While patents for apps and software have been harder to obtain lately, a patent is still the best avenue to protect your work for this technology.

I would say that phone application are patentable when they are:

(a) geared to something more than an abstract idea, essentially tied... View More

Even if fully compliant with California law, Cannabis and CBD is still a Schedule I drug under the Federal Controlled Substances Act.

It really depends on which product you are trying to patent. If it's a cannabis related substance, chances are you won't get any patent on the... View More

1) Can you protect your US Design Patent in the EU or Canada?

This will depend on when you filed your design patent. Typically for design patents, you have 6 months from the date of filing in order for you to file in other countries and claim priority to your US date.

If your... View More

This would most likely lead someone to confusion between the marks and as such, you should probably find a different name.

As always, please read the disclaimers below.

Hi Joe,

It looks like your mark was cancelled because you failed to file a Declaration under section 8 in a timely manner. If you miss the filing dates and the mark is cancelled, the only way to reclaim federal trademark rights is to file a new application for registration.... View More

I agree with Mr. Gerity. As long as the industries are unrelated and it would not lead someone to be confused, then it would be ok.

I completely agree with Mr. Cogan, you need to consult a registered patent attorney for a proper analysis.

As Mr. Gerity mentioned, there is a difference between trademark rights and trademark registration.

For your particular case, some time need to be spent analyzing the merits of the infringement, and to help you figure out whether your mark is actually conflicting with theirs or infringing... View More

The proper way to go about this is to do a trademark search or a quick knockout search to make sure no one else has registered your mark or anything similar. If you are set on the designs, you can also just proceed with the registration without any professional searches. Most trademark attorneys... View More

Your case is complex enough that you should see a competent lawyer in your area to confirm technical points such as who owns the intellectual property, in the absence of written agreements whether an oral partnership exists, whether your partner would have a right to use your intellectual property... View More

U.S. Copyright laws state that only the work’s “author” has the right to reproduce, distribute or make “derivative works” of the work. However, there are certain exceptions. Some of these exceptions are known as “fair use" which include parody and news reporting.

More... View More

More details would be necessary to best answer your question.

It looks like "Lazy Bear Brewing Company" which is a similar trademark was issued in the U.S.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4808:za883w.2.1

Trademark rights are used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark. By looking at your site, I would say that a reasonable person might be confused as to the the origin of the site, and because others might be confused and think that this is site from Microsoft, I would stay away... View More

It depends on the agreement you had with them. Was there a standard agreement for anyone sending them images? did you specify when sending the image that only they could use it? More details on this are needed to better answer your question but I would start by looking at their standard agreement... View More

You probably can't charge users a monthly fee for using the app without the permission of the authors of the videos.

In general, you can either use the work under fair use or after requesting auhtorization from the authors. Given that you intend to make profit from the users, fair... View More

Usually, the classification of a new invention is a question for the USPTO, or whoever is doing a prior art search or a freedom to operate search.

I usually look at close prior art and look at their classification. But when in doubt, and especially for searching purposes, I would include... View More

You can but only if the improvement would not have been obvious to someone else skilled in the art. It would be difficult to patent the same idea, the same function and same application with a different material unless you can show that making it with that material would have been impossible in... View More

A quick Trademark search for Beauty and the Beast on the USPTO website shows that a few companies have registered trademark rights for variations of the title. In addition to trademark issues, you would also be dealing with copyright issues in this case. Trademark laws prohibit engaging in unfair... View More

A look into the registered mark shows that the trademark is for the sentence: "THE ORIGINAL, THE REMIX, AND THE ENCORE".

I don't see this being an issue for having words like "original" or "remix" printed on a t-shirt.

If you have any other... View More