The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) provides a safe harbor to online service providers (OSPs) that promptly take down content if a party alleges it infringes its copyrights. It is a powerful device for the protection of copyright on the Internet for providers that are located in the United States, though many foreign Read more about Copyright Infringement Online[…]
With the advent of a global economy, foreign trademark protection is important. The need to obtain, maintain, and enforce trademark rights on a multilateral basis is becoming imperative because many United States companies look to markets beyond the country’s borders. Unfortunately, obtaining and maintaining trademark rights abroad is often a time-consuming, costly, and complicated process. Read more about Protecting your Trademark Internationally[…]
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 Read more about Protecting Ordinary Words as Trademarks[…]
When a patent is applied for, the inventor must include a specification, which is a written description of the invention, the manner and process by which the invention is made, and the manner and process by which the invention is used. A specification concludes with a claim or claims that particularly point out and distinctly Read more about Protecting your Patent under the Doctrine of Equivalents[…]
A method of doing business was not traditionally patentable. However, in the latter part of the 20th century, there was a slow realization that the basis for rejecting business-method patent applications was not because the invention to be patented was a business method but because the subject matter of the application did not meet the Read more about Patentability of Business Methods[…]