Author Archives: John DiGiacomo

As it should be, “revenge porn” — or more accurately, nonconsensual pornography — is illegal in almost every states and the District of Columbia. Many states also allow victims to sue to recover money damages (although recovering a money judgment can never truly make the victims whole or compensate for the emotional trauma that this […]

Broadly speaking, there are two types of trademarks: stylized design/logo trademarks and standard character/word trademarks. Here is a quick description of the similarities and differences. Stylized Logo Trademarks Stylized logo trademarks are very common in use and, literally, millions of them have been successfully registered with the US Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Some are […]

In patent law, the patent “filing date” and the “priority date” are two important but different concepts. Often, the filing and priority dates are the same, but that is not always the case. Here is a quick rundown on the differences and why they matter. Generally speaking, the filing date of a patent is the […]

A design patent legally protects the design embodied in or applied to an article of manufacture, but NOT the article of manufacture itself. That is, what is patentable is the design for an article including surface ornamental features, configuration and three-dimensional shape (if the shape is not functional). Essentially, design is about the visual characteristics […]

A copyright notice is a specific type of formal statement placed on copies of a works of original authorship. For works published before 1989, a copyright notice was required for the work to have the full protections of US copyright laws. However, since 1989, a copyright notice is not required for full legal protection, but […]

Under current US patent law, the concept of “inventorship” plays an important role. As the saying goes, in the US, patents are issued to “inventors,” not to those that may manufacture, market, and sell an invention. Thus, only the “inventor” of an invention can apply for and receive a patent. In general terms, inventorship is […]

Many mistakenly believe that registering a trademark for a slogan, motto, or catchphrase is simple and easy. The mistaken thought process usually goes something like this: “Put it on a t-shirt or a mug and get a trademark.” However, trademarking a slogan is not that simple. Certainly, phrases and taglines CAN be trademarked and registered […]

A continuation patent application is a separate later-filed patent application that relates to an earlier-filed patent application. The continuation patent application must be based on the specification shown in the earlier-filed patent application and must “build on” or add additional patentable claims. The continuation patent application is commonly called the “child” application and the original […]

If you own various forms of intellectual property (“IP”), like copyrights, trademarks or patents, you must be careful to monitor the marketplace, media and journals, and official government websites to identify infringement or potential infringement of your rights. Infringement means any breach of the rights conferred on IP owners by the various statutes. For example, […]

The Problem with a Digital Economy In a digital world, content creators such a musicians, photographers, authors, and vloggers find themselves consistently striving to safeguard their work from infringers and pirates. While the internet serves to distribute content to millions of eager supporters and consumers, it dually serves up the same content to bad actors […]