Utah Patents Legal Questions

The answer is no, if there is no active patent protecting the parts. If there is a patent protecting the parts but a manufacturer of the parts has a license to make and sell the parts, then the answer is still no. When you purchase the parts you own them and can use them freely. But you cannot use them to make a computer or any other device that would infringe an active patent.... Read More

I don't see where the liability could come from. If you are worried about being sued for patent or copyright infringement then it is a non issue if you don't make, use, sell, distribute or import a patented software program or copy that of another's software. Just contributing to its development does not give rise to any liability. However if you accidentally copy a portion of another's software that is not designated as open source, and incorporated it into you own software you are developing then you are looking at a problem. Under patent law they would not likely sue you because there are no damages but if it is federally registered as a copyright then they may come after you for statutory damages and attorney's fees.... Read More

You may have a case - but it could be an expensive battle. NATO to only "some" people stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. You have sold watch straps using what you consider to be a generic definition of the goods - "NATO" straps - that is, watch straps based on NATO (originally British) military specifications. You are correct that the Ohio company has secured several US Federal Trademark Registrations which include the acronym NATO. Thus, if you use NATO in any manner that is likely to cause confusion - you can be sued for trademark infringement.... Read More

If someone is using a product or company name in a way that is confusingly similar to your name and you were using it first, there is a good chance that they are violating your rights. You should consult with an attorney about the specifics and see about maybe sending a cease and desist letter to the other company.... Read More

Just because you see something on the internet without the name of the author, please don't assume the quote isnt copyrighted and the owner doesnt care. Much of this sort of thing has been stolen and posted and reposted without permission. Try to track down the original author and when the quote was created. If it was prior to the early 1920s, its probably in the public domain and you can use it without permission. Anything created after that is still copyrighted; you should obtain the copyright owner's written permission and cite the authors name with the quote on your shirts.... Read More

I depends where the quote came from. Was it an excerpt from a written publication? You do not have to steal an entire writing to infringe upon ones rights. Case law shows that often the use of brief quotes 75 words or less can constitute infringement. Damages are another thing. is the quote a slogan or is it part of a writing? How old is the quote? There is a lot of facts that i would need to know to render an opinion here.... Read More

Music, both lyrics and melody, are protected by copyrights. Unless you get permission from the owner of the copyrights you could expose yourself to quite significant liability under the statutory damages portion of our copyright laws. The only defense would be if the lyrics themselves could be considered part of the public domain and your use on a t-shirt fair use. But it does not sound from the brief information available that this would be the case.... Read More

They must mark the product with the patent number. An apparatus must bear the patent number on itself of in some cases just the packaging. Methods of course have no place to put a patent number so that is shown in the advertising material etc. For a full explanation of this google "patent marking".... Read More

The modification needs to satisfy the patentability requirements. Namely, it must be novel (new), non-obvious, patentable subject matter, and useful. You should talk with a patent attorney about the specifics of your idea and how you want to improve the existing product. Most patentable inventions are improvements over existing products.... Read More

The copyright rules for "online" marketplaces is essentiall the same as for any other format. If you selling the goods directly from the manufacturer or its destributor, you can change the product description with permission of that business and subject to any goverment criteria or regulations that may apply to the product line. If you are re-selling a product, you should describe it accurately, again subject to government criteria or regulations and with an awareness of the potential charges of false/misleading advertising by purchasers and denigrating the product or the manufacturer's reputation if you exagerate..... Read More

I don't know of any way of stopping someone else from redeeming your coupons without getting tricky and complicated with the coupons or the method of delivery. I guess you could use some technology to only deliver the coupons through a special smartphone/ipad application that only allows the coupons to be seen when the GPS sees that the device is in your store. That probably defeats the purpose of the coupon though, since it is intended to bring them to your store and with this system they can't see it until they are already there.... Read More

Song titles, book titles, movie titles, and etc. are generally unprotected. You are typically free to use and reuse them however you want as long as you don't violate trademark rights. An unpublished essay for school would be hard pressed to violate trademark rights. Snagging a song title for an essay wouldn't be plagiarism in my book and I would be very surprised if your teacher thought it was unless the assignment specifically restricted that sort of thing.... Read More