Get free answers to your Intellectual Property legal questions from lawyers in your area.
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answered on Jul 2, 2024
To find your grandfather's patent, you can follow these steps:
1. Gather information:
- Your grandfather's full name
- Approximate date or year of the patent
- Any details about the invention
2. Use online patent databases:
- USPTO Patent... View More 
I registered a domain. Facebook sent me a letter not to do anything with the domain. This domain now belongs to Facebook
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answered on Feb 27, 2024
If you've registered a domain and received a letter from Facebook claiming the domain now belongs to them, it’s likely because they believe your domain infringes on their trademark rights. Trademark law protects brands and trademarks from use that could cause confusion among consumers about... View More
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answered on Feb 5, 2024
Under California law, the phrase "Dirty Hands Clean Money" is not inherently illegal. However, whether you can make and sell products with this phrase depends on the specific context and use. If the phrase is used in a way that implies illegal or unethical activities, it could potentially... View More
Here's the exact scenario, but with the character name changed. For example, the character name Matlock is currently trademarked for usage in books, films, and TV by a major media company (plus a number of other trademarks around clothes, notebooks, etc).
They also had the computer... View More
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answered on Dec 20, 2023
When considering registering a trademark for a character name that's already in use in other mediums, it's important to recognize the complexities involved. Even if the trademark for the game version of the character name is abandoned, the character itself might still be protected under... View More
I would like to patent an energy drink recipe but in a broad sense to protect or mitigate against companies with more capital just running me over and imitating it. How do I find patent but ensure I'm not overlapping someone else's already?
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answered on Oct 19, 2023
To determine if your energy drink ingredient is already patented, you can start by searching the USPTO database and other relevant sources. This will help you understand whether your invention overlaps with existing patents. For personalized legal advice tailored to your unique circumstances,... View More
My question is in regards to advertising. The opposite entity has retained the legal copyright to the former business name. I as the new company want to advertise myself as “Formerly the other company” but the opposing party is claiming I can’t use their name in any way. Would I be liable if... View More
answered on Oct 5, 2023
This is a trademark question, not copyright. It is certainly permissible to state that you were formerly known by another name (trademark) if it is factually true. It is not objectionable that you distinguish the prior use, because that avoids the likelihood of confusion. Promoting confusion is the... View More
I as a distributor of tea products place a brand customer's custom logo on the product and ship to their customer when they have orders. If one of these brands also has us place another 3rd parties logo (a 501c charity they raise money for) on the product am I at risk of any legal liability... View More
answered on Jun 21, 2023
Those third party logos are someone's intellectual property, and I would advise you to obtain some kind of proof from your customer that these third party logos are allowed/licensed to be used in the particular product.
Indigenous Immersion Schools receiving grant funding and federal funding to operate must create a complete curriculum in target language that is unavailable elsewhere for purchase. These schools would like to copyright their work and are trying to decipher who has legal rights to copyright.
answered on Mar 15, 2023
Yes, it can, however you need to review the terms of the grant. When the Federal Government produces creative material it usually is copyright free (search Google for "U.S. Government Works" to learn more). Works prepared for the Federal Government by contractors may be owned (and... View More
The art says "Peep-a-Boo" and shows just the ears at the bottom of the image indicating it's about to come up or is hiding. I have another one that shows just the middle of a peep's face (two eyes but no ears or body) hiding in a cracked egg. Finally, I have one that shows a... View More
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answered on Mar 29, 2023
It is difficult to determine whether the use of "Peep" and a small fraction of a Peep's shape in your artwork would be considered a parody without more information about the context and purpose of your artwork. However, even if your artwork is intended as a parody, it is possible... View More
Let's say you make a piece of software for an organization, and it is hosted upon their server, and also hosted on their github, but later moved it to your own personal private github.
There was no contract signed.
If you leave said organization, is the organization allowed to... View More
answered on Jun 19, 2022
That depends on factors, including whether the programmer was an employee or a contractor, whether the programmer owned it prior to the installation onto the server or it was done specifically for the company, and whether the person was paid for the work of writing the program, etc.
At amazon dozens of companies are selling NMN so it appears to be unpatented as a molecule, unlike the competitor NR (nicotinamide riboside) where patent holder ChromaDex claims a monopoly sues others distributing it. Yet google patent pulls up many US and foreign patents - some mfg process and... View More
answered on May 14, 2021
Your question is pretty convoluted, impossible to answer here.
You have to consult an attorney.
I've done educational consulting for years and am considering an independent consulting contract as a trainer with a national company. The contract has a clause about intellectual property that I am looking for clarification or help with. I plan to continue work outside of this new contract... View More
answered on Jan 14, 2021
Usually, unless an employee (of an employer) or a contractor (of a client) invents something or creates a copyrightable work FOR the employer/client as an express part or condition of the person's employment or as a "work for hire," the invention/work would belong to the... View More
I'm working on some open-source exercises for Russian language students, and for an alphabet-related exercise it would be very helpful to display pictures of Russian signs with English cognates that beginner students can read easily. However, I'm unsure of the legal implications of using,... View More
answered on Dec 2, 2020
Here, you are describing the intersection of copyright and trademark law. While it would be trademark infringement to open your own restaurant called Burger King, or to sell a hamburger wrapped up in a wrapper that says Burger King, you certainly can take a picture of a Burger King restaurant and... View More
I offered to sell the patent to Fiskars in early 2009, after a long distance call they went quiet on me.
I just discovered that they went ahead and claimed the patent for themselves. My patent was published in a journal in South Africa shortly after South africa joined the international... View More
answered on Oct 12, 2020
You will need to retain a U.S. patent attorney to sit down with all pertinent documents to fully assess the situation, including but not limited to reviewing the "prosecution history" of the Fiskars patent (does it cite your SA patent?). The claims of the patent are key - if the claims... View More
Are you allowed to re-use a small percentage of a protected work?
answered on Jun 16, 2020
A tough question to answer, even when you know all of the specific details! Copyright protection certainly applies to quotations. It can apply to aspects of the characters, depending on how recognizable they are. As an example, writers of "fan fiction" encounter this dilemma all the... View More
can i send the example of the t shirt for reference? dog theme is purely general, no negative/positive undertones,
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answered on Mar 23, 2020
The issue here may not be one of trademark but rather the right of publicity. Snoop is a celebrity whose name, image and likeness have monetary value. If someone else uses that for monetary gain they could be liable. Feel free to email me at tania.williams@williamsfirmpa.com for a consult so... View More
answered on Jan 23, 2019
Might not be a patent. The Supreme Court has recently made it fairly difficult to patent a method of organizing human activity. See the documents used to train patent examiners -- https://www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/examination-policy/subject-matter-eligibility On the other hand,... View More
I use the CD set and transcript as part of my psychological therapy. I would like to purchase additional CD sets for my therapists and also give them a copy of the transcript that I made. Is this legal?
May I purchase CD sets and present them along with a copy of the transcript to... View More
answered on Nov 30, 2018
Preparing the transcript might be considered fair use or a derivative work. So long as you purchase as many copies as you are giving to others and using within your practice, the likelihood of a possible copyright infringement claim falls significantly. But without further information about... View More
Copyright itself doesn't protect only just a name, you can't copyright just a name at all. But, "characters" should be protected under a copyright if they are unique, but isn't a name an intrinsic part of a character and its accompanying story?
answered on Aug 9, 2018
A full answer to your question will require a more fact-intensive analysis. Generally, copyright law will afford protection of the fictional character itself when it has appeared in a copyrightable work and has a life of its own within that work, however, achieving a level of distinctiveness such... View More
answered on Jul 20, 2018
You should speak with a trademark attorney in a confidential conversation. It may be possible. An attorney would need to know more about your business.
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