My next couple of posts are going to focus on the types of words that can and can’t be trademarked. This post centers on generic terms. In short, a generic name of a product can never function as a trademark to indicate origin. The terms “generic” and “trademark” are mutually exclusive. If a term […]
2000: Restructuring of the U.S.P.T.O. In 2000, there were substantial changes to the structure and administration of the Patent and Trademark Office. One important structural change was the separation of the patent and trademark functions into separate operating units within the PTO. The PTO implemented a new position, which was titled the “Director of […]
By: Mark R. Malek My last article provided a brief overview of the patent system. I also wrote another article about why patents are somewhat important. This prompted me to reflect on my typical conversations with potential clients, and the questions that generally arise as to the different types of patents. This article will attempt to […]
As many of you already know, we are located in the beautiful city of Melbourne Florida. We figures it would be fun to do an article on the history of our great coastal Florida town. Please enjoy. The city of Melbourne, while a fairly young city, is robust with history. Did you know this town was founded by three […]
Jennifer O’Brien had been employed as a school teacher in Paterson, New Jersey for many years. In December 2010, O’Brien was assigned to teach the first grade. There were about 700 students in the school where she taught, and the student body consisted almost entirely of minority students, including African Americans and Latinos. […]
In trademark law, marks are placed along a continuum of distinctiveness. If a mark is classified as not being inherently distinct, the mark must acquire distinctiveness in consumers’ minds to achieve trademark status. That acquired distinctiveness is called a “secondary meaning.” Secondary meaning is a new and additional meaning that attaches to a mark. […]
By: Mark R. Malek Patent rights are derived from the U.S. Constitution. Many people mistakenly call patents rights a monopoly, but that is not exactly accurate. I will be posting a follow up article on this one that explains precisely why patents are not monopolies, and why it drives me completely nuts when people call them […]
By: Tyler Hampy As mentioned in my last post, this post will continue the discussion on the fair use doctrine. Specifically, this post will discuss whether parodies of copyrighted works can be considered fair use. To recap, the fair use doctrine permits the legal use of copyrighted material without first acquiring permission from the copyright […]
