Intellectual Property News

February 2010 Newsletter

Understanding Patent Law
Patent protection is provided by federal law through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and gives a patent owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, distributing or importing the subject of the patent for a certain period of time. Only certain things may be patented, and there are several requirements that an invention or other subject of a patent application must meet in order to be eligible to receive patent protection. One of the most basic requirements is novelty, or newness. The purpose of the novelty requirement is to prevent the patenting of inventions that have become widely known and used, which are said to have entered the public domain, and to carry out the general principle that the first person to create an invention is entitled to patent it. If you have an invention and would like to determine if is patentable, call or email to schedule a meeting with one of our patent attorneys. More...

Maintaining the term of a Patent
Utility patents apply to inventions and processes and are distinguished from design and plant patents. Under current patent law, the term of a new utility patent is 20 years, during which the patent holder has the right to exclude others from using, making, selling or distributing the invention or process. However, for utility patents based on applications filed on or after December 12, 1980, the 20-year patent term is subject to the payment of maintenance fees. If you feel you have rights that are being infringed, you should consider scheduling a meeting with one of our patent attorneys. More...

Fair Use under Trademark Law
A party is entitled to use a trademark in such as way as to describe the qualities that a mark represents as long as the manner of use of the mark is not as a trademark but only used in a descriptive sense. Fair use of a trademark occurs when a defendant uses a descriptive trademark of another party to describe the defendant's own product. This is the fair use defense set forth in the Lanham Act that provides the use of the name, term, or device charged to be an infringement is a use, otherwise than as a mark...of a term or device which is descriptive of and used fairly and in good faith only to describe the goods or services of such party, or their geographic origin. To help determine if a Mark is available for protection or to help register your Mark, please contact one of our Trademark Attorneys. More...

Trademarking Internet Domain Names
Copyright law does not protect domain names, but Trademark law may. Generally, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has tried to apply traditional trademark law to the examination of domain name service mark applications. A domain name qualifies as a mark when it is used in connection with the sale or advertising of goods or services. This includes all sites conducting e-commerce and also sites that provide Web-related services. Unlike a trademark, which is restricted by country and class of goods, domain names can be global and not limited by goods or service. If you have questions about this or any other aspect of trademark protection, contact one of our trademark attorneys for more information. More...

Protecting Trade Secrets
The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 (EEA) provided a broader definition of what constitutes a "trade secret" and what constitutes trade secret theft, effectively replacing the 1948 Trade Secrets Act, which was limited to prosecution of federal employees. The EEA also was passed so as to serve as a universal trade secret theft act, overriding various trade secret acts instituted by individual states. Contact a copyright specialists at The Intellectual Property Center for more information. More...

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