Utility patents protect what things do. Design patents protect how things look. Design patents have existed for well over 100 years: “[w]homever invents any new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture may obtain a patent therefor … .” So the design patent only applies to an ‘article of manufacture;’ that is, a physical product, and only […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: The highest incomes are in copyright-intensive industries (that’s content […]
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.
The Parable of the Three Bears and their Camera
March 10, 2022
Patent
Whether an invention is abstract or new. They are different issues.
David Whips Goliath in the USITC (What’s that?)
February 3, 2022
Litigation, Patent
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) is not a Federal court – in many ways, it’s better than a Federal court where U.S. patents are concerned. The USITC is a U.S. administrative agency charged with, among other things, handling claims by a U.S. patent owner that imported products infringe a U.S. patent. To trigger USITC […]