Dear Doc: I just had a lovely night at the theater, where I saw the musical “Vape.” The show was a copy of “Grease,” but with changed lyrics for nine songs and dialog that exposed just how sexist Grease is. Vape advertises that it is, “A live musical parody of Grease!” Vape doesn’t pay the […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
You’ve developed a wonderful new product. The world will soon be your oyster. But when can you start selling your product? Can you sell your new product before you file a patent application? Before the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (‘AIA’) became law in 2011, the answer was clear. OLD LAW: A person shall be […]
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently handed down an important opinion for the Cannabis world. Before we get into the weeds (so to speak), let’s start with some basics. Possession and use of cannabis on the federal level is illegal. It is referred to as a Schedule 1 drug under […]
Dear Doc: I’ve heard the expression, “Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.” Attributed to Alexander Pope, in An Essay on Criticism, dated 1709. What does this have to do with copyright law? Signed,All’s Fair Dear AF: In the coming Supreme Court term, the Court has agreed to hear a case which may, at […]
Patent ‘claims’ appear at the end of a patent and determine what is protected by the patent. One purpose of the claims is to inform competitors of what they can do without infringing. Consider the following (entirely bogus) patent claim to an automobile: An automobile, the automobile having four attractive wheels supporting an optimized frame […]
New technologies give rise to new intellectual property headaches. Non-fungible tokens or NFT’s are no exception. What is an NFT? For the uninitiated (and hermits), an NFT is a unique digital token that one can own, sell, or redeem. Bitcoin and Ethereum are examples of digital tokens. Cryptocurrency, however, is fungible. The Bitcoin I own is not unique […]
Dear Doc: I have heard that in times of war, intellectual property may be seized to support the war effort. Is that going to happen to Russia? Signed,Vodka (and Ukraine) Lover Dear Lover: Yes, war can be a messy affair, and that extends all the way to intellectual property rights. During World War I (the […]
CBD Redux – CBD in Food
April 14, 2022
Trademark
The rapid but uneven legalization of cannabis-related products in the U.S. and the resulting jurisdictional patchwork where cannabis use may be legal in one state but not another, or on the state but not the federal level, has created confusion for trademark applicants. Some applicants, frustrated by the USPTO’s rejection of trademarks applications for what […]
63 million U.S. jobs, or 44% of all U.S. employees, work in intellectual property (‘IP’) intensive industries that rely on the value created by patents, trademarks or copyrights. That’s from a report published by the USPTO.In other highlights from the report, employees of IP-intensive industries are likely to: earn 60% higher wages than their counterparts in non-IP […]
Ask Dr. Copyright © about Trademarks (huh?)
March 17, 2022
Ask Dr. Copyright
Numbers are routinely used to name products but that there are so many of them that it takes a lot of marketing to make a number distinctive.