Category: Intellectual Property
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Marketing Starts From Naming
Many low-end products tend to say exactly what it is. On the other hand, high-end products are very subtle. Have you ever bought a crappy good carefully wrapped inside a sophisticated package? Well, more likely than not you weren’t careful. The thing is there is a tiny market for a fancy looking crappy product. In…
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How to Deal with Cease and Desist Letter (Patent or Trademark Infringement Allegation)
When you run a business, there is a chance that one day you receive a letter claiming that you are infringing someone else’s trademark or patent rights. It’s commonly called a “Cease and Desist Letter.” Sending a Cease and Desist Letter (“C&D letter”) is a legitimate practice of enforcing one’s intellectual property (“IP”) rights. When…
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What is Trade Dress?
When it comes to trademark (or servicemark), brand names, symbols, and logo designs are the first things to come to your mind. However, there are other types of trademarks that are protected. For example, a sound or packaging is also protected by the trademark law. Among those, trade dress refers to packaging and other product…
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Cheapest Way to Protect Your Trade Name (or Trademark, Servicemark, etc)
Have you been to a Burger King restaurant in Mattoon, Illinois? I mean the other Burger King restaurant. There is a restaurant called Burger King, which has nothing to do with Burger King franchise.
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Protect Your Products with Patent
While there’s innovative product like iPhone, most new products are improved versions of old products. Patent protects both. It really doesn’t matter whether your invention makes people’s lives better or not. For example, there is a famous case of a “fake juice dispenser”. The dispenser by its appearance has a tank that contains liquid juice.…
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3 Questions Before Launching a New Product
“Everyone copies!” There is often a grey area between innovation and imitation when it comes to a highly competitive industry. Nevertheless, you often hear about patent infringement lawsuits and trademark disputes. Especially in the U.S., lawsuits and other legal disputes are a serious problem for business owners. If you once get served with a complaint,…
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When to Register Trademark?
Most clients come to me after their products reached the market. In fact, that’s when you know for sure that your product has the potential to be something. If not, why invest in registering trademark? On the other hand, most big companies register their intent-to-use (“ITU”) marks months before they actually develop or start selling…
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A Legal Perspective of Trademark Misuse
This article contains fictional scenarios that include facts and legal issues that are created for an explanatory purpose. Any of those facts and legal issues including legal conclusions may not be true when applied to your case. Please seek a legal advice or counsel if you need any help. In past articles, we discussed how…
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Trademark Registration – IPfever Way
I guess you can file a trademark application yourself, which will cost a bit over $200 in government fees (for a long-term cost analysis, see https://www.ipfever.com/how-much-does-a-trademark-registration-cost/ ).Here, the worst case scenario is you get a rejection letter (called Office Action). If there’s a mistake, you can amend it. In other cases, you can probably go around the…
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Choosing a Right Name for your Brand or Product
Zara, which is a Fast Fashion brand like Forever 21, boasts that it takes only 10 to 15 days for an initial product design to reach their retail stores through international manufacture and logistics. In this fast-paced environment where a product can be copied within a few days and mass produced, a superb product design…