Originally Posted July 7, 2021 Updated October 6, 2022 Copyrights are everywhere in business: articles, blogs, brochures, catalogues, images, websites, software, manuals, marketing materials, and more. They last for the life of the author plus 70 years, and for businesses, 95 years from the date of publication, or 120 years from creation, whichever comes […]
Originally Posted June 28, 2021 Updated September 29, 2022 IP rights have never been more valuable. A well-managed IP portfolio can be worth one third or more of the total value of your business. Unfortunately, most businesses treat IP as an afterthought. Even if you don’t, you can still lose valuable rights by falling into […]
by Intellectual Property Attorney Bill Honaker, the IP Guy Originally Posted June 16, 2021 Updated September 22, 2022 IP rights have never been more valuable. A well-managed IP portfolio can be worth one-third or more of the total value of your business. Unfortunately, most businesses treat IP as an afterthought. Even if you don’t, you […]
Posted June 8, 2020 Updated September 8, 2022 Impossible Food wins Impossible trademark battle! The District Court of The Hague in the Netherlands ruled that Nestlé’s use of Incredible infringes upon the Impossible Foods trademark Impossible. The court said Nestlé was trying to deliberately confuse consumers. Consumers would be confused […]
A Journey Through Intellectual Property Law by Intellectual Property Attorney Bill Honaker, the IP Guy Intellectual property is more valuable than ever. Every business has Intellectual Property, but most businesses don’t recognize it, protect it, or exploit it. It’s usually an afterthought. An inventor develops something new, so management thinks about patents; a new brand is […]
What seems clear can be mistaken! Two recent decisions highlight the importance of carefully writing and understanding agreements. One case involves non-disclosure agreements. The other involves the assignment of future inventions, a common provision in many employment agreements. Non-Disclosure Agreements Businesses use non-disclosure agreements in many situations: mergers and acquisitions; to obtain the expertise of […]
Graffiti artist Richard Wyrgatsch aka OG Slick is in the middle of a copyright infringement lawsuit. Top Trumps USA Inc. sued Slick on May 4, 2022 because he accused them of infringing his copyright. Top is asking the court to find that they didn’t do anything wrong when they used Slick’s graffiti on a Monopoly […]
by Intellectual Property Attorney Bill Honaker, the IP Guy Russian Doll copyright infringement is when you infringe a copyright that is within another copyright, like a Russian doll, with one nested inside another, and another, and another. These can sneak up on you, and can have serious consequences. The US Postal Service learned this the […]
A quick summary of where we left off. A doctor creates a new product with a distinctive trademark. He registers it with the United States Trademark Office. He approaches a big box store that is interested. But a few weeks later, they launch their own product with his trademark. We talked about option’s including filing […]
You don’t know what you don’t know; and it can be costly. Recently, I got a call from Bob Smith. Bob’s a doctor and a budding entrepreneur. He was upset. He said one of the big box stores had stolen his trademark. He explained that he had developed a hand sanitizer that was easier on […]
