My clients frequently ask me if they – trademark owners – may transfer ownership interest in trademarks and trademark applications. The short answer is – wait for it . . . wait for it . . . – it depends.…
Brand developers and business owners should carefully consider the word or mark that consumers will identify with a good or service. Before investing resources in developing a brand, consideration of what makes a trademark or service mark (collectively referred to…
In Trading Technologies International, Inc. v. CQG, Inc. (“TTI”), the Federal Circuit found claims for a graphical user interface (“GUI”) to be patent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101. This case is another example of how software may be…
One question that arises in trademark law is who is the owner of a trademark – the manufacturer or the distributor? This question may be difficult to resolve when a relationship between a manufacturer and a distributor ends and the…
Medicinal marijuana and/or recreational marijuana have been legalized on the state level in twenty-nine (29) states as of early 2017. The race to harvest the benefits of this budding industry has been termed the “Green Rush”. Trademark law will be…
As an intellectual property lawyer I am often asked who owns the copyrights to a work. Under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-1332 (2012), copyright ownership vests initially with the author or authors of the work. In…
The Federal Circuit recently ruled in Amdocs (Israel) Limited V. Openet Telecom, Inc., Openet Telecom Ltd., No. 2015-1180, 2016 WL 6440387 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 1, 2016) (“Amdocs”), that a software patent’s claims were patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101…
Many trademark applications filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) receive some form of office action. A trademark office action is correspondence from the USPTO written by an examining attorney requiring an applicant to take some type…
Recently in the case Halo Electronics Inc. v. Pulse Electronics Inc., 136 U.S. 1923 (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court lowered the standard and changed the test for proving entitlement to enhanced damages for willful patent infringement. In doing so the U.S.…
The purpose of this document is to explain the timeline of the process for patenting an invention or design. The patenting process can be separated into a few main stages. Our firm will shepherd your patent application through these stages…
