Patents are essential, but they are most potent when the holder is willing to protect them. This may include high-stakes jury trials, bench trials and perhaps a subsequent appeal to the Circuit Court. The results can involve permanent injunctions, financial damages,...
Common patent mistakes to avoid
Patents are powerful tools that enable businesses and inventors to defend their ideas. It can be a machine, process, composition of matter or manufactured item, but the widget must be new, unpatented and useful in some way. All told, there are 500,000 applications...
Patent pending: Legal claim or tasty beverage?
In normal circumstances, the phrase “patent pending” is used to let the public know that an inventor has filed a patent application. But there’s a frosty, flavorful exception to that definition from Minnesota’s Twin Cities: a St. Paul brewery has teamed up with a...
How is patent infringement proven?
It would be nice if there were patent cops prowling streets, stores and websites, ready to flip on flashing lights and screaming sirens when they nab those who violate ownership rights and patent law. That’s not how it works, however. Patent enforcement falls...
E-commerce makes pirated IP a bigger problem
In today’s digital economy, e-commerce platforms have allowed companies to reach uncharted territory in sales and market share. However, the downside is that it's much easier for counterfeiters to steal and infringe on those intellectual property rights, too. Sadly,...
What makes something a trade secret?
Successful businesses have their "secret sauce" that helps them thrive. If they want to remain profitable, they must keep those secrets out of the hands of competitors. Numerous laws in the U.S. allow businesses to protect intellectual property. However, some...
Can businesses protect their processes without a patent?
Sound products make companies profitable. And while companies can patent those products, companies typically can't patent the processes used to create them. However, keeping production methods and processes out of competitors’ hands is crucial for continued success....
When should you seek patent protection?
If you have invented or created a new, useful machine, tool, manufactured item, design or process, you may well wish to patent it. The main advantage to you is that once patented, no one else can make, use or sell your invention for 20 years from the application’s...
How inventors go from patent to licensing agreement
Filing a patent in America is easier and less expensive than it is in most other countries. However, it is neither easy nor cheap. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has several guidelines in place that inventors must follow or their claims will be rejected...
Addressing patent infringement involving chemicals
The rights of business owners are violated in all sorts of ways, and infringement is a serious problem. Unfortunately, infringement takes on many forms and can impact companies across a variety of industries. When people think of infringement, they may envision motion...
