Every better mousetrap starts with an idea. You can't patent the idea, however, only the device. Copyrights protect the expression of your idea, whether in artistic form or in written language or musical notation. And once you have advanced your idea to a product for...
Year: 2018
Who owns a download? Disney files suit against Redbox.
Copyright law has always confused people, especially when it comes to popular media like musical recordings and movies. In the digital era media overlaps with software, making the conversation increasingly muddled. What is the lawsuit about?There is no shortage of...
What constitutes ‘fair use’ under U.S. copyright law?
If ever an artistic issue existed that called for consulting with an attorney, acceptable application of "fair use" would seem to be it. As we have noted in previous posts, layers of law apply to intellectual property concerns. The mere purchase of a piece of sheet...
I bought the sheet music. Can I perform the song in public?
Like any work of art, the argument might be made that music serves little purpose if it is not shared in some form of public setting. But just because you have bought the sheet music for a particular song, it would be a mistake to assume you have secured the right to...
Find the right venue for misappropriated trade secrets relief
Speed matters. We see it in the debate over internet neutrality. No one wants to be left in the dust. In business, the need for speed is especially important in protecting trade secrets. Information zips around the world in the blink of an eye and if that information...
Know the kind of license agreement you need
Tapping into a broader market is often a key goal of a small to medium enterprise. The reason is simple; there's potential revenue in such expansions. Why leave it on the table? But as we noted in a previous post, where intellectual property is the resource, it's...
Protecting intellectual property using the ‘internet of value’
In the early 2000s, we experienced what came to be called the dot-com bubble. That was when the internet came into its own as an economic power. Unfortunately, speculation about big tech sector earnings took priority over traditional business metrics. Eventually,...
7 steps to protect your trade secrets
It could be a scene from almost any of the Mission Impossible movies. The man--wearing all black, of course--plummets down the air shaft until his harness stops him mere inches from the floor. In a flash, he's typing away on a nearby computer terminal. After a tense...
Court says colorful language not a bar to trademark registration
A couple of federal court decisions - one of them from the highest court in the land - may well be prompting some to wonder where the line is now when it comes to what can and cannot be federally registered as a trademark.First, there was the decision last June when...
Could the mark ‘Drive Wise’ collide with another ‘DriveWise’ mark?
Allstate first began using its registered trademark "DriveWise" in December 2010 and has used it continuously since then. Kia Motors Corporation filed its first trademark application in 2016 for the phrase "Drive Wise" as a stylized design mark.Allstate sued Kia for...