Dear Doc: My company makes small electronic products. We design circuit boards and write software, selling the finished products to a variety of industries. Recently, we found out that a former employee may have given our designs to a competitor. Can copyright law help us? Signed, Ripped-Off Dear Rip: You betcha (as Sarah Palin has […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
Quick Patent Application Review for Green Technologies
December 31, 2011
Patent
Most inventors wait two to three years for a decision on a utility patent application by the PTO, and some wait much longer. Applicants with ample resources can pay an extra PTO fee ($2,400.00 for a small entity) for quick review. If your invention will result in a cleaner environment or reduced use of fossil […]
French Fries Sue Crabs…What Next?
December 31, 2011
Trademark
The owner of the popular Chickie and Pete’s (CP) restaurant chain, Pete Ciarrocchi, is on a tear trying to maintain his monopoly over the use of “crab fries,” a seasoned french fry product, which Philadelphia Magazine claims Ciarrocchi invented. Not so says a handful of restaurants in the Maryland eastern shore who have orchestrated a […]
Ever wonder if private information about you has been made publicly available on the Internet? You could search the Internet underground to discover if someone is distributing information about you, but such a search would require knowledge of where to look that most of us do not have. Now there is help out there. Alen […]
Dear Doc: A friend of mine (if ya know what I mean) uses peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software. She downloads cool things from the Internet, but then sorta-kinda-almost instantly erases them from her computer. Is this okay? Signed, MovieFan Dear Fan: Ahem…If I were your friend, I would stop doing that stuff. NOW! You see, […]
‘Best Mode’ Under the America Invents Act
November 30, 2011
Patent
‘Best mode’ is the requirement that a patent applicant disclose the best way that the applicant knows to practice an invention. The purpose of the ‘best mode’ requirement is to fulfill the public disclosure goals of the patent system by preventing a patent applicant from obtaining a patent while at the same time keeping the […]
One of the exclusive rights in copyright granted to the creator of a work is the right to distribute it. For instance, if you self-publish a book — a popular activity these days — you also have the exclusive right to make copies and distribute them to whomever you want. The distribution right, however, is […]
Trademark Infringement Cases on the Rise
November 30, 2011
Litigation, Trademark
Trademark owners are now litigating more than ever to preserve their brand names and logos. They are taking aggressive stands with much success. Here are some recent examples. Courts are enforcing the law of trademark infringement and trademark dilution to prevent unfair competition, a commercial tort designed to promote fair and honest competition. To preclude […]
Privacy We Give Up for Cell Phone Convenience
November 30, 2011
Internet Law
Most of us use our cell phones for business and personal use. For instance, in the car returning from a family Thanksgiving celebration, my wife read her business e-mail, checked the weather, referred to a map for our location, and browsed for Black Friday sales. We all assume such phone activities are relatively private, but […]
America Invents Act, Part 2: ‘Prior Art’
October 31, 2011
Patent
This is the second of our newsletters to discuss the ‘America Invents Act,’ which was signed into law on September 16, 2011. The Act moves the US patent system away from ‘first to invent’ and to ‘first to file.’ So what does ‘first to file’ mean for an inventor or invention-owning business? The most important […]