United States Patent and Trademark Office

How has US Patent Law influenced Innovation? Technology has sculpted and carved the legacy of the United States. Early agricultural gadgets, stemmed American Agriculture. Cities and capitals of commerce were forged by the advancement of industrial factories. Computerization and expansion of invention has, “given rise to a nation of services” (Thompson). Fears of a future “World Without Work” have spurned from an exponential development of these technologies, but concerns have arisen that a factor meant to escalate these advancements, might be corrupting its pace. Most would grant that advancements of technology, due to immense work and sheer luck are the catalysts that have changed the world we live in today, but a commonly forgotten factor…

In 1897, Pearle Wait was finally able to perfect the simple gelatin dessert, it was taking years to master. His wife May David Wait gave it its name as what we know now, Jell-O. Wait then sold his company for $450 dollars to Frank Woodwark, because Wait didn’t have the funding for marketing and distributing his product. Success in the advertising campaigns finally began to rise in 1902 due to William E. Humelbaugh. In 1904, they launched the printed portion of their advertising and created “best…

When patents on genes were first granted it stirred up quite a controversy, since then there have been quite a bit of papers that support and oppose gene patenting. In their respective articles, Michael Crichton and John E. Calfee both discuss the controversial topic of gene patents; however Crichton is against gene patents and Calfee is for gene patents as an economist and brings up the pros of gene patents in his article. In their articles both of them talk about obtaining a patent from the…

Crichton V. Calfee: The Gene Patent Argument Michael Crichton and John E. Calfee both discuss the topic of gene patents in their respective articles, “Patenting Life” and “Decoding The Use Of Gene Patents.” However, the similarities end there as their opinions are the direct opposite of one another, with Crichton expressing extreme displeasure at the idea of gene patenting while Calfee is in support of the practice. Firstly, Crichton believes the patenting of genes as a whole to be a mistake.…

This memorandum is intended to give a broad overview of the federal trademark registration process. The entire process will usually take around one to two years from the initial filing to receiving the federal trademark. This timetable is affected by a plethora of factors such as possible objections from the USPTO or third parties and the number of applications filed before that are still in the process. Usually the following steps are included in the process: Searching and clearance, Preparing…

The United States policy regarding trademarks, known officially as the U.S. Trademark Law, is incredibly important to the way American society functions on a daily basis. Not only does the law encourage competitive business, but it also plays an important role in both American culture and the legal system. A trademark is some type of symbol that points “distinctly to the origin or ownership of merchandise…and [is] legally reserved for the exclusive use of the owner” (in text). Oftentimes a…

Wal-Mart Stores v. Samara Brothers is a U.S. Supreme Court case which focuses on trademark infringement. It questions whether an unregistered product’s design is protected by law. Section 43(a) of the Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act), provides a provision which protects unregistered marks against confusion and such. 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). While the statute does not require “distinctiveness” of the mark to be shown, case law universally does. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara Brothers, Inc.,…

Some cases in the Supreme Court’s history stand out more than others. The case of Microsoft v. AT&T is an example of such a case. This case, which resulted in a major and influential ruling on the inclusion of software coding in patent laws, is an example of a dynamic ruling. This claim will be further explored, but first it is necessary to build an understanding of the meaning of both the dynamic and constrained perspectives. 1. Dynamic v. Constrained Courts When it comes to the American…

In the case of product design here, Nabonko is producing a product that looks extremely similar to PR’s GoldenFish, there is a case for infringement because of likelihood of confusion. Likelihood of confusion exists when the goods produced by the infringer compete for sales with those of the trademark owner. Infringement will be found if the marks are sufficiently similar that confusion can be expected. Under the Sleekcraft decision, there are eight factors to examine when comparing the two…

Case: Vanna WHITE (Plaintiff) v. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC., a New York corporation, and David Deutsch Associates, Inc., a New York corporation (Defendants) Citation: 971 F.2d 1395 (Case Brief Document) Procedural History (what happened in the case): Samsung Electronics America Inc. and David Deutsch Associates Inc., Defendants, were sued by Vanna White, Plaintiff, because Defendants used a robot likeness of Plaintiff in a series of advertisements without Plaintiff’s consent or monetary…