This can't be answered in the abstract - some companies are legitimate and some do a very poor job. No. The Patent Office publishes complaints regarding invention promoters and replies from the invention promoters. Questions or complaints can be sent to Mail Stop 24; Director of the U.S.... View More

The Patent Office will answer an applicant's inquiries as to the status of the application, and inform you whether your application has been rejected, allowed, or is awaiting action. However, if you have a patent attorney or agent of record in the application file the Office will not... View More

No. The application must be signed by the true inventor, and filed with the Patent Office, in the inventor's name. This is the person who furnishes the ideas (e.g. the first person in the above fact pattern), not the employer or the person who furnishes the money.

Paul... View More

"Patent pending" means you applied for a patent, and the application is still active - it has not been finally rejected, or, issued as a patent. "Patent applied for" is not a commonly used term, but it means that a patent application was filed, even though it could have been... View More

You may be able to do both, if the logo contains sufficient creative content. Trademark protection would protect against someone else using a confusingly similar logo in thier business, even if they did not "copy" your logo (e.g., they coincidentally designed a logo that is similar).... View More

Some patent owners file many individual suits in different jurisdictions against purported infringers, with the hope that they can obtain quick settlements. However, it can potentially be prudent for the various defendants to join forces and have all the various lawsuits consolidated in one court... View More

You should take care that the fixtures do not look so similar to the originals, that consumers are confused. This could lead to a claim for trade dress, or possibly design patent, infringement. These issues are discussed here;... View More

This would be risky, and could violate the copyrights of the broadcaster / producer of the football game. Copyright infringement can occur from publicly displaying a copyrighted broadcast without a license. Some broadcasters have contractors they hire to visit bars and restaruants to find... View More

First, it is not a good idea to disclose your invention in a public forum like this until you have determined whether your invention is patentable. That being said, there is not sufficient information to determine patentability. It would be necessary to learn more information about your invention,... View More

Good question. If the logo is copyrightable, and making the logo was not within the scope of the employee's job, then the employee may own the copyright to the logo, meaning it could not be reproduced without infringing his or her copyright. However, the circumstances are highly fact specific,... View More

Yes it is. Clothing designs can be protected by copyrights, patents (usually design patents) and by trademarks. There is also new federal legislation under consideration to provide a stronger form of protection for clothing designs, but at the moment, it does not look like it will be passed soon.... View More

There is a good chance you have rights, but more facts must be known. In particiular, did you ever sign an agreement with your employer agreeing to assign rights to any inventions to the employer. If not, was your job to "invent" the particualr invention? You should consult with a... View More

While you could probably write it without getting sued, if you wanted to publish, license, or sell the rights, you would need to get permission from the owner of the James Bond copyrights. At the present time, I believe MGM owns those rights. However, they are in finanical difficulty and may have... View More

Try going here: http://dockets.justia.com/ Select Virgina for the jurisdiction and patent (under intellectual property) for the case "Type." This will show you patent cases that have been filed. Then get a PACER account, and look at the docket reports for various cases.

Paul... View More

Yes, you would have potential liability if your book was published under circumstances that led consumers to believe that it came from a celebrity, rather than yourself. This would include misstating the name of a celebrity. If you changed your name to be the same as the celebrity, there could... View More

The best way to protect a recipe would, in theory, be through a patent. However, this could be difficult for two reasons. First, "non-obviousness" is required for a patent, and the Patent Office may consider your ingredients to be "obvious," and hence unpatentable. Second, in... View More

First consider whether the lyrics may be in the public domain, for example, if the song is over 75 years old. Assuming the song is protected by copyright, unfortunately, there is no "objective test" for how many words you can quote. In general, reproducing a copyrighted work for purposes... View More

You might be sued if the names are so similar that consumers might be confused by the similarity. A domain name can constitute a trademark or service mark, and domain names can be registered with the Trademark Office. However, depending on where you are located, you may not be subject to the... View More

Yes, you need an attorney. The laws regarding piracy are very much in favor of the owner of the intellectual property rights. Moreover, in most piracy cases, if you are found liable, you can be obligated to pay the attorneys fees of the IP owner, which can easily run into tens of thousands of... View More

Yes, a Federal Attonrey can prosecute you for a counterfeit trademark offense per 9 USC 1715: In order to show that a trademark used by the defendant was a "counterfeit mark" the government must prove the following: The mark is spurious. 18 U.S.C. § 2320(d)(1)(a). A mark is... View More