There has been a lot in the news lately about big businesses suing each other over patents and copyrights. The numbers the plaintiffs are looking for in the cases are sometimes in the billions of dollar range, those are staggering figures for most of us even to imagine. These numbers are sought not only to […]
Widerman Malek Law Blog
The Invisible Line Between Copyrights and Infringements
There is a very fine line between what can be used and what should not be copied from the internet. Most people follow a general rule which is “if I can see it, I can use it”. However, when it comes to intellectual property and copyright right protected innovations, people must know where to stop. […]
Can Pi be trademark protected?
Think back to math class. Do you remember learning about pi? It’s that funny little greek letter that looks like this π. It is used to represent the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and is roughly defined as 3.14159 no matter how large or small the circle is. It is one of […]
What Qualifications Must a Patent Lawyer Possess?
What is the difference between a patent lawyer and patent agent? Both are licensed to practice and represent clients before the United States Patent and Trade Offices. Both patent agents and patent attorneys can prepare and file patent applications. The difference between them is that patent agents cannot “opinion of validity of another party’s patent […]
Holograms, Michael Jackson and Cirque De Soleil
In 1991, Natalie Cole made headline news when she recorded the song “Unforgettable” along with her father, who had passed away years before. He was not only on the sound track, but with the advances in technology, was present in the video as well. It’s now 2014 and technology has continued to advance in the […]
Is Florida going after Microlipid Technologies?
Microlipid Technologies, formerly known as Neofat Industries Inc, is being targeted by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Microlipid Technologies is an intellectual property company. It has one employee –the owner – Gus Papathanasopoulos and has no physical location. What the company, or more specifically, what Mr. Papathanasopoulos does have is a patent titled “Micro-molecular […]
An Intellectual Property April Fools Prank
It’s hard to image how any intellectual property news or trademark law can be part of an April Fool’s joke, but the anarcho-capitalists of Keene, NH were able to pull it off, if even for just an hour or two. Free Keene is a loosely organized group of self-titled anarchists, libertarians and “voluntaryists” who openly […]
Don’t Mess With Judge Judy!
Judge Judy, the well known television jurist who is known for settling small claims lawsuits on her show, but is perhaps better known for her cantankerous attitude and sharp wit has filed her very first civil lawsuit against someone else. She alleges that a personal injury lawyer named John Haymond of Haymond Law has taken […]
Patent and Trademark Office Closed on March 3, 2014
USPTO Closed on March 3, 2014 due to weather.
Game Developer Candy Crush Stirs up Protests Over “Candy” Trademark
In recent years, we are seeing common words being trademarked that borders on ridiculous. How can common words that are used in every day language and useded in hundreds of brand products be trademarked? One such recent example is game developer King.com attempts to trademark the word “Candy” for their Candy Crush game. Is this […]
