Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, Trade Secrets Protect Your Invention!

Patent numbers are issued sequentially, beginning with the number one. Patent number one was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31,1790. It took 75 years for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to issue patent number 1,000,000. Patent number 7,000,000 was issued February 14, 2006. It took only seven years for the USPTO to move from issuance of patent number 6,000,000 to 7,000,000.

Intellectual Property – Trade Mark Infringement – Advertisement

In Wolters Kluwer Ltd v Reed Elsevier Ltd (2005), the claimant published online seminar services for accountants under a service called CCH Seminars Online. The material for the service was provided by Online Tutors until July 2005, when this relationship was terminated. Online Tutors was engaged by the defendant to provide material for a competing service called Tolley’s Seminars Online. In the 21 July 2005 edition of the magazine called Taxation, the defendant advertised its online tax and accountancy seminars and declared that it was the same service as that of the claimant's. The defendant also advertised that they would offer subscribers of CCH Seminars use of Tolley’s Seminars Online free of charge until expiry of the CCH Seminars subscription. The claimant objected to these advertisements and sought a correction notice. The defendant issued a notice making it clear that CCH was continuing with its own service. The claimant was unsatisfied with this notice and objected requesting a further correction notice on the grounds that the notice still sought to rely on the claimants name and reputation to try to divert customers to the defendant’s competing service.

Trademarks: When and How to Search and File Trademark Applications

A trademark can be any word, slogan, design, symbol, or even a color, smell, product configuration or a combination of these, used to identify the source of origin of particular goods and services. The trademark serves as a source identifier of your goods and services, to distinguish it from the goods and services of others.

Protect Your Creativity

As an entrepreneur, you are undoubtedly blessed with the ability to come up with new ideas for products and services. Sometimes, a competitor comes up with a similar idea and manages to make money out of it before you do. A great deal of planning, money, time and effort are required to turn these ideas into invention and innovation.

Is Your Domain Name Safe From Theft?

Hundreds of thousands of trademark protected domain names get stolen every year. Is your domain name safe from cyberquatters, pornosquatters and other cyber-leaches?

Should You Sell Or License Your New Product Or Idea

A patent is your property and as such you have the legal right to do with it as you wish. Generally you would choose to sell your patent if you would...

5 Ways to Protect Your Idea-for Less than $30

Every day thousand upon thousands of ordinary people become inventors. They devise new ideas, improve old ones, and enhance the world around them. But they all have one thing in common. The vast majority will never act on their idea because they can not afford the cost for a Utility patent. When you consider that the average cost for a strong Utility patent is around $5,000 it is no wonder.

The Difference Between Trade Secrets And Trademarks

Some people get confused between trade secrets and trademarks. A trademark is something that is publicly recognized and known as being officially associated with a particular company. In contrast a trade secret can be a much more broad definition and by its very name is not made public.

Data Protection - Database Right For Sales Agencies

A ruling by the High Court has resulted in new case law governing sales agencies with regard to database rights. Where a sales agency has built up a database of customer details, they will now own a database right in that database in the event that there is not an agreement with another party as to the ownership of that database.

PPC Ads Face A New Trademark Limitation

A federal court ruled last week that it is not only a trademark violation any longer to use another company’s trademark to deceive search engine users in the paid ad headline. The court has further ruled, that you can not purchase a trademark as a keyword to bring up your paid listing on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines.

Medical Device Industry Patent Litigation Likely to Rise?

Can patent lawsuits in the medical device industry be forecast? Recent studies suggest that certain features of patent applications themselves tend to correlate with a higher chance that some patents will end up in court. Innovation is at the heart of the medical device industry. As with many industries, if you are not constantly working to bring new products and technology to the market, there is a good chance you will not survive.

Avoiding ID Theft and Credit Fraud

One in every eight Americans has already been victimized! It can take years and thousands of dollars to correct an identity theft, credit fraud or a simple key entry error by a clerk at a Credit Bureau. It takes just minutes for you to use these proven tips!

Identity Theft Scams

Identity Theft scams continue to flourish on the web. One that you need to be aware of and beware of is any site that seems to be selling high-demand items (digital cameras for instance) at a much l...