JURY STILL OUT ON THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was created by Congress as part of patent reform legislation under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) signed into law in September 2011.…
Intellectual Property Blog
PROTECTED TRADEMARKS AND DOMAIN NAME DISPUTES
What are your rights when the trademark you properly protected ends up — just slightly altered — as the domain name of a totally unrelated party? That was the question…
TRADEMARKS: “USE IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE”
Although there is no requirement that a trademark actually be used by the applicant prior to filing a trademark application, there is a requirement that the person or enterprise seeking…
PROS AND CONS OF PROVISIONAL PATENTS
On September 16, 2011 the America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law, thus heralding a radical shift in U.S. patent procedure away from the historic—and globally practiced—”first to invent”…
COPYRIGHT FAIR USE DEFENSE
Copyright laws were designed to recognize the creative rights — and their resultant profits — that artists and authors possess in the creative works they contribute to society. Accordingly, such…
Second Life TOS: A Partial Analysis and How to Protect your Digital Content
In November 2003, Linden announced that it would recognize participants’ full intellectual property protection for the digital content they created or otherwise owned in Second Life. As a result, Second…
Cyber Piracy Law: Domain Names and Right of Privacy
Causes of action for the use of someone’s famous name are CyberPiracy, unfair competition and false advertising in the nature of false endorsement which is essentially the federal equivalent of…
How To Do Email Marketing Right
In short, you may send unsolicited email so long as you follow the rules. include your physical postal address indicate that the email is an advertisement or solicitation notify recipients…
Social Media Sites and Intellectual Property
Social media sites are the “go to” Internet forums for fun and e-commerce. Internet users spend a great deal of time at these sites, not merely for pleasure, but also…
U.S. SUPREME COURT TAKES “39 STEPS” BACK FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
In a landmark copyright ruling hailed internationally—but largely criticized at home—the U.S. Supreme Court decided on January 18, 2012 that the copyright clause of the Constitution does not prevent the…