Patent Reform
You may have heard that a patent reform bill was recently passed by Congress reforming the way our patent system runs. If signed by the President, it will bring the largest changes to the patent system in over a hundred…
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Should I use LegalZoom for my Trademark Application?
Trademark applications mature into trademark registrations and can be very important and valuable assets for a business. Anyone can file a trademark application, and most people can successfully “register” a trademark. However, the value of a DIY trademark is dubious,…
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First to File Risks to Individual Inventors
David Abrams and Dennis Crouch have published a comparative study on the switch from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system in Canada and applied the analysis to the potential change to the US patent system by the America Invents…
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Sampled “Success” Rates of Patent Applications, Courtesy Patently-O
Patently-O did a brief post yesterday on a selected group of patent applications to see how the applications have proceeded through the PTO. Of the applications filed in February 2006, 57% have matured into a patent, 28% are abandoned, and…
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Dex Encourages you Dex It! and Obliterate their Trademark
This morning I saw a Dex commercial urging the viewer to “Dex it” when they needed to look something up. Dex it? Instead of Googling searching online for it? Well, first off, I have opted-out of receiving most telephone books,…
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Ornamental and Fuctional Aspects in the Same Invention
My invention has both functional and ornamental aspects – can I file for both utility and design patent protection? Absolutely. Both aspects of the invention can be protected. Some considerations (there will probably be others): Timing: Ensure that both applications…
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Buying a Domain Name? Do a Clearance Search
Every once in a while, I get offers to buy domain names in my field – arizonacopyrightatttorney.com or arizonapatent.com, things like that. I have yet to buy one, but I am sure they aren’t cheap – several thousand dollars, perhaps….
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The America Invents Act and the Individual or Small Business Patentee
Patent reform has been making its way through Congress. The Senate passed a bill, the House passed it in a slightly different form, and it is now going back to the Senate. If approved by that chamber and then approved…
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Store Layout Trade Dress
The way a store or restaurant looks is often central to the success of business. It is often also an asset of the business that can be protected as trade dress. Restaurants and stores (successful ones, at least) tend to…
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Prevent your Trademark from Becoming a .xxx Domain
.XXX domain formats are due out soon. This means that you will begin to see (or not see) porn sites moving to the format www.SITENAME.xxx around the end of the year. This new domain is intended to isolate adult websites…