Thomas A. Edison was issued U.S. Patent No. 200,521 on February 19, 1878 for a phonograph, just one of more than 1,000 patents he was granted for his inventions. Edison’s invention of […]
Patenting Holes – And the Story of an Early Marketing Scheme
The Patent Landscape of Bitcoin and its Crypto-Brethren
A New Frontier – Bitcoin, a new “cryptocurrency,” continues to grow in use as a form of money. Although in the U.S., the IRS treats virtual currencies as property). The exchange rate […]
This Christmas, Give…Bitcoin?
High Finance, Low Change – Over the past few years, you have likely seen news media accounts of a new form of money – a digital currency called bitcoin. New inventions and […]
Patenting Recipes -The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread….or is it?
Is it the bread or the slicer? “It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.” We have all heard it before, but most of us have no idea where this expression really came […]
Patents Rights – Avoiding a Collision with the Social Media Iceberg
Social Media and Intellectual Property – The Iceberg and More – As our world becomes ever more connected, and opinions, ideas, and thoughts are exchanged freely through the rapidly increasing use of […]
Building The Case For Patentability: Prosecution in the USPTO
The Arcane World of Prosecution – Most engineers and scientists who have had some exposure to patents know that a substantial effort is required to file a patent application in the U.S. […]
Patentability and the “Long-Felt Unmet Need” – The Christmas Tree Stand as a Case Study
The Law, Statistics, and Anecdotes – One of the key laws for patentability of an invention is that the invention must be unobvious1. In making a determination with respect to obviousness, certain […]
Patentability and Infringement
— Two Separate Concepts PART ONE We occasionally see our clients interchange the concepts of patentability and infringement with regard to their inventions and/or issued patents. They are separate matters; thus a […]
In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree Stand (Part 2)
A Recap of the Christmas LM Past – Readers of our column last month(1) will recall that it was the first of two installments on basic patent searching in the USPTO. We […]
In Search of the Perfect Christmas Tree Stand: Has the Unmet Need Been Met?
The LMs of Christmas Past – Longtime readers of this column may remember our 2007 Christmas issue(1), in which we lamented the lack of a decent Christmas tree stand. Along with a […]
