Intellectual Property News
April 2008 Newsletter
Filing Requirements for Patents
To obtain a patent, an inventor must file an
application in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO). Inventors may apply for one of two types
of patent applications: (1) a non-provisional application,
which begins the examination process and may lead to
a patent and (2) a provisional application, which establishes
a filing date but does not begin the examination process.
Both types of patent applications can be filed either
electronically or in writing to the Commissioner for
Patents. If the examiner rejects the claims, the applicant
may seek review within the USPTO and in the courts.
Please contact one of our patent attorneys if you have
any questions that might relate to your invention and
the patent process.
More...
Business
Methods as Patents
It
was the growing use of computers in business that forced
the courts to decide once and for all in 1998 whether
business methods could be patented, and indeed, many patented
business methods involve the use of computers to do business
on the Internet, sometimes referred to as "e-commerce."
The aftermath of the 1998 court decision was a flood of
business-method and e-commerce patent applications, which
quickly created problems for the United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO). If you have any questions
about obtaining a patent for your business method, please
contact one of our patent attorneys.
More...
Trademarks and Secondary Meaning
To
be treated as a trademark a mark must have a certain quantity
of distinctiveness. A mark that is not inherently distinctive
is entitled to legal protection only if the mark acquires
a secondary meaning that distinguishes the goods/services
it represents from the goods/services of another. A descriptive
mark that is initially unregistrable may achieve trademark
status and be subject to registration after sufficient
use has been made to prove secondary meaning. If you have
any questions about this or any other aspect of filing
for a trademark, please contact one of our trademark attorneys. More...
Expert
Testimony in Trademark Infringement Actions
There are
standards that must be met for admissibility of expert
testimony in trademark infringement actions. Experts may
have their methods challenged before they take the stand.
Expert testimony may be excluded as speculative and unreliable
if an expert's methods are not based on sufficient facts
or data, are not reliable, or are not applied reliably
to the facts of the case. If you think your trademark
might have been infringed upon, please contact one of
our trademark attorneys for more information More...
Federal Unfair Competition Law
The law of
unfair competition is primarily composed of torts that
cause an economic injury to a business through a deceptive
or wrongful business practice. Unfair competition consists
of two broad categories. First, the term "unfair
competition" is sometimes used to refer only to those
torts that are meant to confuse consumers as to the source
of the product. The other category, "unfair trade
practices," comprises all other forms of unfair competition.
If you have questions about this or any other aspect of
Intellectual Property law, please contact of our attorneys
for more information.
More...
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