I always recommend businesses register their trademarks federally; doing so provides many advantages over relying on common law protection. However, it sometimes happens that a mark or a logo slips through and a competitor begins diverting trade by using a…
2009-1140 In re Michael Sones, opinion by Linn with a dissent by Newman. Michael Sones filed an intent-to-use application for the mark ONE NATION UNDER GOD for charity bracelets. The website where he sold the bracelets initially had no picture…
I’ve been getting questions about provisional applications lately, so I thought it was worth a post. There are a number of ways in which the decision to file a provisional application is significantly different from a patent application. First, a…
Last night I attended a Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Valley Young Professionals event called Making a Brand Stronger: Your Company, You, and Your City. The hosts, David and Sam PR, spoke mainly about Phoenix’s image as a national city and…
The New York Times and the Arizona Republic recently published stories on the condition of venture capital in 2009, as documented by Friday’s report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.
Applications of open-source theories of cooperation and development are popping up all over the place. In veiled product R&D, Coca Cola now offers a self-serve soda fountain – the Freestyle – where users can mix hundreds of different flavors to…
Social networking helped you connect with your high school friends, then helped you find colleagues and business contacts across the country. Now it is being used by companies to ward off marauding trademark holders protecting their brand and then some,…
Remind me again why I took the patent bar. I discovered this gem today: § 11.9 Limited recognition in patent matters. (a) Any individual not registered under § 11.6 may, upon a showing of circumstances which render it necessary or…
In the past two months, Google has made strides in increasing the accessibility of legal information. In November, Google introduced Google Scholar, which ranks and returns legal opinions and publications in response to a search. While much of this information…
Decided: July 20, 2009 Plaintiff Gemtron sued Saint-Gobain for infringement of its patent on a refrigerator shelf. Gemtron’s claim 23 detailed a one-piece plastic shelf frame that accepted a glass shelf with a “snap-secure” mechanism that locked the glass into…