New Year’s Resolution: Trademark Review and Planning 2017 is fast approaching, which means one thing: It is time to select, and soon start implementing, your new year’s resolution! For most businesses, there are few resolutions better than those designed to help protect the company’s valuable intellectual property. Accordingly, consider making the review and maintenance of your company’s trademark portfolio this year’s resolution. […] Continue Reading →
Trademark Description: Does job placement software render the service of professional placement and recruitment? In 2004 JobDiva registered the service mark JOBDIVA (U.S. Registration 2,851,917, hereinafter ‚¬Ëœ917) for “personnel placement and recruitment”services. In 2005, JobDiva registered the service mark JOBDIVA (plus design) (U.S. Registration 3,013,235, hereinafter ‚¬Ëœ235) for “personnel placement and recruitment services; computer services, namely, providing databases featuring recruitment and employment, employment advertising, career information and resources, resume […] Continue Reading →
Copyright Office Establishes New Electronic DMCA Agent Registration The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor provision is one of the most important copyright laws of today’s online focused society. As of December 1, 2016, the Copyright Office has enacted a new set of rules one must follow to register a DMCA agent. The new system makes registration cheaper and easier but does […] Continue Reading →
Plan for the New Year, Maybe More Opinions of Counsel? One of the most important US Supreme Court decisions in 2016 or in recent years is Halo Electronics Inc. v. Pulse Electronics Inc. In Halo, the Supreme Court reshaped the law on enhanced damages by relaxing the standard for providing willful infringement and making it easier for patent owners to recover enhanced damages. Before the […] Continue Reading →
Broad Definition of “Article of Manufacture” Costs Apple $400M Since May 2015, Filewrapper, along with the intellectual property community, has been closely watching the heated Apple v. Samsung design patent and trade dress row. On December 6th, the Supreme Court upset the controversial $400 million damages award to Apple, essentially holding that such penalties are available for the “article of manufacture,”which may not mean the […] Continue Reading →
The New Trade Secret Law Impact on Business It’s just nine months old, but the new Defend Trade Secrets Act provides for a new stronger defense of key intellectual property. Enacted May 11, 2016, the law provides for the first time for a uniform federal law protecting trade secrets. Previously, trade secrets could be enforced only according to variable state law, and […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Determines the Statutory Standard for Instituting Review of Covered Business Method Patents Unwired Planet v. Google involved a review of what standard the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should use in order to institute reviews of Covered Business Method (CBM) patents. Unwired owns the patent in question which describes a system and method for restricting access to a wireless device’s location information. Google petitioned for CBM […] Continue Reading →