Posts under ‘patents’

Websites, iPad apps, accounting systems, and the software running on your home wireless router are all the result of an often considerable investment of time, money, skill and effort.  In return, their creators are typically rewarded with a bundle of intellectual property rights.  One of the most important of these is copyright, which protects the [...]

Apple has recently filed a patent for an infra red device, which can disable your iphone from taking pictures or recording footage during a concert. This is an interesting development for digital rights management. It may be another move by Apple to build up kudos with the music industry, as the industry’s cooperation is necessary [...]

In a competitive market setting your products apart from other people’s is key to maintaining an edge. Product design is often an important characteristic of a brand. It could even be the USP of the business. Where, however, the function of a product dictates how the design is formed then Intellectual Property law provides few solutions, bar patents, to protect the design. In general, Design law is clear that it does not protect the functional elements of registered designs.

The US has been one of the few jurisdictions which allow methods or ways of doing things to be registered for patent protection. This type of patent might be narrowed significantly by a recent ruling by a US Appellate Court.  We will all be keeping a watch out for the final decision, given that many [...]

In a surprise decision in the US, the makers of Splenda have lost their patent for sucralose which is the generic name for Splenda. This means that competitors can now sell the same sugar substitute. At the moment Splenda brings in 25% of Tate & Lyle’s profit. Although they are probably not happy about the [...]

Aaron Greenspan’s continuing dispute with Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg has taken the form of a petition to cancel Facebook’s trademark registration in the USA mentioned here. The origins of the dispute lay in Greenspan ’s claims to have had the original idea for the social networking company. Two interesting points arise from this – firstly [...]

One challenging aspect of advising small businesses is the vagueness of the law. It is difficult to give the clear, black and white answers business people need. One client recently asked me what letters we would be able to send out to enforce her design or trade mark rights if she registered them. She even [...]