Suppose that you want to register your copyright by preparing and filing a copyright application with the U.S. Copyright Office. What if you were unaware that you made some mistakes in the copyright application and the copyright application issued into a copyright registration? You subsequently find that someone is infringing your copyright registration and you … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have expressed your idea into a tangible form such as a website or web page. Although your copyright exists upon the moment of creation, do you have a valid copyright on the website or web page? Should you register your copyright on the website or web page with the U.S. Copyright Office? … Continue Reading
For the Patent and Trial Appeal Board (“PTAB”), the Administrative Patent Judges (“APJs”) are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce in consultation with the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. For an inter parties review of a patent, three APJs conduct the instituted review and determine if claims of a patent are … Continue Reading
Suppose that you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods or services for your business. What if the trademark is immoral or scandalous? Should you register your scandalous trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? The answer may be YES! In Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ___ (2017), the U.S. … Continue Reading
Suppose that you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods or services for your business. What if the trademark describes a geographical area such as eastern? Should you register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? Can you obtain a registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? The … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have an invention disclosure for a design of an article that you want to protect. When you review the invention disclosure, you notice that the inventor has only supplied photographs of the design and not any line drawings of the design. Can you file the design patent application with the photographs? The … Continue Reading
Suppose that you want to register a trademark that identifies a source of goods or services for your business. What if the trademark may be scandalous or disparage a particular group of people? Should you register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? Can you obtain a registration from the U.S. Patent and … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have expressed your idea into a tangible form such as two-dimensional artistic elements incorporated into an industrial design. Although your copyright exists upon the moment of creation, do you have a valid copyright? Should you register your copyright on the two-dimensional artistic elements with the U.S. Copyright Office? Can you stop a … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have an invention disclosure that uses computers and the Internet to carry out transactions that could include financial transactions? When you draft your patent application, is there anything that you can do to avoid having your patent application and resulting issued patent from being interpreted as a covered business method patent? The … Continue Reading
How do you plead patent infringement in the United States? Can you survive a motion to dismiss if the defendant challenges the sufficiency of your complaint? What should you do? Let’s say your client has a United States patent that is believed to be infringed by another party. You do not rely on the client … Continue Reading
In the United States, a trademark can be refused registration on the Principal Register because the trademark is deemed merely descriptive. If the trademark is not allowed for registration on the Principal Register, it may be eligible for registration on the Supplemental Register. So, how do you determine if your mark is descriptive and which … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have expressed your idea into a tangible form such as producing a video. Although your copyright exists upon the moment of creation, should you register your copyright on the video with the U.S. Copyright Office? Suppose you don’t and later you find out that a competitor has posted a copy of your … Continue Reading
Suppose that you have a unique design for your product but no patent protection in the United States? Can you protect your product design to prevent a competitor from producing the same or similar design? Is there anything you can do? Let’s say you created a unique design for a product such as a smart … Continue Reading
