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Showing 58 posts in Intellectual Property.

Barbie vs. Bratz: The Tirade of a Trade Secret

trade secretLet's take a look at a common scenario.  An employee named Ted leaves a company, let's say "Company A," and goes to work for another company in the same industry – "Company B."  While employed by Company A, Ted worked on key projects and had access to and developed many new and creative concepts.  When Ted joins Company B, he implements many of the new and creative concepts he helped develop while working for Company A.  Company B later commercializes some of these concepts developed and brought over by Ted.  Company A then sues Company B, claiming misappropriation of trade secrets.  A trade secret, of course, is any information that has economic value because it is not generally known to the public and is subject to efforts to keep the information secret.  This scenario is common - the characters in the real life saga of Mattel v MGA Entertainment are not. Read More ›

Categories: Employment, Intellectual Property, Trade Secrets

Trademark Infringement By A Competing Website? Take Action Now.

trademark infringement by a competing websiteRecently, I received a phone call from a client asking for advice on a reoccurring issue.  The client asked: “Do I have legal recourse against a competing website that is utilizing my trademark in its domain name?” 

The short answer is yes, but let's look at the reasons why.

Simply put, a domain name is a Web site's unique address on the Internet.  It can be used to identify organizations and other entities on the Web (e.g., http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/).  Like any other advertising message, signage, or other communication, a domain name can infringe upon a trademark.  However, a claim of trademark infringement involves more than simply proving that your trademark is being used in another’s domain name. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Trademarks

Update: Debt Ceiling Debate Stalls Patent Reform in the U.S. Senate

patent reformAs noted in a previous posting, on June 23, 2011, the America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate approved a similar bill in March (S. 23).  However, since the bills were not identical, the issue of patent reform must go before the U.S. Senate again. But what are the chances of that happening anytime soon?  Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Patents

Patent Reform Bill Passes House

The America Invents Act recently passed the US House of Representatives by a vote of 304-117.  A similar bill was approved 95-5 in the Senate in March.  President Obama has pledged that he would sign a patent reform bill once it reaches his desk.  Therefore, it appears that it is only a matter of time before it is sent to the President to be signed into law. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Patents, Trademarks

A Little Known Secret to the War on IP Piracy – that is Free

ip piracyHow would you like to have the weight of the U.S. Federal Government behind you in combating piracy of your product?  And how would you like to have it for free?  If you answered no to both, perhaps you should reevaluate your business acumen.  For those who answered in the affirmative, please read on.

The free service is offered through the Office of Intellectual Property Rights (OIPR) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  OIPR can assist your company in combating intellectual property piracy of your products.  After you have secured your intellectual property protections at home and abroad and taken local enforcement steps through the administrative or legal process, OIPR will step in on your behalf and work with the foreign government to target, confiscate and destroy the piracy items. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Privacy, Trademarks

Video Sharing Site NOT Liable for Infringement - DMCA

If you own or are operating a video or file sharing website that utilizes another's content (read another's copyrights) the following case presents you with a valid defense.  If you are the user whose copyright has been infringed, this law is worth knowing before proceeding with costly litigation.

Veoh Networks - a video hosting website - sought protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe harbor provision against a user's infringement claims.  The user claimed Veoh (1) knew of and failed to remove infringing videos uploaded by other users; (2) had the ability to control infringing activity on its system; and (3) that its infringer policy was inadequate. Read More ›

Categories: Copyright, Intellectual Property, Social Media

Buying Registered Trademarks as Google Adwords?

Have you ever taken the time to Google your company name?

It might be worth your time. If you find that your competitors are more prominently displayed in the tan sponsored link box or along the right side of the search page, you may be able to stop these companies from purchasing your company's trademarks as Google Adwords. Read More ›

Categories: Intellectual Property, Trademarks

.CO Domain Names: the .COM Alternative?

A new land-grab is occurring on the World Wide Web.

There are presently more than 90 million domain names registered with the .COM extension. Now, 25 years after the launch of the .COM domain extension, domain space is crowded and availability is sparse; thereby, making the selection of a suitable domain name difficult.

Recently, however, a new .COM domain name competitor has entered the fray. On July 20, 2010, in a described "landrush event," the ".Co" domain became available worldwide via participating registrars (e.g., Go Daddy). In the first 24 hours, nearly 250,000 .Co domain names were registered. Read More ›

Categories: E-Commerce, Intellectual Property