Yes, folks, there may be method (a little bit) to his madness. Charlie Sheen has filed trademark applications for 24 trademarks. All your favorite sayings: “violent torpedo of truth,” “that’s what winners do,” “park your nonsense,” “you’ve been warned,” “I’m not bi–polar, I’m bi–winning,” “defeat is not an option,” “duh winning,” and the list goes […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
“America Invents Act” Clears U.S. Senate, On to the House
March 31, 2011
Patent
Sweeping changes to the U.S. patent system are imminent. By a vote of 95 to 5 the Senate passed the “America Invents Act” on March 8, 2011. If the Act become law, which is likely, it will be profoundly important to inventors, patent owners, and defendants in patent litigation. The House of Representatives is considering […]
Under the law in Pennsylvania, unlike many other states, the attorney-client privilege used to be limited to only those things that the client communicated to the attorney. Thus, while a client might describe his invention to the attorney, creating a privileged communication, the things that the attorney conveyed, such as the results of a patent […]
Cold Milk for Chocolate Milk – Part II
March 31, 2011
Litigation, Trademark
As our readers may remember, we previously discussed the battle royal shaping up over an iPhone application (app) that mimics milk in an iPhone “glass.” While seemingly amusing, the app business is big business with Apple reporting sales of 2.4 billion dollars in apps in 2009. Further, the issue of what constitutes the “look and […]
The recipe for Coca-Cola® is one of the most valuable trade secrets in the world. As a trade secret, it is not protected by patent, copyright, trademark or any other government-granted monopoly. The recipe is a trade secret only because The Coca-Cola Company keeps the information secret. According to the radio show ‘This American Life,’ […]
Elementary, My Dear Watson
February 28, 2011
Lipton Weinberger & Husick Blog
On February 14-16, 2011, we watched “Watson“, an IBM system of computers the size of a two-car garage, compete against the all-time best champions on the game show Jeopardy!®. On subjects from diseases to characters in Beatles® songs, the computer was impressive, pressing the buzzer faster than its human opponents, and getting so many answers […]
Patent Reform Legislation forwarded to the full U.S. Senate
February 28, 2011
Patent
The proposed Patent Reform Act of 2011 and will be considered by the full Senate when it reconvenes beginning today, February 28. Final passage of the bill is not assured and similar bills have been reported out of committee twice in recent years. The bill includes several provisions that are unfriendly to small business patent […]
Federal Courts’ Continued Hostility Toward Complex Patent Issues
February 28, 2011
Litigation, Patent
In the recently-decided case of In re Katz Interactive Call Processing Patent Litigation, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (which hears all appeals of patent cases) determined that trial courts may limit the number of patent claims that may be asserted by a patent owner in a litigation, regardless of the complexity of […]
On Friday, February 11, 2011 from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (“FPRI”), Lawrence Husick will be presenting on the subject of “Understanding Cyberspace as a Battlefield.” The FPRI describes Lawrence’s presentation as follows: Cyberwar, as Richard Clarke recently explained to FPRI’s members, is the next great threat to national […]
The past several years have seen a concerted attack on the patent system, waged by a curious coalition of interests from the information technology industry and foreign governments and corporations. This attack, waged in Law Journals, in the Congress, and in the courts, has whittled away at the value of patents, making it more difficult […]