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.
The topic of national borders is and always has been a hot-button issue. Reflect on what you know about the border conflicts around Israel, between Ireland (in the EU) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom, soon not to be in the EU), the DMZ between North Korea and South Korea and, of course, the U.S. southern border. Border
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
This year I went through the process of filing trademark applications for my law firm’s trademarks. Soon after I filed the applications, I started receiving all kinds of trademark scams via mail from companies claiming to publish international catalogues of trademarks and provide global trademark protection. I realized that all of my clients are receiving these scam mailings every time
Free trade, fair trade, and tariffs are hot button issues today. Whatever side of the coin you are on, trade between nations is going to continue, in spite of such barriers. Besides tariff s and similar taxes, your clients will also encounter other international trade limitations. One such barrier may be the national trademark rights of others in desired markets.
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.
The topic of national borders is and always has been a hot-button issue. Reflect on what you know about the border conflicts around Israel, between Ireland (in the EU) and Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom, soon not to be in the EU), the DMZ between North Korea and South Korea and, of course, the U.S. southern border. Border
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
This year I went through the process of filing trademark applications for my law firm’s trademarks. Soon after I filed the applications, I started receiving all kinds of trademark scams via mail from companies claiming to publish international catalogues of trademarks and provide global trademark protection. I realized that all of my clients are receiving these scam mailings every time
Free trade, fair trade, and tariffs are hot button issues today. Whatever side of the coin you are on, trade between nations is going to continue, in spite of such barriers. Besides tariff s and similar taxes, your clients will also encounter other international trade limitations. One such barrier may be the national trademark rights of others in desired markets.
