by Kathleen Lynch | Nov 18, 2015 | Trade Secrets
Trade secrets are supposed to be just that-secret. Trade secrets should be protected through agreement, limited access, marking as such. All of these efforts are adopted with a goal to keep proprietary information away from competitors. However, in one recent case, even though a company had gone through all the measures described above, the court still ruled them as no longer being secret.
In Fleetwood Packaging v. Hein, Fleetwood accused a former employee of its parent company, Signode Industrial Group, of stealing company trade secrets along with several important customers. The former employee had been discovered to have downloaded company confidential information, including contribution reports which included pricing information, and discounts. The court found the Fleetwood had attempted to protect its contribution reports through the execution of confidentiality agreements, limiting employee access to information and marking appropriate documents confidential. However, Fleetwood was also found to have shared this information with its customers! Because the customers were not part of Fleetwood any trade secret protection available was negated and the cause of action related to those reports was dismissed.
What’s the take away here? Treat your trade secrets as such-secret. Don’t share them with your customers or anyone else outside of your organization with a properly executed confidentiality agreement. Limit access to your proprietary information and monitor the access to detect any sudden and unauthorized or unnecessary downloads. In addition, be sure to mark all appropriate documents, including things such as white boards, demo products, etc. as “proprietary” or “confidential.”
Protecting proprietary information is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make those decisions is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
by Kathleen Lynch | Nov 10, 2015 | Trademark Service Mark
Are you a high school with an offensive mascot? If so, Adidas will help you rebrand a new one. In the wake of the Washington Redskins trademark registration refusal based on offensiveness, Adidas has offered to cover the costs of any high school wanting to adopt a new mascot.
Adidas has offered to give high school and colleges that have offensive mascots the opportunity to select a new mascot and launch a rebranding campaign. Several universities have either changed mascots or sought approval from the tribes associated with the mascots. Florida State Seminoles and the Utah Utes have obtained approval from the respective tribes to continue to use the mascots. While the North Dakota Fighting Sioux and Arkansas State Indians have changed their mascots.
It is a win for Adidas as the world’s second largest sporting goods manufacturer as it provides them with a way to show their commitment to a good cause and create goodwill in their brand. Apparently others agree. On the day of the Adidas announcement, their stock rose by 8.6 percent.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
by Kathleen Lynch | Nov 3, 2015 | Innovation
Drug manufacturers are trying to speed up the process from drug development to full scale manufacturing in areas such as China. General Electric is helping by literally shipping ready-made factories right off the shelf. The video of the development can be seen here.
In September, GE shipped its first pre-fabricated biopharmaceutical factory from Germany to China. The building was made up of 62 containers. Once it arrived, the factory was assembled and built in 11 days.
GE states that the one single manufacturing concept can be replicated around the world with the use of the pre-fab factory concept. The advantage of this system enables highly specific and complex machinery to be preinstalled. This enables the assembled factory to take advantage of world class expertise in a multitude of professions without getting on a plane.
These GE prefab factories are sold under the mark “KUBio”. The demand for additional pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing facilities, as well as other industries, could increase demand for these prefabricated manufacturing facilities. GE submits that the costs to make and assemble the prefab factory can reduce overall construction costs by 45%.
The prefab factories are designed and built to be identical anywhere in the world. So if you were to assemble one in China it would be the same to one in Switzerland. That’s good news for the pharmaceutical inspection process as well.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
by Kathleen Lynch | Oct 27, 2015 | IP Management
A recent court case showed that one San Francisco florist went too far in trying to protect the business. Farmgirl Flowers began selling flower arrangements in used coffee sacks made of burlap cloth. They promote the reuse of the burlap sacks and have a trademark registration for “Burlap Wrapped Bouquet” for cut flowers and live flower arrangements.
Another florist, Bloom That, began wrapping its flowers in burlap and while imitation is the best form of flattery, Farmgirl brought an action against the competition to try to stop it. Farmgirl claimed that the burlap coffee sacks were a form of trade dress.
The court disagreed. The court determined that the burlap was primarily functional in nature and thus could not constitute trade dress. The court found that burlap is durable, eco-friendly and had been the subject of a patent directed to wrapping flowers (US Pat. 5,706,629).
So what’s the take away here? While not succeeding in obtaining a trade dress registration on burlap per se, Farmgirl Flowers is succeeding in building brand awareness by using a different packaging approach. Farmgirl was not able to successfully prevent Bloom That from using burlap as a flower wrapper, but it is succeeding in building recognition by its customers and by promoting it on its website.
If you sell a product, think about ways that you can distinguish your product from the competition. Here the burlap coffee sacks were a relatively unique way of packaging flowers. In your business, think of ways using color, design, materials, sounds, scents, to establish a consistent manner of presentation for a product or line of products that will be memorable to consumers. Over time it will likely pay off.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
by Kathleen Lynch | Oct 14, 2015 | IP Management
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that cheer leading uniforms may be subject to copyright protection. In particular, in Varsity Brands vs. Star Athletica, the court overruled a district court’s holding that the Varsity Brand uniforms were not separable from the utilitarian aspects of the uniform and thus not eligible for copyright protection.
The appellate court found that the design aspects of a cheer leading uniform can exist independently from the utilitarian ones. The court found that Varsity’s designers “arrange various graphic elements, including stripes, lines, chevrons, angles, curves, coloring, and shapes.” Id. at 28. The court concluded that the arrangement of design aspects to be totally separable from the garment’s functional aspects, namely “ to cover the body, permit free movement, and wick moisture.”
What is the take away here? Well for the fashion industry, this is good news. The appellate court is recognizing the separation of the functional aspects of a garment from the design elements. If that can be shown in this case, Varsity Brands may prevail on its copyright infringement claims against Star Athletica and companies moving forward may obtain copyright protection for their garments.
Protecting your innovative developments is critical to any organization. Having the right person to help you make that decision is important. The Law Office of Kathleen Lynch PLLC is designed to help businesses such as yours keep ahead of the game. The first telephone consultation is free. Email us at kl****@*****aw.com.
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