The strength of a company’s intellectual property portfolio often drives the value of corporate transactions. Regardless of whether you are the acquisition target or the buyer in a transaction involving IP, the due diligence process should be designed to reveal the value of the intangible assets—patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. IP due diligence should ideally be conducted at the onset of negotiations. This not only allows a more reasoned value of the IP to be determined, but also enables proactive corrective action if any legal concerns are identified that may otherwise ..read more

By: RICK SUTTON From the solo entrepreneur with a cutting-edge innovation to the budding startup company rolling out a new, (as of yet) unrivaled product on the market, a patent is a must for anyone looking to protect and safeguard their inventions and intellectual property.  The question in regards to this common business interest is, When should you hire a patent attorney?  The answer is simple. There is no wrong time to retain the services of an IP lawyer, with one caveat — we recommend that the sooner in the patent process you have legal representation, the better since every poi ..read more

When the average person in the street thinks of a patent, they might think of an inventor sitting alone in their garage, dreaming up the next big idea. Or perhaps they might picture the famous scene from “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” where Charlie, one of the main characters, does extensive research to prove a point. While both may be applicable (a single inventor coming up with ideas), often whole teams of people work on an idea, often doing so in the employment of a company that then applies for the patent. However, advances in technology mean that dreaming up an idea is no longer nece ..read more

You’ve come up with a great idea for a new product but do not have the funds to get it off the ground alone. If you have noticed many people’s recent success with crowd-funding, you might consider following suit.  Not only will it give you a way to judge potential demand for your project, but it can help you stay focused to repay the faith those willing to back you showed. It can be particularly useful if you do not have the track record to convince banks or investors to put up the money. Yet before you tout your idea to the world, there is one thing you need to do: Get some protection Yo ..read more

Design patents can be valuable tools to protect the look and appearance of your products. These are the ornamental features that set your product apart from competitors, which can have an enormous impact on consumer buying decisions. In this post, we will look at some more specific examples of what you can protect with a design patent and how you can accomplish this. Design vs. utility patents Backing up, we should explain that there are generally two different patents businesses might be considering: design patents and utility patents. Design patents protect the look of a manufactured pr ..read more

Consumers make purchasing decisions based on myriad factors, from accessibility to price. The appearance of products also plays a considerable role in buying habits. People want to enjoy looking at what they buy, and they want other people to like looking at what they buy, too. This is why design patents are so valuable. What are they?  Design patents preserve the uniqueness of how a product actually looks versus how it functions. Some of the elements an inventor or business may want to secure a design patent for include: Any ornamental features of a product Fonts Packaging Emojis Produc ..read more

Holders of design patents received some welcome news recently from a case in which some auto parts distributors sought declaratory judgment for invalidity of design patents to sell parts that were covered by a major vehicle manufacturer’s designs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision sheds some valuable light on the type of functionality that can render a design patent invalid — and the type that won’t — as well as the importance of design patents. Distributors drive into court Ford Global Technologies, LLC, owns two design patents related to its F-150 series of pickup tr ..read more

If a graphical user interface is important to your business’ overall brand, you should take another look at design patents. According to recent statistics from the World Intellectual Property Organization the graphical user interface (GUI) and user experience (UX) space are among the fastest growing areas of design applications filed at the USPTO. Why are design patents so popular for protecting GUI elements of products? In large part, it relates to the fact that software-based utility applications struggle to overcome the patentable subject matter requirements of 35 USC §101. Though the guida ..read more

When most people think about design patents, they think of consumer products, such as furniture, footwear, toys, car designs, and packaging. However, today, industries such as medical technology, electronics and software are utilizing design patents to add additional layers of IP protection to their products. In fact, designs in the graphical user interface and user experience space are the fastest growing area of design applications filed at the US Patent & Trademark Office. Form + Function Design patents are particularly well-suited to protect iconic features of a product that consumers ..read more