Get free answers to your Patents (Intellectual Property) legal questions from lawyers in your area.
I am trying to understand fair use and social media. If I were to make an edible product and hand create in icing an image of a trademark such as an NFL logo, video game character, or other trademarked image can I put the image of my final product on instagram? I am not selling the exact edible... View More 
answered on Oct 6, 2021
No. You shouldn't do that. It would be difficult to argue that what you are describing is fair use.
Some people selling trademarked products do not get caught, say, when they sell their products at a neighborhood picnic, but NFL has lots of people making sure that their trademarks... View More
answered on Sep 2, 2019
It is possible that the product you are looking at is not covered by a current patent.
The best place to start is with the product itself and the packaging that comes with the product. There is an incentive to mark the patent number on the product or at least a web page address that... View More
I believe it to be a patent I sent him to the patent office with.
answered on Sep 2, 2019
This is not easy as the USPTO tools for searching fields such as name do not apply to patents from that time frame.
The assignment database goes back to 1980. The full text search tool on USPTO goes back to 1976. While the images of the earlier patents can be retrieved by patent number,... View More
answered on Aug 20, 2019
I presume that your FIL passed away, and you are asking if your wife, the next of kin, gets to inherit his patents.
Generally, patents are legally considered personal property, and thus the heirs can inherit patents just like a car, or an art collection.
Unfortunately, in your... View More
the rest being my provided words and drawings or lifted verbatim from the prior art patent [including the 1 and only claim] trying to differentiate from) and then charge $15k plus filing fees?
answered on Dec 28, 2018
I am so sorry that you have had a bad experience with your patent attorney. Ideally, there is an open flow of communication going back and forth.
It is often hard to give a precise estimate, especially with a new client as the costs to prepare a patent application will vary with the... View More
I have a situation where I formed a contract by payment of ongoing fees with a US government department and for that contract I was lead to believe I would have legal rights protecting my property under US law given by U.S. Congress which has not happened, if things happened a certain way.... View More
answered on Jul 3, 2018
I have worked with patents for a long time. I cannot think of any government agency that accepts money from an individual for protecting intellectual property beyond the normal processes of filing for a patent, trademark, or copyright.
You need to talk with an attorney that can review all... View More
I had to abandon Non-Provisional application due to finances during the 2008-2011 recession. Took product to prototype and sold a couple of units. Shared with an OEM in 2012 in hopes of engaging them in production process. They expressed no interest. Yet, one of their engineers has just informed... View More
answered on Apr 6, 2017
Unfortunately, your intellectual property rights vest when the patent issues. Filing an application establishes the date from which you own intellectual property if it eventually vests, but unless the patent issues, you will never establish ownership over the invention. The invention is now in the... View More
How much time would it take?
answered on Jan 4, 2017
Welcome to Justia!
How do you go about it? Get in touch with a patent lawyer. He/She will guide you through the process.
What is the cost? To get a patent costs about as much as buying a car. A few thousand to a few tens of thousands of dollars, depending on many things. About... View More
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