Back in June 2009, we wrote about protecting trademarks under Facebook’s new URL redesign, which permitted a member to use a personal name as part of his or her Facebook address. Aware that the redesign offered new opportunities for trademark infringement, Facebook simultaneously issued guidelines for protecting trademark rights should a Facebook owner steal a […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
Every employer that engages in research and development work should obtain a present assignment of patent rights in future inventions from every employee. The U.S. Supreme Court underscored this fact in the recent case of Standford v Roche. Stanford University’s research employee worked on a project to detect HIV infection. In the employment agreement, the […]
Dear Doc, What ever happened to that “Copyright Troll” that was trying to sue anyone who quoted the Las Vegas newspaper? Jus’ Wondrin’ Dear Jus: Funny you should ask. You will recall that Righthaven LLC (the “troll” you talked about) is a company that brought hundreds of law suits for copyright infringement against web sites, […]
On Friday (June 24, 2011), the U.S. House of Representatives passed the ‘America Invents Act,’ a version of which already has passed the U.S. Senate. The Senate and House bills now will move to a conference committee to iron out the differences between the two versions. The ‘America Invents Act’ soon will become law and […]
Your trademarks are among your company’s most valuable assets; controlling them is a necessity for successful branding. Domain names, particularly if they incorporate your trademarks, are part of your intellectual property portfolio and demand as much attention as your other assets. Sometimes, through no fault of your own, another company owns a domain name, which […]
ICAAN Changes the Web!
June 29, 2011
Internet Law
It is not an understatement to suggest that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) new plan to increase the number of top level domains is one of the biggest changes to the Domain Name System since it was founded. Top Level Domains (gTLDs) are those domain names at the the highest level […]
If a patent applicant tricks the PTO into issuing a patent, then the courts will refuse to enforce the resulting fraudulent patent under the doctrine of ‘inequitable conduct.’ Sounds fair enough, right? Over several years, court decisions have tipped this principal until virtually any error relating to a patent application, no matter how minor or […]
Protecting Your Trademark from XXX
May 26, 2011
Internet Law, Trademark
To bring some protection from unintended exposure to pornographic websites, the international body that administers the Internet Domain Name system has approved a new domain: .xxx (dot triple-x). New to this domain will be a way to block the triple-x registration of certain domains, without actually having to acquire them, as is now the norm […]
Who Owns Your Invention?
May 26, 2011
Patent
James Joyce (no, not the author) learned the hard way that selecting your form of business and assigning ownership are crucial steps in promoting an invention. Mr. Joyce invented a new computer firewall and granted an exclusive license in the patent to TechGuard Security LLC, which was owned by Mr. Joyce and his wife. Mr. […]
New Opportunity For Patent Applicants.
May 26, 2011
Patent
Patent examiners necessarily have a limited time to spend on each patent application and may miss the point of an invention or of the prior art. An interview between the applicant and the examiner, either by phone or in person, can be a useful way to educate the examiner. Under the current system, the only […]