Dear Doc: I know this is not a copyright question, but I hope you can shed light on something that’s been bothering me for some time. Why, in this great and broad country of ours, has it seemed like every other patent case is being decided in an obscure town in East Texas called […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
Is Google Guilty of “Genericide”?
June 9, 2017
Intellectual Property, Trademark
Is Google Guilty of “Genericide”? Mr. Chris Gillespie must have thought he had a brilliant idea when he registered multiple domain names that included the term “Google,” such as “googledisney.com,” “googleBarackObama.net,” “Googlenewtvs.com” and others. Did he truly believe that Google would not sue him? Or was this part of a grander scheme? Think about the […]
Before the America Invents Act (‘AIA’), an invention owner had a one-year ‘grace period’ to file a patent application after commercially selling an invention or using the invention in public. If the patent owner failed to file a patent application within the grace period, the patent rights in the invention evaporated, leaving the owner with […]
Trading Places – China and the U.S. – Patents
May 19, 2017
Patent
China’s Patent System is Developing at a Faster Rate China conquered the low-cost, low-margin manufacturing sector of the world economy. Now it’s after the high-cost, high-margin, creative side of the economy. How will it get there? Through patents, of course. Thirty years ago, China had no patent system to speak of. Now the Chinese patent law […]
Can State Governments Own Rights in Copyright?
May 12, 2017
Copyright
I was browsing through my copy of the “Copyright Law of the United States,” which I purchased from the Government Printing Office some years ago. I noticed that inside the opening pages where you would normally find a copyright notice, the page contained a quote from the United States Constitution: The Congress shall have Power… […]
Dear Doc: I saw that the Charging Bull sculpture near Wall Street has a new “companion” sculpture called “Fearless Girl”, and that the artist who created the bull is none-too-happy about it. He says that the new sculpture changes the meaning of his sculpture from what he intended: “the strength and power of the American […]
Late Breaking News: Ghostbusters Prevails Over Day of the Dead After Initial Defeat If you’re a vodka connoisseur, you probably know that Dan Aykroyd of Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers, and Ghostbusters fame partnered with another artist and Globefill, Inc. to manufacture and market vodka packaged in a skull shaped bottle and labeled as Crystal […]
When is a Defense not a Defense?
April 7, 2017
Patent
Now For a Riddle: When is a Defense not a Defense?… (Pause for effect)… Answer – When the Supreme Court says it’s not. Not so many years ago, patents were very powerful. A patent owner was entitled to a court order stopping infringement almost as a matter of course whenever the patent owner proved infringement. […]
Ask Dr. Copyright about the “Administrative State”
March 16, 2017
Patent
Dear Doc: The US Constitution directs, in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, that Congress set up a patent and copyright system, “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” Congress long ago did that by […]
Trademark owners have a duty to defend their trademarks against possible and actual infringement. Ignore infringers and your trademark rights may evaporate. Defending trademarks, however, is a full time job and not for the weak of heart (or wallet). The beverage industry is a breeding ground of intellectual property disputes and trademark owners aggressively defend […]