The Copyright Act uses the phrase “works of authorship” to describe the types of works that are protected by copyright law. This phrase is purposefully broad to avoid the need to rewrite the Copyright Act every time a new “medium” was discovered. Congress enumerated eight works of authorship within the Copyright Act as follows: 1. Read more about Works of Authorship under Copyright 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 use of the mark is not in a trademark manner but in a descriptive sense. Fair use of a trademark occurs when a defendant uses a descriptive trademark of another Read more about Fair Use of Trademarks[…]
The spectrum of trademark distinctiveness goes from fanciful marks, which are very protectable, to generic trademarks, which are not protectable. In trademark usage, words can be classified according to the degree of their distinctiveness. The right to protection of a trademark comes from its use to identify the product. When choosing a protectable trademark it Read more about Choosing a Trademark[…]
If an application contains claims to more than one independent and distinct invention, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may impose a restriction requirement. The applicant must then elect one invention for prosecution in the original application and may file divisional applications claiming the nonelected inventions. Restriction is imposed to prevent subversion of Read more about Patent Applications Covering Multiple Inventions[…]
Article I, § 8 of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to “promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Congress has created two sets of laws to implement the object of this provision: copyright laws protects Read more about Protecting Patent Rights[…]