Musings on Intellectual Property
Intellectual property covers many areas, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Learn how each of these creative assets can bolster your revenue, secure a market advantage over competitors, and drive growth.
Solar energy production by individual homes is likely being thwarted by behind-the-scenes accounting at power companies and the market for solar panels. What do I mean by that? Well, the economics of an individual homeowner to invest in a solar array for their home for a grid-tie system are driven
Continue reading
No one likes to receive a letter from a lawyer, especially one claiming that you’ve done something wrong, like infringing someone’s copyright. That’s exactly what Affordable Aerial Photography, Inc., and its proprietor, Robert Stevens are doing: employing law firms to send demand letters to people who might have a photograph
Continue reading
The Supreme Court opens the door for collecting lost profits and royalties on patent infringement that occurs beyond U.S. borders. What if you have a U.S. patent, and a competitor makes some of the parts to your patented product in the U.S., but assembles them outside the U.S., say in
Continue reading
Can you use a trademark as a defensive shield to protect yourself and your business, besides using it to enforce your brand? Most people think of a trademark as a weapon to prevent a competitor from stealing their customers, ripping off their brand, and taking marketshare. True, that’s the primary
Continue reading
No Trade Secret Protection for Uber’s Rider Data On January 10, 2018, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeals held that rideshare company Uber (through its subsidiary Raiser LLC), could not claim trade secret protection to prevent the disclosure of its rider data. The case resulted from traditional taxicab company,
Continue reading
How long does a trademark last? What do you need to do to keep your trademark? Here is some insight into the life of a trademark, how long it lasts, and renewal process and deadlines. So you have a trademark, are using the “circle-R” to show it off, and now
Continue reading
What happens when a brand becomes so well known that people start referring to all products according to the brand name? For example, what is the first term that comes to mind when you think of a box full of facial tissue? Kleenex perhaps? (Technically, this brand remains alive, though
Continue reading
You came up with your brand and identity for a business or product. You searched online to see if anyone else had the same great idea. You found a trademark, but it’s abandoned or cancelled. What does that mean for your idea? Are you free to register the trademark for
Continue reading
Updated: December 15, 2017, to reflect the decision of In re Brunetti, 877 F.3d 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2017). Updated: June 24, 2019, to reflect the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Iancu v. Brunetti, __ U.S. __ (2019). Supreme Court invalidated “disparagement” section of trademark statute based on free
Continue reading
License between Medtronic and its wholly owned subsidiary deemed not arm’s length transaction. Opens contract to attack by IRS, re-assesses Medtronic’s income, and increases its tax liability. Today the United States Tax Court issued a memorandum opinion that significantly and materially increased the royalty rate in a technology license agreed-to
Continue reading