I took my Cobra down to the track,hitched to the back of my Cadillac, Everyone was there just a waiting for me There were plenty of Stingrays and XKEs… (written by Carol Conner)The Rip-Chords – 1964 It’s just a shame that, according to the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“Board”), your 1965 Cobra 427, […]
Blog – Adam Garson Law
Say it’s a warm day and you’ve popped into the local tiki-themed cocktail lounge for a refreshing beverage. Is it possible that the tiny umbrella-embellished cocktail you’ve just been served is an infringement of someone else’s intellectual property rights? Take the case of Pusser’s Rum Ltd., a rum distiller located in the British Virgin Islands. […]
New Patent Search Tool For the Firefox Browser
October 29, 2010
Patent
On-line patent searching has profoundly improved the patent system. An inventor can use free Internet resources to search for patents and published applications relevant to his or her invention. The mother of all free on-line patent databases is that of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The PTO database has the advantage that it […]
PTO Issues More Patents, Reduces Backlog
October 29, 2010
Patent
The backlog of pending patent applications at the PTO is important to inventors because a large backlog results in long wait times before a patent application is reviewed by an examiner. During the last years of the last administration, the backlog at the PTO grew so large that the average time to first office action […]
Ask Dr. Copyright…Why You Shouldn’t Buy Software on E-Bay
September 30, 2010
Ask Dr. Copyright, Copyright
Ask Dr. Copyright… Dear Dr. ©: I want to buy some new software for my PC, and have found that the prices on eBay are lower than in my local computer store. Provided that the eBay seller is reputable, why not save a lot of money, since the software is now many times more expensive […]
Keeping it Private in the Work Place
September 30, 2010
Internet Law
Have you ever wondered about the privacy of your web-based e-mail communications, e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail, as you carry out your personal business on your company-owned computer? A March 2010 decision by the Supreme Court of New Jersey sheds some light on the subject. In Stengart vs. Loving Care Agency, Inc., Marina Stengart used […]
A Gourmet’s Guide to IP Rights
September 30, 2010
Trademark
Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to find a bottle of champagne in the domestic section of your local wine and spirits store? This is because the sparkling wine called “Champagne” is not a domestic product; it is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France. Through international treaty, most countries limit […]
Your competitor newly advertises its product as ‘patent pending,’ but you know that the product or a similar product has been in use or on sale for a long time. You fear that if your competitor is successful in obtaining the patent, the competitor may be able to prevent you from making, using or selling […]
Crying Over Unspillable Milk (Or Ip Law As Entertainment)
September 30, 2010
Copyright
(For the purpose of enjoying a current dispute involving apps for mobile devices, remember that copyright protects an expression of an idea, not the idea itself.) Hottrix LLC sold an iPhone app (iMilk) for $2.99 that, when launched, displays a red button that when touched fills the screen from the bottom up (gurgling) with white […]
Dear Dr. ©: A friend of mine said that I can copyright the songs that I write by sending them to myself using registered mail. That sounds easy. So, what’s the scoop? Sincerely, Musically Uninformed Dear MU: Your friend has perpetuated one of the oldest “urban myths” (apart from that one about alligators in the […]