A BRIEF HISTORY OF COPYRIGHTS
Explore the evolution of copyright laws, from ancient times to the digital era, highlighting key milestones like the Statute of Anne and the Berne Convention.
An Often-Ignored Aspect of Quality in U.S. Patents: The Drawings
As I have written previously, quality is paramount in the overall value of a United States patent. Let’s face it, the United States is a litigious country, and the expenses associated with enforcing or defending an infringement accusation can literally bankrupt a person or company involved in litigation. It makes no sense, therefore, to skimp […]
Drafting and prosecuting high quality patents
There are many aspects to what constitutes the “quality” of a patent in the United States. The term “quality” primarily refers to a patent’s strength when that patent is the subject of litigation in this country, and more specifically, the likelihood that said patent will be held to be valid and infringed by a competitor. […]
PATENTS – A BRIEF EXPLANATION
A patent is a type of intellectual property that protects an invention, which could take the form of an apparatus (e.g., a product or object), a method of doing something (e.g., an industrial process), a newly created plant, or a design. Nominally, and subject to certain adjustments that go beyond the scope of this article, […]
The Refill “Stuffing” issue
A client had as its business model the sale of somewhat conventional refills of a consumable product, and to that end developed and traditionally patented well-designed and sophisticated dispensers of that consumable, which it leased to its customers. But that approach simply prevented others from copying the client’s dispensers – while doing nothing to prevent competitors […]
The Design alternative
A client approached the PatentXL Law Firm’s founding attorney with a pending utility patent application that the client was in the process of letting go abandoned because of the many rejections issued by the USPTO against that application. That application was directed to a dispenser of a consumable product. The numerous rejections issued by […]
The “Parameter Limitation” claims
In examining a patent application, the USPTO searches the prior art for disclosure or suggestions of the elements of the claimed invention – and uses that prior art to reject the claims of the application. A proven strategy that the PatentXL Law Firm founding attorney has used often – when feasible – is the […]
COPYRIGHTS – A BRIEF EXPLANATION
A copyright protects an original, independently created work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression, and which possesses at least a minimal degree of creativity. A work of authorship is considered fixed if it is captured in a sufficiently permanent medium that allows the work to be perceived, reproduced or communicated for more […]
TRADEMARKS – A BRIEF EXPLANATION
A trademark is something that acts as a source identifier for the goods and/or services bearing them (or used commercially in association with them), thereby distinguishing those goods or services from another party’s goods or services. A trademark may take the form of a word, a phrase, a symbol, a logo, or even a design […]
