Consider this scenario: you have gone to all the time and expense to obtain a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You have launched your product and your sales are good. Now a pirate is copying your product and stealing your sales. Are you entitled to a court order stopping infringement of your […]
All posts by: Adam Garson
Unified European Patent
December 31, 2012
Patent
If you want to protect a product by patent in Europe today, you generally will file an application in the European Patent Office (“EPO”). When your application is (eventually) reviewed and approved by the EPO, you then must register the approved application with each individual European country in which you desire a patent and must […]
The Dead Hand of William Faulkner Claims Foul
November 30, 2012
Copyright
The estate of William Faulkner is furious. In the past month it has filed two copyright infringement lawsuits, one against Sony Picture Classics and another against Northrop Grumman Corporation and the Washington Post Company. In the Sony case, the Faulkner Estate claims that Sony infringed Faulkner’s copyright in the famous phrase from Requiem for a […]
Changing of the Guard at the PTO
November 30, 2012
Patent
David J. Kappos has announced that he will depart as the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the end of January. His replacement has not been announced. Kappos has led the PTO since 2009 and filled a leadership vacuum at the PTO dating from the last few years of the last administration. […]
Beware the Ides of March (well, almost the Ides)
November 30, 2012
Patent
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Remember that on or after March 17, 2013, you MUST protect your invention before offering the invention for sale or using the invention in public. Otherwise, you lose your U.S. patent rights instantly and forever. This is a major change in the law and requires an entirely […]
Who Pays For Patent Litigation?
October 31, 2012
Patent
Your company is threatened with a lawsuit for patent infringement. You are confident that your product does not infringe. Should you fight or should you surrender? These are very real questions that businesses face every day. According to a 2009 survey by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the average cost for infringement litigation through […]
O Say, Can You See?
October 28, 2012
Copyright
Imagine that you live in an apartment in a large city, and that you don’t want to have cable television. You used to have “rabbit ears” on your television, but once the analog transmitters went off the air, you found that your apartment faces the wrong way, and now all you get on your set […]
First Sale Doctrine Goes Digital — or Does It?
October 28, 2012
Copyright
Here’s another example of the “if value, then right” approach. You may recall that the first sale doctrine permits an owner of a copyrighted work to sell, transfer, loan, or even dispose of the work without infringing the creator’s distribution rights. So, for example, if you were to purchase a music CD or a book, […]
Copyright Protection for Fashion Designs Revisited (Again)
September 28, 2012
Copyright
We’ve been following developments in copyright law related to the fashion industry for quite some time. You may recall that clothing falls into the category of a functional item, which is not protectable under United States copyright law. Yet, because fashion designs are frequently “knocked-off,” the fashion industry has long sought copyright protection for designs. […]
Thanks to the America Invents Act, you’ll have to live with it, if your competitor submits the information on time and meets other requirements. As of September 16, 2012, persons who are not the patent applicant can file papers and make arguments to the patent examiner as to why someone else’s patent application should be […]