Intellectual Property News

August Newsletter

Have your Patent Rights been violated?
A patent is a property right that the federal government gives to an inventor with respect to an invention. That property right is the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention without the inventor's permission for the limited period specified by the patent statute. A person or other entity that makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, or imports the invention covered by the patent is said to liable for direct infringement of the patent.
Patent infringement is classified by the law as a "tort," which is a wrong--other than a breach of contract--for which the law provides a remedy. Therefore, the rules of tort law will govern how a lawsuit alleging patent infringement is to be commenced and prosecuted. If you believe your patent rights have been violated, contact one of our patent attorney's to review your patent rights. More...

Beware of Indirect Infringers

Patent rights are created by federal law and give an inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a patented invention without the inventor's permission for a limited period of time. The making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing of a patented invention without the inventor's permission is said to directly infringe the patent, for which the patent owner may be able to recover a remedy. Patent law also provides for indirect infringement of a patent.

If you believe someone may have infringed upon your patent rights, please contact one of our patent attorneys to schedule an appointment to discuss protecting your valuable legal rights.

How to Choose a Protectable Trademark

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 should be highly distinctive. Choose a trademark that are fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive because they may be more likely to be considered distinctive meeting a requirement for registration by the USPTO.

To help determine if a Mark is available for protection or to help register your Mark, please contact one of our Trademark Attorneys.

CAUTION: Bad Trademarks
Trademarks that are determined to be deceptive are not protected and may not be registered. Another type of mark, called a deceptively misdescriptive Mark has a special distinction. Like deceptive marks, deceptively misdescriptive marks tend to mislead consumers as to the underlying product. However, deceptively misdescriptive marks do not meet the requirements of a deceptive mark as there is not a bad intent or reliance by purchasers upon the misdescription. Trademarks that are determined to be deceptively misdescriptive may be registered on the Principal Register upon a showing of secondary meaning or distinctiveness.

If you are interested in registering a Mark which may be descriptive or deceptive, please contact one of our Trademark Attorney's to review whether the Mark would qualify for registration by the USPTO.

Protecting the Display of Your Copyrightable Work
The Copyright Act confers upon copyright owners the right to publicly display certain types of works. This right may be claimed in literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works and in pantomimes, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works as well as in the individual images of motion pictures and other audiovisual works.

The public display right is the right to show a copy of the work directly to the public or by means of a film, slide, or television image at a public place or displaying it on a website in order to transmit it to the public. In the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, showing the work's images out of sequence may be considered "display."

If you believe someone has displayed your Copyrightable work without your permission, please contact one of our Copyright Attorneys to discuss your legal rights.

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