You’re standing outside, throwing a baseball back and forth with a friend. One of your throws sails to the right, however, and smashes through your neighbor’s window. While it’s clear that you didn’t intentionally lob the ball at the glass, that doesn’t take you off...
How to speed your patent application at the USPTO
After you have put in the considerable time and effort needed to develop an invention, you file a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and wait. And wait some more. The USPTO says the average wait for patent approval is 22.9 months, or...
PPE innovation rises to meet PPE needs
As a pandemic-weary nation limps into the holiday season, a surge in coronavirus cases has hospitals, clinics and nursing facilities in some places scrambling to maintain critical supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE). Brig. Gen. David Sanford sought to calm...
Purple reign: Protecting IP in Ontario’s wine industry
A good map of Ontario’s wine-producing regions might color the Niagara Peninsula royal purple, with a swath of plum along the north shore of Lake Erie, a tiny patch of periwinkle for Pelee Island and a brilliant violet filling in the irregular contours of Prince...
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...
Can plants be patented?
The question of whether or not plants can be patented might seem absurd when you take a walk through the woods and observe trees, bushes, grasses, flowers and more growing in the wild. No one can obtain a patent for those naturally occurring, common plants. Asexual...
