If you want to hire someone to create a work of art that might be protected by copyright laws (for example, a logo, an advertising piece, or even a photograph), you should make sure the person you want to hire is not already encumbered by another contract. This blog...
A Well-Known Published Document Can Still Be a Trade Secret. Wait, What?
If a trade secret is published by a third party – especially if it was published long ago – it is public knowledge and cannot be claimed as a trade secret. Right? Well, as it turns out, life is not as simple as we would like. And sometimes, an interesting story comes...
If You Have a New Trademark, Watch Out for Scams!
If you submit a new trademark application or if you include your email address on a prior trademark application, there is a good chance you will be scammed. Here is what to look for. The scam usually looks like an official invoice sent to your email address. The...
Domain Names Can Be Trademarked
United States Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V., ___ U.S. ___, 2020 WL 3518365, No. 19-46 (June 30, 2020) by Clyde Findley and Amber Orr | Intellectual Property | We used to question whether generic Internet domain names could be trademarked. Now,...
Should Patent Law Permit AI Systems to be Inventors?
It’s starting to happen. Artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems have become smart enough to create new inventions. Two recent examples of AI-authored inventions were produced by a system called “Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience” or simply...
Winter Solstice Puzzle
(This blog post is just a holiday interest story. It does not concern anything legal.) The winter solstice – the shortest day of the year – usually occurs on December 21st. This is the day of the year when the northern hemisphere is tilted the farthest away from the...
Perihelion Day
(This blog post is just a holiday interest story. It does not concern anything legal.) On January 5, 2020 at 2:48 am Eastern time, the Earth and Sun will be closer to each other than at any other time of year. We call it Perihelion Day. Because the Sun is so close to...
FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Provisional Applications
This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. What is a provisional patent application? A provisional patent application is an optional first step in the process of getting a patent. It is not a real patent application. It is only a temporary placeholder...
FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Miscellaneous
This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. Are there different kinds of patents? Yes. A utility patent can protect a process, a machine, an article of manufacture, or a composition of matter. Most patents are utility patents, but there are two other...
FAQs About Patenting Your Invention – Patent Prosecution
This is one of several blogs about patenting an invention. Tell me more about “patent prosecution.” Patent prosecution is the process of getting the PTO to issue a new patent. At some point after your patent application has been filed, a patent examiner will review...