Patents

By: Mark R. Malek As has often been the case with some of my articles in the past, I like to introduce little practice tips as something interesting happens in my day to day life of prosecuting patent applications here at Widerman & Malek.  I recently received a call from an Examiner on a case […]

By: Mark R. Malek You may recall that my last article was directed to the requirement to pay maintenance fees in order to keep your patent alive.  As was discussed in that article, maintenance fees must be paid at 3.5 years, 7.5 years and 11.5 years after the patent has issued. When someone has not paid […]

By: Mark R. Malek If you haven’t noticed, many of my posts lately have revolved around the questions that I get from various clients.  This one was a tough one. Not necessarily from the perspective of not knowing what to do, but having to hear the horror story from this client.  Unfortunately, it is a […]

By: Mark R. Malek So you have just received your Notice of Allowance for your patent application.  In the Notice of Allowance, there is a requirement for you to pay an issue fee and a publication fee.  You may have paid the publication fee early pursuant to a request for early publication.  Section 1129 of […]

Irreparable Injury: Lost Market Share

  By: Tyler Hampy Pursuant to the well-established principles of equity, a patentee seeking an injunction against an infringer must satisfy a four-factor test before a court may grant such relief. The patentee must demonstrate: (1) that it has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate […]

Design Patents: Protecting Animated Icons

Design patent protection is a potentially powerful tool that inventors such as graphics designers and software developers may be able to apply to animated computer icons, including images that change in appearance during viewing. Design patent applications may be written to claim not only the static design of an article of manufacture, but also the design […]

By: Dan Pierron As mentioned in my previous post, one strategy in enforcing your patent is to send an entity that is potentially infringing your patent what is called a “Cease and Desist” letter.  The letter has a few core purposes. First, it provides “actual notice,” which is notifying the allegedly infringing party that you believe […]

What is an Open Patent?

In 1959, Volvo came out with the three-point seat belt, a seat belt designed by Swedish Engineer Nils Bohlin.  Bohlin wanted to design a seat belt that could prevent whiplash and deaths.  His design is considered an industrial design which was patented as such in 1962.  Seven years later Volvo decided to offer Bohlin’s seat […]

Infringement Analysis: What To Expect

Imagine you are a patent holder, and you suspect a competitor may be infringing on your exclusive rights related to your invention.  You ask your patent attorney to help you stop the infringing behavior.  Your attorney (hopefully) responds by recommending an infringement analysis.  You may think, “Analysis?!?  What’s to think about?  I just want to stop […]

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