As an attorney for startups and up-and-coming companies, I am often asked questions such as these: “do I need permission to use someone else’s song in my Kickstarter video?” or “what will happen if I just use it?” or “if the band or label catches me, they can just tell me to stop, right?” To answer…
If a person today creates an intellectual, creative or artistic work, the form of that work is automatically protected by Federal Copyright law (Title 17 of the U.S. Code). Copyright protection does not extend to the underlying ideas or information, but simply to the form in which they are presented. As of 1989, Copyright protection…
The term ‘Trade Dress’ refers to the overall aesthetic, visual design of your product or even your brand as a whole. This is all about a unique look that consumers associate exclusively with your brand or product and no else’s. Trade Dress can include one or more of the following: Colors or color combinations Visual…
To begin the analysis, we must first answer the following: Is the “invention” something that exists already and you are applying it to an existing product to improve the existing product’s performance? OR Is the “invention” unique and you are applying it to the existing product to improve the product’s performance? Does the “invention” have…
“If I filed for a provisional patent as the sole inventor, is it possible to add another inventor when filing for the nonprovisional patent if he makes a contribution to the invention?” You may add additional inventors to your non-provisional application. The non-provisional must have at least one inventor in common with the provisional patent…
If you are thinking about filing for a patent in the new year, it is important to take a look back at patent stats from 2014 to better understand certain aspects such as how long you might be waiting for a patent, and to what industries the most patents going. After gathering data from the…
Patent Laws: What to Do if Another Invention is Similar to Yours There are other inventions that do the same thing or provide the same result as my invention, but my invention does it differently. Is my invention still patentable? Rarely do patents protect a RESULT and the RESULT is seldom patentable for most field…
Public Disclosure – What Happens If Someone Files for a Patent Before You Do? If an inventor disclosed his/her invention to his partners/university/employer, probably had some form of public disclosure, but did not have a provisional patent – what happens if a person with a similar invention had a provisional patent filed which could come…
If a startup company uses an exclusive licensed IP from a university, what usually happens if the company wants to get acquired by a larger company? Do large companies usually avoid acquiring a company with a licensed patent? The question can be answered whether or not you have an exclusive license to the IP from a University,…
The 2 Most Common Rejections of a Patent Application Several months after your patent application has passed preliminary examination, the process of substantive examination will begin. During substantive patent examination, a patent examiner is assigned to review your application. The patent examiner will, among many other actions, assess your patent claims and perform a patent…
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