March 2015 -

Patent Infringement Claims and Attorney Fees

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Patents on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. If you bring a claim for patent infringement, a recent case from the U.S. Supreme Court has made recovery of attorneys' fees easier than ever before. Typically, the party that wins the lawsuit in a patent infringement case has a right to seek attorneys' fees if a case is considered "exceptional" under a particular statute. These types of fee arrangements are meant to serve as a deterrent to parties who want to bring unwarranted suits on invalid or unenforceable patents. In this case, the Supreme Court re-examined the statute [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:56:00+00:00March 31st, 2015|

Ssshhh . . . Trade Secrets

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trade Secrets on Thursday, March 19, 2015. If you have developed a product, add another duty to your list of obligations: examining other similar products, patent filings, etc. to determine whether a competitor is misappropriating trade secret information. If you do not monitor the filings or if you do and fail to prosecute trade secret misappropriation claims, you may lose the right to sue for trade secret misappropriation. A trade secret is secret information that gives the owner a competitive business advantage simply because the competitors do not know this information. A trade secret can [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:57:25+00:00March 19th, 2015|

Taylor Swift Seeks to Trademark Signature Catchphrases

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trademarks on Tuesday, March 17, 2015. Recent news that pop sensation Taylor Swift has applied to trademark "catchphrases" from her "1989" album (such as "This Sick Beat," "Nice to Meet You. Where You Been?" and "Party Like It's 1989") has appeared to open the floodgates in terms oftrademark questions. Can anyone trademark any phrase that pops into their minds, for use in the sale of certain products? The answer is yes, as long as you follow a few basic guidelines, according to NYU Law School professor Christopher Sprigman, who spoke to Money magazine about this [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:57:50+00:00March 17th, 2015|

Trademark Oppositions: Your Chance to Protect Your Trademark

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trademarks on Saturday, March 14, 2015. Many people assume that if they file a trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") and the Examining Attorney at the USPTO does not find any conflicting trademarks, that they are entitled to registration. However, there is another step along the way. Federal law provides a way for a party to challenge the registration of a trademark during what is known as the publication period. The publication period occurs after the Examining Attorney's preliminary approval and is intended to allow any person or entity who believes [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:58:06+00:00March 14th, 2015|

Copyright / Why You Should Always Take the Necessary Steps to Copyright the Content of Your Website

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Copyright on Friday, March 13, 2015. As a small business owner you know full well that having an impressive website is vital for the success of your business. You elected to invest significant time and money to build the site or to employ a reputable web designer to separate your website from your competitors. You may have also chosen to hire a search engine optimization firm in hopes of obtaining a first page search engine ranking on Google or elsewhere in order to increase new customer income generated from internet acquisition. Now, how can you [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:58:22+00:00March 13th, 2015|

Pom Wonderful Protects Its Pom-Trademark

On behalf of The Myers Law Group posted in Trademarks on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. If you've ever had pomegranate juice from the supermarket, chances are, it's Pom Wonderful. Pom Wonderful spends tremendous amounts of time and energy marketing its products - and bringing lawsuits against other companies' uses that may infringe its trademarks. Indeed, Pom Wonderful recently succeeded in bringing an action against Pur, which is known for making water filters, for selling a pomegranate-flavored energy drink called "Pom." The lessons learned from that case are helpful for anyone considering bringing a trademark action. Trademark infringement cases are important because they help companies [...]

Nicholas D. Myers2021-10-13T17:58:34+00:00March 11th, 2015|