Blog Archive

The U.S. Supreme Court finally resolved the issue of whether a Copyright litigant needs to have a Copyright Registration issued to have standing. In its unanimous decision, the Supreme Court resolved the longstanding circuit split deciding that it is not sufficient for the copyright owner to merely file an application before bringing a lawsuit. Copyright owners must now have a Copyright Registration in hand before filing suit.

On September 11, 2019, California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), and thus took the penultimate step of entering the Dynamex decision into California's Labor Code. The bill now heads to Gov. Newsom for review and approval as law (as of Sep. 13, 2019).

Special handling is available to copyright applicant’s who require their application to be processed in an expeditious manner.

In our last article, we discussed the principles and incentives behind the patent system.

In the 2011 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama stated that innovation was the key to our success in the past as well as the key to our future as a world leader.

Under the 1976 Copyright Act, authors who license or assign their copyrights have the right to unilaterally terminate such agreements thirty-five years later.

An Examiner may issue a restriction requirement and/or require an election of species.

A patent specification includes a set of claims. The claims define the scope of protection that is sought.

A trademark specimen is evidence submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to show that the mark has been used in the manner set forth in the trademark application.

You have a duty to inform the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of any information you are aware of that is material to the patentability of your invention.

The issue of inventorship is often raised during patent litigation. If the inventors are incorrectly stated, the patent being asserted is unenforceable.

As the inventor, we encourage you to submit images of your drawing to assist us in preparing the application.

Are you thinking about patenting your invention? Whoever invents, discovers or improves a process, machine, manufacture or composition may be eligible for a patent.

When hiring an outside person to design a web page, logo, take photographs you plan to use in promoting and selling your product, or create any other type of creative work, it is imperative you address copyright ownership.

As a patent holder, you have the right to prevent sale, use, or manufacture of a discovery or invention if it employs substantially the same means to achieve substantially the same results in substantially the same way as the limitations recited in your claims.

The majority of patent infringement suits come from your closest competitors.

A domain name itself is not a trademark. To qualify as a trademark, your domain name must be used in a way that distinguishes and identifies the source of the goods and/or services.

The best way to build up your company’s goodwill is by using your registered trademark. When others take advantage of your reputation by using your mark, your valuable brand identity is at risk.

If a party has access to your company’s confidential information, you should consider having them sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

Obtaining a patent is a resource-intensive process. Your patent attorney can advise you on the best course of action to obtain protection of your IP.

By default, works of authorship are owned by the author upon creation of the work.

Once you have selected a good trademark, it is important to conduct a trademark search to ensure no one has prior trademark rights to the desired mark.

Selecting a good trademark is a critical step in starting up a new business or launching a new product.

On October 1st, 2010, a jury awarded Mirror Worlds LLC $625.5 million in a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple Inc. over three patents.