Patents Legal Questions

You submit an application for a patent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It includes a complete description of your invention or design which the USPTO publishes on its web site. Any one who has a similar invention/design or thinks that there is prior art that would prevent a patent on the invention/design has a designated period of time to submit an objection to the issuance of a patent to you and the reasons why. The USPTO then has to decide if your idea is sufficiently unique to issue a patent or if there is valid reason to refuse to do so. A patent can also be challenged after it is issued via a law suit filed in federal court.... Read Answer

First of all, it appears that you have a copyright issue, not a patent one. Unless you registered your pictures with the Copyright Office within 90 days of putting them up on your website, you have lost the right to statutory damages and attorney's fees, but you could still get an injunction against use of your pictures. It appears that you are indicating that the other person is using your information pictures on his website to sell a competing product to one that you are selling. If that is the case, you potentially could also have a case for unfair competition. i suggest that you contact an attorney who specializes in copyright and unfair competition cases to discuss your situation with in greater detail.... Read Answer

Your question raises a number of issues. First, how do you know the "copyright has run out"? The duration of a copyright is among the most notoriously complicated terms to calculate. This is because the copyright term depends on many variables that have changed with the copyright laws over the years, e.g., who the author is (anonymous, corporation, person), the author's lifespan, whether the work is published or unpublished, where it was published, when it was first published, whether or not it was published with a valid copyright notice, whether the copyright was renewed or not, the country you are in, etc. In the US for a copyrightable work today, the term is life of the author plus 70 years. Back in 1790, the US copyright term was 14 years after publication, with an option for another 14 years. Significant changes to the copyright laws and consequently their terms of duration occurred in 1998, 1978, 1976 and 1909, among others. Second, in order to obtain a valid copyright for a work, such as a song, your work must be "original". Original means that the work must have been developed independently by its author, and there must have been some creativity involved in the creation. This begs the question, what is original about your cover of someone else's song? Thus, it is questionable whether you have any intellectual property in the cover song recording. Obviously, if the original song were still subject to someone's copyright you would have to seek a license from the copyright owner directly or obtain a mechanical license indirectly in order to legally sell and/or distribute your cover song. Assuming that the copyright for the original song really has expired, there should be no need for a license. You would certainly be the owner of such a cover song recording. You might even be able to obtain a copyright registration for your song. This is because there is no substantive review at the Copyright Office of whether or not your work is in fact copyrightable. However, the validity of your copyright (your IP), regardless of the registration, might be called into question (e.g., during litigation) because of the lack of originality of your cover based on someone else's original creative work/song. As always you should consult a Copyright Attorney to fully explore your situation and what you wish to achieve.... Read Answer

You didn't used to be able to copyright building. However, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland convinced a court that it was such a unique building that it deserved to be able to stop photographers from selling their pictures of the structure. Since then, more and more unique structures have gained copyright protection. But the generic ranch-style house is still available to anyone who wants to copy it.... Read Answer

I believe that a very important factor and a common place where people go wrong with that is that the spoof needs to be making fun of the original work in some way. If you are not making fun of the original work but instead making fun of something or someone else, then it is not really a spoof and you lose the "fair use" defense.... Read Answer

It is quite common to use ratios of components in composition of matter (chemical) patent claims. So, there is nothing inherently wrong with you doing so. The question that comes to mind is whether you are trying to claim some composition of matter that is novel and nonobvious over the what others have done (the prior art). If you are simply trying to claim "slight variations" over prior art ratios of components, you will likely be rejected under obviousness if not anticipation grounds. Accordingly, you should consult with a patent attorney to discuss your inventive composition of matter and how it differs from the prior art. If your composition of matter lacks novelty or obvious in view of what others did before you, you will not obtain a patent.... Read Answer

I am not sure I completely understand your question, so I will try to rephrase it so that I can answer it. It would appear that you are asking whether there are any prior art considerations or analysis that takes place at the Patent Office before a patent application is published? The answer to that question is no. US patent applications are published automatically (approximately 18 month after filing date), unless a specific "non-publication request" is filed with the original application. There is no review on the merits of whether the subject matter disclosed and claimed in any particular patent application is "patentable" before it is published. It is just published for whatever it discloses. Such a published patent application becomes prior art to any other patent applications that follow its filing date. So to answer your last question, yes, a patent application can be published even if there is a similar patent already issued. That issued patent may prevent your patent application from issuing if it is in fact relevant prior art and is considered by the examiner. But, it has no relevance on whether your pending application gets published or not.... Read Answer

Hire a patent litigator. Investigate to product - buy it and study it to make sure it does infringe your claims. Who makes and sells the product? That will dictate who the accused infringers are. Double check your patent - make sure there are no validity issues - all maintenance fees paid, etc. If the claims cover the product - be ready to spend a lot of money - patent litigation is expensive. If the product is imported - think ITC action - stop the imports. Good luck.... Read Answer

Trademarks are the "brand name" of goods. Think - Ford cars & trucks. Tide laundry detergent. Budweiser beer. Copyright protect original artistic creations - books, movies, songs, plays, etc. Copyright does NOT protect slogans. In order to protect your new slogan as a trademark - you need to use it commercially for a product. Good luck.... Read Answer

The short answer is no. The difficulty with answering your question is that it is not clear what you mean by "international protection". Is that world-wide protection? Protection in Europe alone? Or in countries that recognize and subscribe to an international patent application? There is no single patent application that will give you world-wide patent protection. The most comprehensive single patent application you could file would be an international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). With that one PCT application you could theoretically, achieve enforceable patent rights in some 148 contracting states (countries), which covers most of the world but not all of it. For example, Taiwan is not a signatory to the PCT. The real problem with "international protection" has more to do with the prohibitive cost. Because even after you prosecute a PCT patent application internationally and have allowable claims, you must nationalize that international patent application in every contracting state you for which you wish to have protection. Recall that all patent rights are geographically limited. As a rough rule of thumb, I tell clients that whatever it costs you to get protection in the US is an approximate cost for each foreign national patent application you file. And to top it all off, you have maintenance fees, renewal fees, annuities and the like for every national patent to keep them enforceable to their full term (typically 20 years from filing date). So out of economic necessity, you have to be very selective in which countries you wish to nationalize and seek patent rights.... Read Answer

Yes, you simply agree to a price and consummate the transaction with an assignment document. It is also preferable if that assignment is recorded in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Because the wording of the assignment is important to secure your exclusive patent rights, I would recommend you use a patent attorney to properly orchestrate the transaction. Most patent law firms charge a flat rate to prepare and file a patent assignment. At my firm the fee is $300. Note that the assignment can be used when you already have a patent or when you are still patent pending.... Read Answer

Yes, you can probably use the quotes with attribution since they can't be copyrighted or trademarked (in most cases). How you use the quotes though may raise issues. If you use the quotes out of context, such as using "This is the best product I've ever used! John Doe" to refer to your product instead of the one the author was really talking about, or if you place the author in a false light, such as "I felt such comfort in his hands. Reverend John Doe" when you're selling adult films, the author has every right to file suit.... Read Answer

Given that copyright laws extend back to approximately the 1920's now, I doubt there is much available in the public domain yet. If the material is in the public domain, you may be able to use it and make the adaptations that you describe. But be aware that there may be other kinds of protection on the work that would prevent you from doing this. Check with an IP attorney to see if what you have in mind is feasible.... Read Answer

A trademark indicates that the company makes a particular item, such as shoes, manufacturing equipment, frozen green beans, etc.; a service mark indicates that the company provides a service, such as fixing shoes, installing equipment, delivering green beans. The circle R indicates that the mark has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The letters TM indicates that the mark hasn't been registered but the company is using it as a trademark.... Read Answer

That can be tricky and the answer will depend on a bunch of details that you have not included. Plus you will want to explore variations that are safer and less safe. You should talk privately with an intellectual property attorney so that you can safely discuss your plans in confidence and explore the options you have.... Read Answer

There is. You should talk with a patent attorney about the App or the idea for the App. Sometimes your application can be ruled out of getting a patent just in that conversation. If not, then you will want to do a basic patent screening search. If that looks good then you will want to prepare and file a patent application. A few years later the patent office will reject your patent and you will need to negotiate with the Patent Office to try and get it allowed. Once it is allowed, there is a process to go through to complete the registration. You should have a patent attorney helping you through that.... Read Answer