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 Read more about Protecting Trade Secrets[…]
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 Read more about Trademarking Internet Domain Names[…]
A registered mark does not prevent all use of the mark. In some situations, another party may use someone else’s trademark to describe the qualities that the trademark represents rather than to use is as a source identifier. For example, use of a descriptive phrase or common name may be fair use. Fair use of Read more about Fair Use under Trademark Law[…]
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 Read more about Maintaining the Term of a Patent[…]
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 an invention for a certain period of time. Patent Application Requirements There are several requirements that a patent application must meet in Read more about Understanding Patent Law – Novelty and Prior Art[…]
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 the term of a patent, the patent gives the inventor the benefit of having the right to exclude others Read more about Term of a Patent[…]