The Patent Process

By On July 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Today’s Lesson needs no words.  The message is … there is a reason patent attorneys are worth their pay.  See below.  This flow chart is pasted in directly from the USPTO web site.  Each step of the process requires a legal analysis based upon the current state of Title 35 of the U.S. Code, Code [...]

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Five IP Mistakes To Avoid At All Costs

By On July 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Does this Lesson really need an introduction?  Here are the five most common mistakes we see in our practice when providing legal counsel for intellectual property protection and enforcement.  The reason usually given for these mistakes (a reason which, although honest, doesn’t help when problems crop up … and in hindsight it can look pretty [...]

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Another Trademark / Adwords Case … Carrier v. Reply!, Inc. And … Why You’d Better Police Your Brand.

By On July 8, 2011 · Leave a Comment

There is no sense in belaboring this lesson. However, just so you know that this is an issue you should take seriously, we are going to post this quick note about the lawsuit filed recently by Carrier (the air conditioning people) against online lead generating company Reply! Inc.

Reply sells online leads to businesses. One [...]

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Using Someone Else’s Trademark As An Adword to Divert Traffic to Your Web Site. Smart Marketing? Or Trademark Infringement?

By On July 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Here is the scenario. Sales are down. Your competition is kicking your tail. You know that you can grab more market share if ONLY you could get the attention of potential customers searching for your product online, but your main competition has a nice, memorable, eye-and-ear catching trademark (which of course they have registered with [...]

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Coming Soon To A Web Site Near You. Sarah Palin, the Brand.

By On June 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Can you register the name of a living person? Of course you can. If your name is used in commerce, that is, and meets the other requirements for registration, same as any other mark. As long as the person agrees, it can be done. To read about someone who is doing just that, take a [...]

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Why Register Your Trademark? Just Ask iCloud (umm … iCloud Communications, That Is)

By On June 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment

The old trademark rule is “First in Time, First in Right”. Which is a truism. However, iCloud Communications is about to learn the value of federal trademark registration. Simply being first in use of a mark may not matter when a giant like Apple steps all over your brand like a lumbering mastadon.

iCloud is [...]

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Dolby Attempts to Enforce Technology Patents Against RIM (Blackberry Storm, Tour, Bold, Pearl, Curve, and other models)

By On June 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Here we go again … RIM back in the defendant seat? On June 14, 2011 Dolby International AB filed a patent infringement lawsuit against RIM in the Northern District of California (case no. 3:11-cv-02931) over RIM’s use of advanced audio encoding. At issue are five patents covering audio encoding (US6978236, US7003451, US7382886, US7469206, and US7590543).

[...]

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Never, Ever, Ever Quit. I4i Sticks to Its Guns against Microsoft… and Wins

By On June 13, 2011 · Leave a Comment

It pays to keep fighting. Canadian software developer I4i demonstrated 290 million good reasons to keep fighting last week by sticking to their guns despite Microsoft’s full court press to invalidate the I4i patent. Microsoft was essentially arguing for a change in the standard for invalidating patents by asking the court to use the lower [...]

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Stephen C Thomas

Be Diligent About Assignment Wording. Stanford Loses Big To Roche in HIV Patent Dispute.

By On June 12, 2011 · 1 Comment

The best way to learn is from other’s mistakes. So, if you are a corporate entity that engages in product development or a university looking to capitalize on your researcher’s ingenuity LISTEN UP.  Stanford learned a valuable (and yes, costly) lesson this week at the hands of the Supreme Court.  While this wasn’t [...]

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