Recently, two well known trademarks have made news. First, Hasbro, the well known toy manufacturer made an attempt to purchase DreamWorks Studios, the animation film company that brought us hits like Shrek and Chicken Run. Second, Unilever, the food...
A trade secret is the secret sauce of any business. It is information that sets your company apart from you competition and it is information that your competitors would find valuable. The good news about trade secrets is that their life is...
This is one in a series of posts covering some basic aspects of intellectual property law. Previous posts touch on patents (parts 1 and 2) and trademarks (parts 3 and 4). This post will cover the general elements of copyright...
This is the second in a series or posts on the basics of trademark law. The first one focused on the selection of a mark for use in connection with goods or services. Here I focus on the federal trademark registration process. Once you’ve...
Last week I was vindicated to some extent by Good Morning America. Lori Greiner from the show “Shark Tank” provided some advice to the morning’s “tank” contestants. First thing she said was: "get a good IP attorney." At the risk of sounding self-promotional, this...
This is the third in a series of posts focused on some of the basic tenets of intellectual property law. Articles one and two focused on some fundamental principles of patent law. A trademark is a source indicator of goods or...
This is the second in a series of posts on the basics of patents. The first post discussed the scope of a patent and how to obtain one. This post will focus on the benefits of a patent and how you can enforce one. Now that you have a patent, what can...
This is the first in a series of basic info posts on the basics of intellectual property law. In particular, I’d like to focus on what is a patent and what kind of protection does it provide if you are able to obtain a granted patent. To start, there are 3 types...
With the passage of the American Invents Act, the U.S. Patent System has moved from a first to invent system to a first inventor to file system. While the new law awards the patent to the first inventor, it also prevents others from obtaining an invention if you...
This week I am highlighting a recent article written by Mark Schultz and Adam Mossoff on the connection between intellectual property rights and economic prosperity. In sum, the article makes an excellent connection between the strength of a country’s IP system to...
I had lunch with a colleague who is an IP attorney and an engineer. He was telling me about his participation in a start up weekend and all of the challenges and fun that he had. In hearing this, we discussed, as patent attorneys do, the consequences of...
I am taking a break this week in my usual focus on intellectual property law, to give a shout out to the NCLEAP program here in North Carolina. I preface this by disclosing that I am an NCLEAP volunteer and sit on their steering committee. NCLEAP (North Carolina...
