one thing that none of us is very
Most people think that patents, trademarks and copyrights are intellectual property, but these are not intellectual property. Intellectual property is a form of property, but it is something that you cannot really see or touch because it is intangible property. Tangible property, like a house or a car, is something that you can touch and see, but intellectual property is
Many businesses ask if they need a federal trademark to protect the name of their company, or their brand name, or a logo. While usually it is better to have the extra protection that a federally registered trademark provides, there are reasons why businesses choose not to file for federal protection. The following are three questions that businesses have asked,
We are two very fortunate fellas. We’ve both been married to our fabulous wives since the ‘70s, way before Senator Al Gore created the internet (he didn’t, really). Our dating lives and marriages also precede the advent of online dating services like Match.com (launched in 1995) and took place before online dating apps were on the smartphone in your pocket.
Copyright law existed way before the internet. In fact, an international copyright treaty called the Berne Convention has governed copyright law amongst nations since 1886 (except the United States, which did not ratify this treaty until 1988). The underlying precept of copyright law is that making an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work is infringement. Before the internet this rule
Engage in any intellectual property conversation long enough, and you’ll eventually hear somebody mention prior art. What’s that mean? Are we talking about works of Picasso, Rembrandt, and Rodin? Nope. Prior art is a term of art that relates only to patent law. There is no concept of prior art in trademark, trade secret, or copyright law. It’s just a
It is not enough for a business owner to just register their trademark. The business owner must use it – or lose it. To maintain trademark rights, the trademark must be continuously used in commerce. The mark must appear prominently and consistently on labels or packages of goods and on all marketing materials for services. Trademarks are used to distinguish
Is a natural thing eligible for patent protection? Can you go about patenting nature – a plant, a gene or a bacterium? The patent statute only lists four things that are patentable: “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful [1] process, [2] machine, [3] manufacture, or [4] composition of matter … may obtain a patent therefor ….” 35 U.S.C.
Fashion trends may come and go, but some stay. For example, the bra, the zipper and good old blue jeans began as trends, but are now viewed as conventional wear. From an intellectual property standpoint, were these trends ever protected? The answer to that is yes. The folks that invented the bra (US patent 1,115,674), the zipper (US patent 1,060,378),
In the world of trademarks, some marks are stronger than others. Fanciful marks are the strongest. These are made-up terms that have no meaning except as a brand, such as PEPSI or XEROX. Arbitrary marks are almost as good. These are real words that have no association with their respective goods or services, like APPLE (for computers) or CUB (for
Human beings are amazing! Collectively, we are clever and excel at many things. We have harnessed fire, invented the wheel, eradicated noxious diseases, created the internet (and smart phones so we are never without it), and put a man on the moon! We are good at lots of stuff, but there is one thing that none of us is very
Most people think that patents, trademarks and copyrights are intellectual property, but these are not intellectual property. Intellectual property is a form of property, but it is something that you cannot really see or touch because it is intangible property. Tangible property, like a house or a car, is something that you can touch and see, but intellectual property is
Many businesses ask if they need a federal trademark to protect the name of their company, or their brand name, or a logo. While usually it is better to have the extra protection that a federally registered trademark provides, there are reasons why businesses choose not to file for federal protection. The following are three questions that businesses have asked,
We are two very fortunate fellas. We’ve both been married to our fabulous wives since the ‘70s, way before Senator Al Gore created the internet (he didn’t, really). Our dating lives and marriages also precede the advent of online dating services like Match.com (launched in 1995) and took place before online dating apps were on the smartphone in your pocket.
Copyright law existed way before the internet. In fact, an international copyright treaty called the Berne Convention has governed copyright law amongst nations since 1886 (except the United States, which did not ratify this treaty until 1988). The underlying precept of copyright law is that making an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work is infringement. Before the internet this rule
Engage in any intellectual property conversation long enough, and you’ll eventually hear somebody mention prior art. What’s that mean? Are we talking about works of Picasso, Rembrandt, and Rodin? Nope. Prior art is a term of art that relates only to patent law. There is no concept of prior art in trademark, trade secret, or copyright law. It’s just a
It is not enough for a business owner to just register their trademark. The business owner must use it – or lose it. To maintain trademark rights, the trademark must be continuously used in commerce. The mark must appear prominently and consistently on labels or packages of goods and on all marketing materials for services. Trademarks are used to distinguish
Is a natural thing eligible for patent protection? Can you go about patenting nature – a plant, a gene or a bacterium? The patent statute only lists four things that are patentable: “Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful [1] process, [2] machine, [3] manufacture, or [4] composition of matter … may obtain a patent therefor ….” 35 U.S.C.
Fashion trends may come and go, but some stay. For example, the bra, the zipper and good old blue jeans began as trends, but are now viewed as conventional wear. From an intellectual property standpoint, were these trends ever protected? The answer to that is yes. The folks that invented the bra (US patent 1,115,674), the zipper (US patent 1,060,378),
In the world of trademarks, some marks are stronger than others. Fanciful marks are the strongest. These are made-up terms that have no meaning except as a brand, such as PEPSI or XEROX. Arbitrary marks are almost as good. These are real words that have no association with their respective goods or services, like APPLE (for computers) or CUB (for
