What is a design patent? A design patent protects any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture. Individuals and businesses use design patents to protect the ornamental designs of their products. Although a purely functional design is…
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When Are Non-Compete Agreements Enforceable And What Are The Defenses Against Them?
Non-compete agreements are enforceable in Florida. This is because under Florida law continued employment is valid consideration for a non-compete provision. Florida statutes also presume that non-compete agreements are valid. Even if an employer fires an employee, the non-compete agreement…
Ten Patent Law Concepts Every Attorney Should Know
Few areas of law are as specialized as patent law. Most attorneys not specializing in patent law receive only a few hours of training on the subject. Understanding a few basic concepts can help attorneys give some basic advice when…
When And Why Is A Provisional Patent Application Useful?
A provisional application may be a useful tool to many businesses. Under United States patent law, a provisional application is a legal document filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that allows an inventor to establish an…
Is My Invention Already Patented?
To answer the question “Is my invention already patented?”, you have to do a prior art search to determine what patent applications have been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) or other countries’ patent offices. In…
Why Copyright Artwork?
The registration of copyrights has several advantages. The default rule in the United States is that each party bears their own litigation costs regardless of the outcome. However, the Copyright Act has a fee shifting provision. The fee shifting provision…
Is My Invention Patentable?
One of the most frequent questions I get asked as a patent attorney is Can I patent my invention? There are several types of patents. However, for this article I will focus on the utility patent, which protects the functionality…
Freedom to Operate Opinions
A freedom to operate opinion may be necessary to identify whether a planned activity will infringe existing Intellectual Property rights. For instance, the opinion may look at a patent and compare it to a product manufactured by or activity of…
Intellectual Property Audit
An intellectual property audit (“IP Audit”) is a systematic review of the intellectual property assets owned, used or acquired by a business. An IP Audit’s purpose is to uncover under-utilized IP assets, identify any threats to a company’s bottom line,…
Domain Disputes
A domain name is the address of a web site that is intended to be easily identifiable and easy to remember. Because they are easy to remember and use, domain names have become business identifiers and in some cases even…