-Martha Engel, Attorney
To me, one of the most exciting aspects of intellectual property law is when patent law and trademark law intersect in product or packaging design. Last week, I had the honor of speaking to a graduate product design class at the University of Minnesota’s School of Design, where I discussed the valuable
On Monday, November 27, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, No. 16-712. The case presents a direct challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (“USPTO’s”) “inter partes review” (“IPR”) process, under which third parties can petition the USPTO’s Patent Trial and
-Wes Anderson, Attorney
Hello (again) DuetsBlog! Readers may have noted my recent absence from the blog. I recently embarked on a new stage of my career as in-house corporate counsel, and Steve gave me the opportunity to contribute as a guest blogger.
Even in my in-house role, I remain a trademark law hobbyist. One of
— Jessica Gutierrez Alm, Attorney
New ideas, creations, and business ventures are often the product of collaboration. If lawyers had their way, a written agreement would precede every creative collaboration. Of course, this is not the case. Collaborators often do not seek advice of counsel, or see the need for an agreement, until after
— Jessica Gutierrez Alm, Attorney
We’ve spent time discussing the patent troll phenomenon in the past. Patent trolls are less pejoratively referred to as non-practicing entities, because they do not make or use the inventions covered by their patents. Instead, these non-practicing entities operate by purchasing patents on various technologies, accusing companies of infringing those
— Jessica Gutierrez Alm, Attorney
This is a common question among many new inventors. To be patentable, an invention must be novel and non-obvious in view of the “prior art.” Prior art includes prior filed patents, patent applications, and other public materials. A patententability search, or prior art search, can give the inventor an idea
-Martha Engel, Attorney
While on my flight back from speaking on trademarks & the alcohol industry at this year’s CiderCon, I listened to a fascinating TedTalks podcast on advancements in artificial intelligence that you can find here. Some of the examples of the progress made in robots included the concept of open-ended, non-linear
Last week a federal lawsuit was filed in Minnesota by Blu Dot to protect alleged intellectual property rights in the floor lamp shown on the left below. The accused “strikingly and confusingly similar” floor lamp shown on the right below is sold by Canadian Rove Concepts:
So, what type of intellectual property do you
— Jessica Gutierrez Alm, Attorney
While the Lanham Act bars the federal registration of trademarks related to illegal goods and services, there is no such prohibition against patenting illegal products or processes. However, the value of such patents is debatable.
State Legalization Leads to Increased Patent Applications
Marijuana is now legal, in some form, in
-Martha Engel, Attorney
Instagram recently released a new feature called Instagram Stories, which allows users to curate a collection of photos or videos of moments to share with friends for them to view, but then it disappears after a day. The thing is Snapchat, a competing photo sharing app, already had a feature called