The Law Office of Steven O'Donnell in Lancaster, Pennsylvania protects ideas with patents, copyrights and trademarks.
Your ideas have value. Your ideas give you an edge over competitors. Your ideas are a creative outlet. Your ideas need to be protected. The Law Office of Steven O’Donnell is dedicated to the protection of ideas though patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets.
Protecting your ideas is only one step in building and maintaining a profitable intellectual property portfolio. The other key steps include identifying what aspects of your portfolio have the most potential value and ultimately, realizing that value. Whether your goal is sell your designs, license your patent or market your invention yourself, the Law Office of Steven O’Donnell can help you identify and protect your ideas and maximize their value.
If you are a new inventor, or just new to the patenting process, take a look at the short guide "I've Invented Something. . . So now what do I do?" That will answer some of the most common questions. Then take the next step in securing your invention and contact a patent attorney.
Aug312010 | Steve O'Donnell
A City Authentic
Recently, the city of Lancaster, PA launched a new brand--“A City Authentic”--with a little square rose logo. Within a few days, someone posted a clip on youtube pointing out that the logo has already been in use. Oops. What could the city have done to prevent this embarrassment?
The city is not a client of mine, so I can’t speak with any authority on what they did, or didn’t do. My suggestions assume certain facts I don’t have, but are general enough to apply to any branding action.
First, the city’s contract with their designer should have included a warranty of non-infringement. Basically, the contract should have stated that the designer warrants that the design is original and doesn’t infringe on any one else’s copyright or trademark and that the designer will shoulder any legal actions to the contrary. That alone would have saved the city some embarrassment since it could have shifted the blame to the real responsible party.
Second, as noted in this article from Lancaster Online the city registered the logo with the copyright office. Presumably, both the city and the city’s design/marketing company thought that doing so would “clear” the image. That presumption fails for a couple of reasons. Copyright protects original works of authorship, and the logo is obviously not original. Any copyright action trying to defend this logo will probably fail at the motion to dismiss stage. Also, the logo is being used in a trademark sense, so it should have been vetted through the trademark application process, which is generally more robust than the copyright registration process.
If they had contacted me or another trademark practitioner, would the problem have been caught before it was used? It’s difficult to say. I haven’t searched for the mark since learning about the problem because I don’t think there is any way I could divorce myself from the knowledge that a problem exists. However, if the trademarking registration process had been completed before the brand was launched, the city would be able to point to that as proof that their use of the logo was substantially dissimilar to any other use of the graphic.
Lastly, if I, or someone else, discovered the similarity to another logo, a simple license agreement could have been drafted to clear the city’s use of the graphic.
Now, the city has to engage in damage control and will probably have to spend more money on that and on possibly changing its branding than it would have if it had consulted with me or another intellectual property attorney in Lancaster.
Jul152010 | Steve O'Donnell
Does downloading really hurt DVD sales?
The movie industry often blames flat or decreased DVD sales figures on file sharing, but are those that download the same group that would have otherwise bought a disc?
I don't know the answer, and I don't have any data to support a position, I was just thinking about this the other night and would like some feedback.
On the one hand it makes sense that at least some people wouldn't buy something they could get for free (even if that meant infringing a copyright and running the risk of getting caught). On the other hand, if movies suddenly weren't available through file sharing avenues anymore, how many people would move to Netflix or similar, and how many would start buying discs?
There are four options (maybe more): downloading, borrowing, renting, and buying. If downloading is removed, and you don't have a friend that already owns a movie, then the next cheapest option is to rent it. Buying is still quite a bit more expensive than renting.
I suspect that the businesses getting hit hardest by movie downloading are rental places, and since rental places don't seem to be complaining about their bottom-line, maybe movie downloading isn't hurting film makers.
I'm only talking about downloading movies out on disc. Movies still in theaters and other types of media all have their own issues.
What are you thoughts?
Jul072010 | Steve O'Donnell
What happens to patents when a company closes.
A couple days ago someone found this blog by searching for “what happens to a patent when a company goes out of business,” which is surprising, because I don’t recall posting on that. At least it’s less disturbing than the time this blog was found by someone searching for “how to seduce a swan” (I hope they were looking for this.
So, what happens to a business’ patents when the business closes? The answer is pretty close to what you’d hear if you asked “what happens to a business’ copy machine when the business closes?” Patents are property, intellectual property, and even though they differ from physical property in certain ways, in many ways they’re the same.
A closing business can do any number of things with a patent. It could assign or license it to someone, the patent could be part of the company’s assets in a bankruptcy reorganization or liquidation; it could auction it off or dedicate it to the public; the patent could also be left to expire on its own.
The “expiration” is probably what people mean when they ask what happens to patents when the owner goes out of business or dies. For a patent to remain in force, periodic maintenance fees need to be paid to the government. Whether this is for a laudable reason, such as prompting the early public dedication of unused patents or if it’s just another way that the government can extract money from people is a question you can mull over later.
Currently these fees are due at 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years after the patent issues. The cost of these fees increases with each payment. The first maintenance fee is $980, the second is $2480 and the third is $4110 for a large entity and half that for a small entity. I’ve never thought of it before, but those are some strange amounts. If anyone can explain them to me, please leave a comment.
If those fees aren’t paid, the patent expires prematurely. If they are paid, a utility patent will normally expire 20 years after its filing date.
So I guess the answer to the question is closer to that for “what happens to a business’ car when it closes?” Not unlike a car, a patent can be sold, transferred, etc. Also, if a patent is left to languish and isn’t maintained it can be irretrievably lost.
If you’re concerned about a patent, the best thing to do is to have a patent attorney research the patent’s file and determine the best course of action.
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