When the Supremes reverse the decision of a lower court, the law that governs the conduct of you, me, and everyone else in the country on the day after the decision is different than it was on the day before the decision. So the Supreme Court changes the law, right? Not so fast. First, some […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
NDA with the U.S. Government?
October 3, 2016
Patent
Are you an inventor or an invention owner? Do you intend to do business with the Federal government? Listen up, because we have crucial information for you. A non-disclosure agreement (‘NDA’) is a contract not to disclose an invention to other people. If an inventor or owner discloses an invention under an NDA and the […]
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, 99 Bottles of Beer
September 24, 2016
Trademark
IP lawyers like beer, at least this one does. So, we also like to write about beer trademarks. Here’s one you can drink to. The Irish Times recently reported that the city of Munich has filed a new European Union trademark application for OKTOBERFEST, hoping, we assume, to profit from licensing the name to the countless […]
Ask Dr. Copyright — Plagiarism vs. Infringement
September 7, 2016
Copyright
Dear Doc: I was, for reasons I do not want to explain, watching the Republican National Convention on television. I watched Malania Trump’s speech about her husband, THE DONALD, and thought that it was a very good speech, especially for someone who speaks five languages. It sounded pretty familiar, but it was not until I […]
Can Ordering a Prototype Kill Your Patent Rights?
August 12, 2016
Patent
Before an inventor will build 10,000 units of a new invention, he or she will first build a prototype – or many prototypes – to make sure that the invention works as it should. For many inventions, the inventor does not have the resources to build the prototype and will farm out prototype production to […]
#copyright; #trademark; #patents; #ip
August 5, 2016
Trademark
Trademarking Hashtags Originating in Twitter as a means of designating keyword search terms, the # (hashtag) has become a ubiquitous symbol of the social media age. As the political season heats up, tweeting has gone wild with political candidates and their supporters exchange 140 character barbs. This hyperactivity has spilled over to print and digital […]
Ask Dr. Copyright … Trademark Rights in ‘Thank You’
July 29, 2016
Trademark
Trademarking Thanks? Dear Doc: My Mom always taught me to be extra-polite. Growing up in the South, I learned to call my elders “Ma’am” and “Sir”, and always to say “Please” and “Thank you”. I guess that the 2Big2Fail crowd was raised differently. I just heard that CitiGroup thinks that it owns “Thank You” and […]
It Was About time…
July 21, 2016
Patent
for the Supreme Court to restore some balance to the patent system. The power of patents has eroded over the last decade, with the Supreme Court concluding that an infringer can only be enjoined from infringing in rare circumstances (Ebay v MercExchange) that pretty much any process that does not require a machine is not patentable […]
Ask Dr. Copyright… About Klingon
July 14, 2016
Ask Dr. Copyright, Copyright
Dear Doc: NuqneH! (Hello!) HIQaH! QaH! (Help!) Paramount Pictures Corporation thinks that it owns the copyright to the Klingon language. They’re trying to use that copyright to stop production of a fan film, “Prelude to Axanar” that is being developed with funding from Kickstarter. How is it possible for someone to own an entire language? jIyajbe’ (I don’t understand!) […]
So What Is Craft Beer, Anyway?
July 7, 2016
Trademark
Over the past several years, the question of what’s a “craft beer” and who qualifies to make a craft beer has been a front and center issue among the brewing community. It started when “Macro Brewers” began making “small” batch brews such as “Blue Moon” manufactured and sold by the “Blue Moon Brewing Company,” a […]