Dear Doc: Ever since you wrote about Aereo, the company with bazillions of tiny TV antennas and video recorders, I have been waiting for them to come to my town, so that I could get a decent television picture (no more of that digital BRAAAAP every 16 seconds unless I stand next to the TV […]
If you haven’t heard by now, this past week the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled several trademarks owned by Pro-Football, Inc. (“Pro Football”) for the term “Redskins” on grounds that the marks were “disparaging to Native Americans.” This issue has been around for some time […]
The Supreme Court has had a busy time of it in June stirring the patent pot, with decisions in three cases and arguments in a fourth. The general rule is that whenever the Supreme Court decides a patent case, the law is left in worse shape than it was before. The recent decisions are no […]
A cyber security firm called Norse maintains what it claims to be a dynamic, real-time map of cyber attacks as they happen, showing cities of origin and targets. The first thing you’ll do after viewing this constantly-changing map is update your security software. The second is to clean the cobwebs out of your filing cabinet. […]
Dear Doc: I have heard that the music and movie industries want Congress to add a new part to the Copyright Law, one that would say that it is a violation of a copyright owner’s rights to “make available” a copy of a work, even if the copy is never accessed by anyone. What gives? […]
This week, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion of great importance to those wishing to enforce their copyrights. In Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., the Supreme Court clarified confusion among lower courts about whether the doctrine of laches (also known as unreasonable delay) could bar a lawsuit for copyright infringement. While the court’s opinion […]
Do your employees create new inventions, products or designs? Have all of your employees assigned all company inventions to the company? If not, then the company does not own the invention, even if the invention was created on company time and with company resources and in the course of the employee’s work for the company. […]
Ask Dr. Copyright … Dear Doc: I write the songs that make the whole world sing. Unfortunately, with all that songwriting, I really don’t have the time to listen to every radio station that plays my songs, every online store that sells them, and every band, chorus, glee club, and lounge act that covers them […]
A provisional patent application is a temporary application that provides patent-pending status for one year. The provisional application can be a relatively low-cost way to preserve your patent rights while you develop your invention. The protection offered by a provisional patent application is only as good as the information contained in the application and only […]
Last month, we reported that Google lost patent infringement litigation relating to the Google Street View technology and that Street View was off the air. While Google did lose the infringement litigation, if Street View was ever down it was back on line by the time our newsletter published. — Robert Yarbrough, Esq.
