How the Law Protects Trademarks
The law protects trademarks by authorizing a trademark owner to file a lawsuit to: prevent others from using it in a context where it migh... Read story
The law protects trademarks by authorizing a trademark owner to file a lawsuit to: prevent others from using it in a context where it migh... Read story
It is possible to register certain types of trademarks and service marks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Federal registration puts the re... Read story
A patent is a document issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that grants a monopoly for a limited period of time on the manufacture, use an... Read story
Many of us muse about the million-dollar idea: the invention that will make life easier for others and more lucrative for us. Most of these ideas never ge... Read story
Q: Can I fire the lawyer who filed my patent application for me and have the patent office recognize me or some other lawyer as the perso... Read story
Faced with higher patent fees and the prospect of having to defend their patents in court, small innovative firms are finding other ways to protect their ... Read story
The matter of legally protecting your intellectual property can get quite complex -- and expensive. You likely don't want to spend endless hours sorting t... Read story
While browsing through on an electronic bulletin board, you come across an interesting article on dog training. Thinking it might be of interest to the me... Read story
Small companies can patent government-funded inventions -- and the big guys don't like it. Read story
As a general rule, the copyright in a work is initially owned by the work's creator, but not always. What are the exceptions to the rule th... Read story
Doing business on the Web doesn't spare you from many of the same laws and customs that govern businesses in the physical world. You must pay especially c... Read story
Trademarks are often mentioned in the same breath as copyrights and patents. While they do sometimes apply to the same thing, they're more often defined b... Read story
What's in a name? Not much, according to Shakespeare, but most businesspeople would tell you that a name is a valuable business asset, a vessel for a comp... Read story
These legal tools can keep you safe from marketplace predators. Read story
The Copyright Act of 1976 protects creative expression: literary, dramatic, and musical works; pantomimes and dance; pictorial, graphic, and sculptural wo... Read story
When Windsurfing's president discovered that his product had already been invented, he applied for a new patent. But 20 competitors are betting it can't be e... Read story
Inventors know that inventions are often new solutions to old problems. An invention by Congress -- the Provisional Patent Application -- is a good exampl... Read story
You've invented something wonderful. You've prepared rough sketches and the written part of thepatent application yourself, saving thousands of dollars by... Read story
If you're trying to license your invention, you run the risk that someone will rip you off. Here aresome ways to avoid trouble. If you've developed... Read story
If you publish computer software, the single most important legal protection available to you is the federalcopyright law. But many software authors don't... Read story
Trade secret law gives the owner of important commercial information the right to keep others from usingit. Here's what business owners need to know to pr... Read story
A company that develops a new way of conducting e-commerce may be able to prevent others fromusing it for almost two decades. Since 1998, an increasing nu... Read story
The Internet has made it possible for anyone with a computer and modem to become a Web publisher. But even though technology has made information more acc... Read story
It will become harder for companies with new inventions to remain in "stealth mode," thanks to a major change in patent law that was scheduled to take eff... Read story
The Reagan Administration's continuing effort to trim the federal budget has struck a raw nerve with American inventors. To pay for its overhead costs, t... Read story
You've snagged a great domain name and now you're ready to incorporate. All you need to do is add "Inc." to the end of your domain name, right? ... Read story
A patent sometimes isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Instead of protecting against competitors, it may result in costly court fights as a company su... Read story
What to consider when you're filing a patent and strategic decisions you'll need to make. Read story
If you're making money, then someone out there wants your company's information, notes Alison Stein Wellner in the June 2003 Inc. article, "Spy v... Read story
Proprietary information, also known as a trade secret, is information a company wishes to keep confidential. Proprietary information can include secret fo... Read story
Racal-Redac Inc., a $25-million CAD/CAM comapany in Westford, Mass., used to require all of its employees to sign an agreement promising not to work for a... Read story
When you file a patent-infringement suit, about the only sure result is the size of the legal bill. Read story
ALLIED CORP. SPENT 13 YEARS and more than $75 million developing a metals-manufacturing process. But when 11 German and Japanese companies copied Allied'... Read story
There's nothing wrong with copying your competitors' good ideas -- provided you play by the rules Read story
Story of an inventor's 30-year battle to gain control of patent rights to the laser technology he helped develop. Read story
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