Utah Patents Legal Questions

The protection of a line of "clothing" is typically best protected by trademark. Utility patent protection usually does not come into play unless there is something truly "novel and nonobvious" about how the clothing functions. Clothing functionality has been pretty well covered in the prior art, so it is unlikely that utility patent protection would be successful. To the extent that the really clever and creative aspect of your clothing line is its aesthetic appearance, there might be some aspect of your clothing that could be protected by one or more design patents. For example, this is very common in the athletic shoe industry. But, such design patent protection only covers the aesthetic appearance of the object, not how it functions. If there are some artistic aspects to your clothing line, one or more copyright registrations might also be a useful way of further protecting against outright copying of your artistic designs. But, the most obvious protection in my view is through trademark law. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or logo associated with your clothing line that tells the consuming public who the source of the clothing is and establishes a measure of quality and satisfaction associated with your goods over time. This intangible measure of quality or satisfaction is known as "good will". An infringer that wants to take advantage of your "good will" may try to use your trademark or something similar to it, in order to fool or deceive the consuming public that the knock-off clothing is the same quality and reputation as the your clothing. Trademark rights arise from actual use and do not require registration for enforcement. However, a registered trademark has procedural advantages (*e.g.*, presumption of validity, etc.) over an infringer in the context of a dispute or litigation. If the infringer's use of a mark raises a likelihood of confusion in the marketplace, you as the trademark owner can sue for trademark infringement and seek and injunction and/or damages. From the limited facts provided, it is quite possible that you would be free to make and sell the clothing line you wish to produce with your new logos and designs assuming that the new logos and designs would not cause a likelihood of confusion with regard your former clothing line company and that there are no other intellectual property protections held by the former clothing line company. However, the specifics regarding your case are best handled by a trademark attorney that has full access to all of your specific facts and better advise you regarding possible outcomes, such as possible infringement or registration of your new trademarks.... Read Answer

There is a lot more info that i would have to know - but to begin if you developed an embodiment of this idea less than 1 year ago then i would suggest filing a patent on it ASAP. You still have time. Then once and if it issues, then you have a case for infringement against them. Otherwise if you showed someone your patent and did not have them sign a confidentiality agreement or a non-disclosure agreement you may be out of luck. You see, without a patent you don't own anything. If you downy own it then how can anyone steal it? All what you are calling a "poor man's patent" does is serve to prove that you did indeed invent that device at the time you said you did and can be used to stop the other party from applying for a patent for a device that they were not the true inventor of.... Read Answer

Design patent applications can claim priority to non-provisional utility patent applications but cannot claim priority to provisional utility patent applications. The claim of priority only applies to subject matter sufficiently described in in the prior application. When in doubt, it is generally a good idea to claim priority even if you are not certain that priority will be granted.... Read Answer

Have the highest ranking person in the firm that you have contact with sign a non-disclosure agreement that binds the entire company and prevents them from disclosing or using your ideas without your explicit permission. You can find generic versions of this agreement on line or an attorney can draft a more specific one for you for little money.... Read Answer

Theoretically, no one should violate your copyright to your photo. However, with the ease of transmitting images on the Internet, this happens all the time. You can certainly ask to be compensated. Since they removed the photo and appologized as soon as you notified them of the error, that's probably the most you can expect unless you want to file suit in federal court.... Read Answer

Although you have created the original elements of the play, it is based upon a pre-existing owrk. Therefore, your work is a derivitive and you need to get a copyright release from whoever owns the Mario Brothers before you can display or distribute your work. It doesn't make any difference that the potential purchasers of your work are from Canada. Check with your local copyright attorney to see if your work qualifies as a parody as that may be a possible exception to copyright law.... Read Answer

Van Gogh's art work is now in the public domain - and may be freely reproduced without violation of US copyright law. That includes selling your copies at arts and craft shows. You should not tell people that these works are "his" pictures - as they are instead "your" repainted versions of his originals. You can say that they are copies of his art - since that's what they are.... Read Answer

Assuming that you are the rightful heirs to this literary property, the action you need to take will depend upon when the manuscripts were written and if they were registered or published in the US prior to 1976 or anywhere else in the world. US Copyright law has changed drastically over the past few decades so the current term of copyright protection (life of the author plus 70 years) may not apply in your case. Contact a copyright attorney to determine the status of these works and whether your transcription can be copyrighted.... Read Answer