Up until recently, software patents accounted for about half of all patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The U.S. Supreme Court has since made it more difficult to receive a software patent. However, the tide is shifting back in favor of inventors and patent owners. In fact, since the initial […]
Widerman Malek Law Blog
Overcoming Patent Application Rejections by the USPTO
35 USC §101 Rejections Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alice v. CLS Bank in 2014 there has been a drastic increase in 35 USC §101 rejections. The decision emphasized that inventions “directed to an abstract idea” are not patentable. The U.S. Patent Office has used this decision to reject a majority of software utility […]
Protecting Your Software’s Application Programming Interface (API)
In this article, we are continuing the discussion of a legal strategy to protect software that involves segmenting software into three tiers and protecting each tier separately. This strategy has been developed in response to a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case, Alice v. CLS Bank, that effectively slammed the door on receiving and enforcing software […]
Design Patents to Protect Your Software
In a previous article, we discussed a legal strategy for protecting software that involved segmenting software into three tiers and protecting each tier separately. Those tiers are as follows: Level One: User Interface Level Two: API Level Three: Algorithms and Data Structures This article focuses on the first tier, which involves how the user interacts […]
The Donald Trump Skittles Controversy
Donald Trump is getting a whole lot of attention these days with the election and now being the President-elect. He’s been involved in a whole lot of controversy and people are quoting him on a daily basis, but few are talking about his copyright infringement case. Donald Trump managed to achieve copyright infringement in a […]
Even Celebrities Can Get in Trouble with Infringement Cases
Most celebrities are highly protective of their own brands and they will work hard to maintain their image. They aren’t always so protective of other people’s brands though, and even celebrities have been found guilty of infringement before. It’s pretty common for celebrities, particularly musicians, to get in trouble for copyright problems. Blurred lines by […]
Why Intellectual Property Laws Were Created
Intellectual property laws are as old as the Middle Ages and they probably go back even farther than that, that’s just the oldest proof that we have that they existed at all. Anyway, back in the Middle Ages Guilds were given control of a specific profession or skillset. The guilds were given full control over […]
Basic Definitions of Terms in a Licensing Agreement
Many people believe that they understand certain words when in legal documents they could be used in another manner. Understanding legal definitions has been the downfall of several documents as many parties will sign them and believe that they understand entirely. With a licensing agreement, that could be a very costly mistake. Many who create […]
The Legal Benefits of a Copyright
You have a website; it is your pride and joy and you cannot wait until others see it. What happens next is not what you anticipated, however. You get it out the public and start advertising it like crazy so that your business takes off in an upward fashion, yet all of a sudden you […]
Intellectual Property Insurance
In the midst of Florida winter, it’s easy to forget about the dangers lurking from June to November. It’s been ten years since a major tropical system has made landfall in Florida. When was the last time your building caught on fire or a lightning strike completely fried your electronics? It’s probably been awhile. Yet, […]
