Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

Under US trademark law, an owner of a trademark must actually USE the trademark in interstate commerce for the trademark to continue being valid. Failure to use a trademark is the hallmark of an abandoned trademark. The US trademark law, the Lanham Act, defines trademark abandonment to occur when “its use has been discontinued with […]

Under US patent law, an inventor is entitled to only one patent for an invention. Thus, the US Patent Office can reject a patent application based on double-patenting. Note also that double-patenting can be used as a defense to a claim of patent infringement. Essentially, the defendant can argue that the patent allegedly infringed is […]

Domain names with the .sucks extension became available in 2014 when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) approved the generic top-level domain extension. See here and see Forbes media report here. For obvious reasons, businesses are unhappy when their trademark is registered and used with the .sucks extension. Here are a few […]

Trademarks can be valuable business assets. Trademarks are often called “brands.” Branding and trademarking are powerful marketing tools. Trademarks are used for both goods and for services. They can be words, phrases, symbols, marks, logos or designs that are placed on your goods that identify to consumers the commercial source for the goods. With service […]

A patent is a legal protection that is provided under US law that gives the owner an exclusive right to make, market and sell an invention. Generally, the term of the patent “monopoly” is twenty years (but that varies somewhat with the type of patent). Under current US patent laws, there are three types of […]

It is common for businesses — particularly startups — to try and incentivize their employees (and other agents like directors and third-party vendors) with stock options. Very broadly speaking, stock options can be divided into two categories — incentive stock options (“ISO”) and non-qualified stock options (“NSO”). By definition, an ISO is a stock option […]

Many are aware that copyright law protects original works of authorship like books, paintings, movies, sculptures, and more. Interestingly enough, something very similar to copyright law also protects computer chips (or more accurately, the etchings placed on or in computer chips that make them work). In 1984, Congress enacted the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (“SCPA”) […]

Trademarks are words, phrases, symbols, marks, logos, or designs that are placed on your goods that identify to consumers the commercial source for the goods. Trademarks are used for both goods and services. To function as trademarks, trademarks must be uniquely different. Indeed, uniqueness is a legal requirement for being able to register a trademark. […]

One of the steps in the process of successfully obtaining a US patent is the patent applicant’s receipt of a Notice of Allowance. A Notice of Allowance is sent by the US Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) to a patent applicant toward the end of the process. The document is sent after a USPTO patent […]

Over the past 20 years or so, the US Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has “gone digital” almost completely. That is, where allowed, most patent applications are now filed electronically via the USPTO’s Electronic Filing System-Web (“EFS-Web”). EFS-Web is an internet portal/website that allows for the submission of patent applications and supporting documents.The EFS-Web service […]