In the United States, it is not registration, but actual use of a designation as a mark that creates rights and priority over others. Thus, the rule is that ownership of a mark goes to the first-to-use, not the first-to-file. That being said, trademark ownership is not acquired by federal or state registration, although registration […]
Looking for a great way to spend a weekend and support the community at the same time? Check out the 29th Annual Melbourne Art Festival, coming to town this year on April 27th and 28th. The festival is a nationally recognized event and admission is free! The Melbourne Art Festival is full of great activities […]
Did you know that Florida is the most popular nesting site for Loggerhead Turtles in the Atlantic Ocean? Over 67,000 Loggerhead sea turtle nests are discovered each year in our lovely Sunshine State. Even though these turtles along with their cousins the Green turtles make so many nests on our beaches, very few turtle hatchlings […]
It that time of year we see the Brevard Police and Fire men and women proudly playing their bagpipes in the streets. Guinness beer is flowing freely from Meg O’Malleys’ taps, and happy feet are merrily river dancing down E. New Haven Avenue. Yes, St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner! Are you as […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
In my last post, I discussed the ability to trademark generic terms. This post focuses on trademarking geographic terms. In the United States, geographic terms can be registered and protected as trademarks identifying a single commercial source if certain conditions are met. Geographic terms have traditionally been very important in identifying the source and […]
