contracts

Contracts for creatives

Information Disclosure Statement in Patent Applications

What is an information disclosure statement in a patent application, and why is it crucial to your patent application? An information disclosure statement is a statement that you must make in a patent application, if there is information that’s material to the patentability your invention: the subject of your patent application. You may see information […]

Shape Trademarks and Hershey’s Kisses

You probably know that trademarks can be words, stylized text, and pictures: like brand names, slogans, and logos. But you may not know that you can have shape trademarks trademarks could be just about anything, including shapes, colors, sounds, videos, even smells. What do Kisses have to do with Shape Trademarks? I want to talk […]

Coronavirus responses from IP Offices

The US government IP Offices are responding to the coronavirus outbreak by adjusting rules and requirements to allow for increased safety of applicants and users, and of the examining attorneys and staff of the Offices. The rules changes will also allow the work of the USPTO and the USCO to continue as smoothly as possible, […]

Continuation application strategies for your patent family

When you are protecting your inventions – devices, software, methods, materials – with patent applications, you should consider ways to expand the scope of protection. You can use continuation application strategies to work towards increasing your market advantage, keeping your competitors guessing, and maintaining flexibility for your business as market conditions and patent law change. […]

What is a continuation patent application?

A continuation patent application is a patent application that lets you, the patent applicant, pursue patent claims that are based on the same invention description and drawings as another application you’ve filed that is still pending. The pending application is often called the “parent” application, and the continuation patent application, and any divisional patent applications […]

Final rejection: not the end

When you’ve applied for a patent, your patent application will often get a final rejection. This is a misleading term: it is the second rejection in the course of patent prosecution, after a non-final rejection, but a final rejection is not the end of the road for your patent application. There are several options available […]

Non-traditional trademarks

Most trademarks are for words or images, used as brand names, company names, slogans, or logos, as discussed in several of my posts on trademarks.  A trademark can be just about anything that is used to identify an entity as the source of goods or services, including non-traditional trademarks such as shapes, 3-D shapes, scents, […]

Non-conventional trademarks

Great Molasses Flood

Today, January 15, 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood, which happened in the North End neighborhood of Boston.  Over 2 million gallons of molasses burst from a storage tank and rushed down Commercial Street, at a speed estimated at 35 mph.  21 people died, about 150 were injured, and buildings and […]