Traps for the Unwary Trademark Owner (Part Two) – Spoof Trademark Calls
Scammers have become increasingly sophisticated. They have even educated themselves on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s filing system so that they can authoritatively call trademark customers and falsely claim to be from the USPTO calling about an issue with an...
Protecting Your Investment: The Basics of Trademark Enforcement
Protecting Your Investment: The Basics of Trademark Enforcement You’ve invested in your trademarks. You’ve got the registrations. You’re using the ®. You’re continuing to put the time, energy, and money into building your brand. What else should you be doing?...
U.S. Patent Office Considering Track III Pilot Program
The U.S. Patent office is considering conducting a "Track III" pilot program, which would allow "micro entity" applicants to delay the payment of search and examination fees under certain conditions. This would allow these small entities with limited patent filings to...
Stay Ahead of the Game: Why Trademark Watch Services Are Crucial
As a business owner, you understand the significance of protecting your trademarks by registering them. But monitoring your trademarks is just as important as registering them. A crucial aspect of that is using a trademark watch or monitoring service. What is a...
Traps for the Unwary Trademark Owner (Part One) – Misleading or Fraudulent Trademark Registration Notices
It has taken more than a year and you have gone through all the hoops to get your trademark registered. You receive a notice from an official-sounding entity requesting an additional fee, such as a “Publication Fee” to publish your trademark on a trademark register...
Should We Patent Our Technology?
A common question that is encountered by many companies is whether to seek a patent on their technology. This is especially true of young (e.g., startup) and midsize companies that are essentially building a business around a particular technology that they have...
Recommended Procedures for Setting Up a Corporate Patent Program
Below are some recommended procedures to help corporate entities identify and protect new, potentially patentable inventions.
1. Make sure that your employees are under an obligation to assign, to your company, their rights in any inventions that they develop in the course of their work. Otherwise, it may be difficult for your company to obtain ownership rights in those inventions…
Strategies for Seeking Expedited Handling of Patent Applications
Many of our clients – especially early stage startup companies – have a need to protect their new technology very quickly. Fortunately, the U.S. Patent Office and many other patent offices have implemented relatively new, very effective mechanisms for the speedy examination of patent applications.
In the U.S., for example, for an additional patent office…