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Saturday, December 1, 2012

The History Of The Great Need For Patents

Study regarding the extensive and vibrant history of patents is significant. It would be simple and easy for individuals to assume that patents are a fairly current advancement, but that could not be more wrong. In fact, it is considered that the first known patent is thought to have been granted in Venice, Italy in the 12th century. These earliest known patents were primarily 10 year monopolies released to the inventors of a silk weaving process.

By the 14th century, the English had developed a process wherein the Crown awarded special privileges to inventors which allowed them sole use of their invention until it became a viable industry. The earliest known patent under this system was granted in 1449 to a glass making procedure used by Venetian Glass makers. The patent was granted for a duration of 20 years.

It is very important note the difference between those 14th century patents and the patents of today. Those first patents made no distinction between inventors and those who merely imported new techniques to their country to decrease their dependence on imports. By giving patents to entrepreneurial importers, England took an essential step in recognizing that the innovative technologies imported to their country would produce jobs and enhance their economy.

The earliest legal statues included in governments about Patents were in the Republic of Venice in 1474. This statute acknowledged that new inventions had to be documented with the Republic as a way to achieve legal protection against potential infringers. This early statute laid down the standard principles of today's Patent Law. Inventions had to be both new and useful, the rights provided for the inventor were exclusive, the Patent was requested a limited time, and those who infringed on the patent could possibly be instructed to cease and desist all rivalling inventions relating to the Patent.

At the same time, England's Patent method was becoming particularly corrupt. The Crown offered Patent privileges to individuals they deemed worthy, because this became a very good way of raising funds. This practice generated unhappiness amongst inventors as the Crown awarded their monopolies to chosen inventors in exchange for a sum of money. Eventually, King James the 1st cancelled all established patent privileges to opt for the 1623 statute of monopolies which granted monopolies only to new inventions and was enforceable for a limited amount of time.

The system of approving patents was primarily busy throughout the Industrial revolution, leading the practice to be adopted by other countries. The first United States Patent laws were introduced in 1790 with France following in 1791. In 1883, patent laws were internationalized during the signing of the Paris Convention.

The essential premises of current patent law have been in place for over 400 years. This is not so incredible as you think about the awesome leaps and strides in technology over those 400 years. Even the past 50 years we have observed computers and the Internet and digital photography and cellular phone service definitely change the way our society lives.

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Denial of Trademark Registration

When applying for a trademark you may run into some difficulties that may cause your trademark application to be denied. If you still face denial of your application, you have options to appeal the decision.

Reasons for the Denial of a Trademark Application

If you submit an incomplete or poorly developed application, you are almost guaranteed to receive a denial. Your trademark attorney can help you draft your application to avoid this pitfall, but there are several other issues that can result in the denial of an application.

The most common reasons for trademark denials include:

the presence of a similar, pre-existing trademark already registered; your mark is too generic; your mark consists of immoral, disparaging, or deceptive matter; your mark contains the name, image, or signature identifying a living individual without their written consent; your mark contains the name, image, or signature of a deceased President of the United States while his widow is still alive, unless consent is given by the widow;and the mark is used solely as a trade name.

How to Respond to the Denial of a Trademark Application

If your trademark application is denied you will receive notice from the USPTO in the form of an Office Action. The notice of denial will include reasons for the decision, which your trademark attorney can review and discuss with you. You are given a written notice of the time you have in which to submit a response to the decision, typically 6 months.

At this time, your trademark attorney can help you investigate the reasons for the denial of your trademark application. This information is a critical part of formulating your response, as it needs to address the problems cited in the denial notice.

After your initial response to the denial of your trademark application is filed, the USPTO will issue another decision. Should you receive a subsequent denial, you will need to reformulate the mark before reissuing a response.

Hiring a California Trademark Attorney

It's important to have the guidance of a professional when you are applying for a trademark. Having the advice of a trusted trademark attorney from the start will help you avoid errors in the trademark application process and avoid immediate denial. If you find yourself facing denial of your application, attorneys can help you determine the cause and help rectify it in your response.

Why IP Lawyers Need to Have Effective Relationship Management Skills to Survive

The 20th Annual Survey of General Counsel published in the August 2010 issue of Inside Counsel ('What's Going On In Today's Legal Departments') has some significant pointers for IP legal services professionals who want to attract good clients and keep them on board for years.

First of all, it identifies IP legal services as one of 5 practice areas that increased in volume despite the turbulent economic conditions, with the comment "IP has become more important to everybody, whether it's GM and whether [its employees] are authorized to use the word Chevy... or my company protecting creative rights for fashion." - Lorraine Koc, vice president and general counsel, Deb Shops.

Secondly, the figures cited highlight the opportunities IP legal services professionals have to attract really good clients IF they take action to address some of the concerns in-house counsels have. Key figures to consider include:

Only 40.9% of law firms understand their business. Truly shocking! I have written a bit about the need to know the conversation going on in your prospect's /client's mind, and suspect that this figure is low because too many lawyers have no proper processes and systems to find out what their clients are really looking for. Even worse, they probably make no effort to learn about their client's business. Almost 65% on in-house counsels don't believe law firms actively seek ways to reduce costs. Many IP legal services professionals don't want to reduce costs because of the time they spend on various activities which they want to bill for. However, if IP legals services professionals systemised their client client attraction activity (as an example), some of the costs they subsequently quote could be reduced because of the reduced overheads. By proactively discussing costs with clients, IP legal services professionals can stand out when compared to those that simply don't want to be flexible enough to discuss costs. 51% of law firms fail to recognise their clients' budget constraints. First of all, I want to repeat something I have mentioned below. You do not want to be the IP legal services professional that is known as the lowest priced service provider in the market. That will kill your reputation and your business. Clients will always pay for value, but IP legal services professionals do need to consider the reduced budgets many of the clients have. Providing a hybrid model of fixed and billable-by-the-hour price plans, and perhaps thinking more about multi-year managed service options gives astute IP legal services professionals the opportunity to show their willingness to explore various pricing options.

If you have not read the report, do so now. The key figure to take away, and which hammers home the opportunities available for lawyers, is the fact that 31.5% of in-house counsels are unhappy with their current law firm relationships.

How that breaks down for the IP legal services sector is not clear. But if we assume - and I appreciate this is a BIG assumption - that 30% of in-house counsels are looking for a new IP legal services provider, then clearly there is a lot of business out there that needs to be won. Remember, IP legal services is one of the top 5 growth practices according to the survey.

If that is the case, you need to be smart about the way you go about trying to win new IP legal services business. Repeating old mistakes such as cold calling, running seminars to prospects you have built no relationship with, or failing to build trust by providing information that your prospects are looking for (without giving direct legal advice of course) will mean you simply repeat the mistakes made by law firms that many businesses are already unhappy with.

And this extends to smaller businesses that still need crucial IP legal services advice but where relationships are with owners themselves, or where there is no in-house legal counsel to deal with. With smaller prospects and clients, the problems associated with budgets are multiplied many times over. They simply don't have the huge corporate budgets to play around with, and relationships here can be even more personal.

What this survey highlights is the need to understand customer life time values, and to make sure you have systems and processes to manage the various stages in relationships you have with prospects and clients. How you win clients determines the value they attach to the relationship with you. So what do IP legal services professionals need to do?

Right from the start, you need to find out the conversation going on in your prospect's mind, and provide information that points them towards a solution or shows them how they can get rid of any frustrations they have. You need a platform to systemise your communications with prospects, and allow them to give you feedback so you you don't make assumptions about what they need. This allows you to develop trust with prospects and lets them get to know you via reports, seminars, newsletters, etc. You want them to make the informed choice to select you above all other options available in the IP legal services market. You have to create a value proposition that takes into account the budget constraints many potential /current clients have. Think about the value of having a managed services offering, which guarantees fees over a given period of time and helps you plan your practice growth better. This means changing some internal structures so that you outsource non-core activities and focus on the stuff that clients value most, After all, that is what you trained for. For many IP legal services practices and solo practitioners, outsourcing of certain functions/activities is a great opportunity to reduce costs. All this, however, comes from understanding what your clients really need and making sure you have the flexibility, without killing your business, to deliver a great service.

Is all this simple? No, but the key thing to remember is this. Great marketing is not about coming up with the latest, fantastic idea. It needs, to be blunt, tried and tested systems that have worked already. More important though, success comes not from simply reading about such systems, but taking action to implement them. Once you have them in place, you will find yourself spending twice as much time dealing with customers that want to work with you and subsequently increase your income.

Ways To Protect Your Own Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property is term commonly used nowadays but only few people have really grasped its meaning. Not too many people understand the legalities involved. Intellectual Property is any intangible asset that consists of human knowledge and ideas. This includes patents, copyrights, trademarks and software. Wherever you are in the world, it is necessary for an individual, a business or an organization to protect and secure its trademark or identifiers. It is powerful in the sense that it can bring in economic growth and increase wealth; may it be for an individual or a business.

Vast information is rising and technology has been constantly evolving. Anything can go wrong since abuses to one's trademark are inevitable. So being online means grasping the challenges of intellectual property: to protect what may be one of your major assets and respecting the rights of intellectual property owners and users.

Be always on the lookout to protect your own interests. A responsible intellectual property owner must conduct a review of his or her intellectual property assets constantly.

Here are some tips to secure what it rightfully yours.

1. Registration - Get your ideas, trademark, or patent registered.

2. Invest in getting legal advice

3. Research and read - Although it is best to listen to what your lawyer has to say, it is still smart to bone up on knowledge regarding intellectual property.

4. Portray a complete image - See to it that you have already considered all the angles involved in your concept before you let the whole world know about it. A good deal of planning with thorough research is very significant.

5. Respect the work and ideas of others - The idea of others may help you in formulating your own trademark but see to it that your concept is all original. As much as you want to protect what is your intellectual property, others are also securing their own.

6. Get real! - It does not come hand in hand that when you have an idea, it will be a great success. It takes an extra mile of effort to make the brand a success.

7. Be competitive - You may not have a competition now but others may come up with the same concept in the near future. So why will you put off protecting your brand. Legal protection will give you the chance to participate in entrepreneurship seminars where you can learn more marketing strategies.

8. Non-disclosure Agreement - This document is necessary to ensure that business partners or new hires will keep the company's trade secrets protected.

9. Legal Security - The national government has existing laws that increasingly recognizes the value of intellectual property and is taking steps to protect your rights of ownership.

10. Have patience - Continue to develop your concept while the license or copyright to your trademark is being processed. This process takes time but our trademark lawyers are here to assist you and make things as convenient as possible.

Why You Should Review Your Commercial Arrangements Now: Part 1

Why review existing commercial contracts?

There is a great variety of reasons why a business would seek to renegotiate or terminate some of its existing commercial arrangements. This may include: (1) the need for a business to improve its financial situation or to avoid falling victim to the financial difficulties of its business partners; (2) a business strategy to renegotiate the price or to exit from an unprofitable agreement, without incurring the cost of litigation or, as in the recent case of the UK government; (3) the wish to centralize its spending, benchmark its suppliers and achieve costs savings and of course; (4) the need to align contracts with legal requirements and business direction. However, this exercise should be carried out bearing in mind that the reason is to make savings and achieve efficiencies and not to jeopardize or damage a good commercial relationship. Whatever the reasons, the assessment should consider all the business arrangements including the supply and purchase contracts with key customers and suppliers and back-office contracts, such as purchasing and outsourcing arrangements, facilities management, logistics, IT support and maintenance contracts.

Where to start

Firstly, you should start by:

1) Reviewing the entire agreement pool, 2) Identifying the agreements that need to be reviewed and 3) Highlighting existing clauses in such agreements, for example, benchmarking, continuous improvement, exclusivity and minimum purchase obligations that you may be able to use to start the renegotiation.

Then you would move to renegotiate the individual terms, such as the price or the scope of the goods or services with the help of you adviser in order to avoid any claim by the other party for breach of contract.

Depending on how strong (or not) your renegotiation base is, you could of course just rely on commercial considerations and either:

1) Renegotiate; 2) Terminate the relationship as a whole; or 3) Negotiate a staged exit, lesser commitment.

It is good to remember that when you look for an "agreement" with a customer/supplier, that not all contracts may be documented in one document. The terms of the relationship may arise from various arrangements, so gather the facts and understand how they interact among themselves before progressing with the review. At this point, it is essential that any review and update is taken having first taken advice from your legal advisor in order to avoid any claims for breach of contract.

In particular, consider:

-Signed or draft agreements (which have been used between the parties for some time); -Any course of dealing between businesses over a period of time; -Exchanges of correspondence, including e-mails; -Implied terms; for example, even if there are no service level agreements or key performance indicators, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 requires the service provider to use reasonable care and skill; -The parties' conduct, which may constitute the contract or vary its terms; for example, always accepting payment after 60 days instead of the 30 days set out in the contract. -The other side's terms and conditions; -Schedules, side letters and letters of comfort; -Invitations to tender (ITTs), responses to tender and unfinished agreements.

Considerations for customers

Always, consider using the contract terms to commercial advantage. If, for example, the contract does not specify purchasing exclusivity and there is no requirement to buy a minimum amount from that particular supplier, consider dual sourcing from a cheaper supplier instead of terminating.

Considerations for suppliers

A supplier may wish to consider the following:

- Review credit limits with existing customers as well as under taking credit searches against new customers to ensure that the level of credit is appropriate to the financial standing of the customer. In these tougher times, such credit limits need constant review. Bear in mind that the information received may be out of date. - Where appropriate, include retention of title clause or ensure that your current clause works effectively. If your customer becomes insolvent, an effective retention of title clause may be the only way that you will realistically recover or part-recover the debt or your goods. - Insist on a guarantee from the directors or the parent company, if there is concern over any new customer's credit rating. If the customer becomes insolvent, you can seek recovery from the guarantor. However, ensure that all available checks are carried out against such would-be guarantors; otherwise the guarantees may not be worth the paper they are written on. - Consider entering into a factoring agreement or taking out credit insurance to improve your client's cash flow, especially as many customers are paying their suppliers late to improve their own cash flow positions. - Check invoicing and payment terms and put in place a strategy to enforce them. Seek to negotiate more favourable terms and then enforce them. - Check your contractual right to terminate or suspend the arrangement, if, for example, the customer becomes insolvent or fails to pay on time or at all.

This articles is for general purposes and guidance only and do not constitute legal or professional advice.

Public Domain

The public domain, as what has been defined in the context of intellectual property rights is a concept that refers to any works, creations, ideas or information that has nothing to do with authorization and legal protection anymore. Indeed one of the best ways people refer to when they write something or perhaps when they do their researches is by the aid of acquiring information, data's or information in the content of the so-called public common.

Because of a wide range of available content in it, you can just explore and acquire knowledge as long as you want and as many as you can, just taking consideration that in the premise of an academic institutions and other professional establishments "plagiarism" is a negative action. But other than that, the public sphere or the domain that we are talking abut in this discourse can help you big time for future reference.

One of the best ways to get started writing your articles is by using public domain content. There is a surprisingly large amount of content available, which exists in the public domain - meaning, there are no copyrights claimed on the content, and you are free to do whatever you want with it. Now the fact that public sphere is accessible to the public means you do not need to pay anything consuming all your desired information, creation, works and ideas. Moreover, if you are good perhaps you can find a goldmine of information that might be a good source of new income. Who knows? Just be creative, no one knows how to get it unless you take the risk.

So what else should you need to know about public domain? Yes, you might want to ask about those works that exist just before the copyright law and patent laws take into action, are they covered in the public domain? Fortunately yes! Therefore, you need not to hold your breath just in case you want some significant data's coming from this span of time.

Another frequently asked question that is in relation to this discourse is the expiry date of a copyright law to be open for public viewing. Most specifically according to the governing body that encompasses this law, in United States, they particularized the agreements of the number of years following the publication or sometimes creation of a certain work. However, this number of years varies from one country to the other but the average range is between 50-70 years. This has been asserted to increase by some legislators of various countries.

Now that you have enough knowledge about public domain, you can now explore and re-discover works that has been limited to few people before, if you still want some more please follow the link in the resource box below.