Dear Doc:I heard that it’s now legal to take someone else’s photograph, mess with it, and sell it as your own. That can’t be right, right? Please tell me that the copyright law is not that insane. Signed, Every person who ever took a photo. Dear Every: Yes, I am afraid that copyright […]
Intellectual Property
I’ve read that you can’t copyright a recipe. The US Copyright Office says, “Copyright law does not protect recipes that are mere listings of ingredients. Nor does it protect other mere listings of ingredients such as those found in formulas, compounds, or prescriptions.” On the other hand, I’ve read that some things like colors (pink […]
Tangible or Intangible? This is actually an interesting question. If you erect a sign displaying a trademark over a store, isn’t that a tangible representation of a trademark? Of course it is. On the other hand, if you were to license your trademark for use by another company, you don’t transfer a physical representation of […]
Anyone who deals with patents should be familiar with the concept of prior art. ‘Prior art’ is critical to patenting and can prevent your invention from qualifying for a patent, even if it’s a great invention. Prior art generally is a prior publication such as a patent, patent publication, treatise, advertisement, article on the web, […]
USPTO Fixes Some of the Problems with the PTAB
November 22, 2018
Intellectual Property, Patent
The ‘Patent Trial and Appeal Board’ (‘PTAB’) has 174 administrative judges, who hear appeals of actions by the USPTO, such as denials of patent applications. In the past, the USPTO has been accused of packing the PTAB panels with handpicked judges to reach a desired result in a particular case. Panels of the PTAB also […]
The NRA and the Bean
October 11, 2018
Copyright, Intellectual Property
The National Rifle Association (“NRA”) conjures up many things for many people: gun lobby, gun rights, 2nd Amendment, just to recite a few. It’s name, however, has rarely arisen in the intellectual property context until recently. Here is some background. One of Chicago’s famous public sculptures, “Cloud Gate”, affectionately known as the “Bean”, is an […]
Recent massive data breaches and notorious instances of misuse of data lit fires under privacy advocates, particularly in Europe and California. In our April, 2018 newsletter, we told you about the European Union’s sweeping new privacy program known as the ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR), effective May 25, 2018. The GDPR changes the landscape for […]
On April 23, 2018, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Naruto, the monkey who took a selfie, lacked standing to bring a law suit in under the Copyright Act. “We must determine whether a monkey may sue humans, corporations, and companies for damages and injunctive relief arising from claims of copyright infringement. Our […]
Science and the Court: Let’s Get Educated
November 9, 2017
Intellectual Property, Litigation
In the recent argument before the US Supreme Court about gerrymandering, Gill v. Whitford, a mathematical formula was presented to the judges that requires adding together two numbers (“wasted” vote totals) and dividing the sum by a third number (the total number of votes cast.) This formula is called the “Efficiency Gap” and lawyers told the justices […]
Ask Dr. Copyright about What is Intellectual Property
September 22, 2017
Intellectual Property
Dear Doc: At times, you write about copyrights. At other times, you write about patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and other legal mumbo-jumbo. I’m confused. What’s all of that got to do with intellectual property? Signed, Inquiring Client Dear Inqy: Back in the dark ages, when the Doc passed the bar, things were pretty clear. […]