While this blog is called The Business of Patents, from time to time we will discuss other areas of intellectual property law. Today, we will focus on trademark law, and in particular, on the selection of a trademark. Trademarks are characterized according
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Renewable energy technologies such as those that use biomass, solar energy, wind energy, etc. are of great interest due to the volatility of the oil market and concerns about the country’s dependence on foreign sources of oil. In this post, we look
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Software has perplexed the intellectual property community for some time. It seems beyond dispute that companies invest a great deal of money in developing software and that it can have great value. Most would agree that the investment companies make in software
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Patent applicants who are new to the patenting process often ask whether they need to do a patentability search prior to filing a patent application. The answer is it depends. Except in the case of applicants who are seeking to have the
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Before you begin spending money on the patenting process, it is important to clarify what you hope to achieve with patents. Too many times, we have encountered clients who dove into the process without a clear understanding of what they hoped to
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When is the last time you took a look at the claims of your patent applications that are still pending? Was it when you filed the applications? How long ago was that? If you are waiting for a first office action from
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It is the great hope of most patent holders to sit back and collect royalty checks, hopefully with as little expense and difficulty as possible. Enforcing patents is difficult, time consuming, and expensive, so many patent holders hope to convince infringers to
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“How can they get a patent on that”? This is a question I’ve heard countless times from clients after receiving a cease and desist letter threatening to sue them for patent infringement. Patent examination is ex parte, so only the applicant and
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When planning your strategy and budgeting for foreign patenting, it is important to at least be aware of some critical differences between U.S. patent law and foreign patent law. One such critical difference concerns the “original disclosure” requirement in foreign countries. This
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Cosmetic products often involve “formulation chemistry,” which is the chemistry of combining various compounds with different functions to achieve an overall desired effect. This contrasts with “new molecule” chemistry in which patent protection is sought for new chemical species, such as in
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