The so-called Continuation Rule, Request for Continuing Examination Rule, and Claims Rule were all supported by the previous USPTO administration. These provisions placed caps on the number of continuing applications and RCEs per parent application, and the number of independent/total claims in an application.

I’m glad to see that these rules will not take effect because they limit an inventor’s options during patent prosecution and reduce the protection he or she can secure. Why impede technological progress for minimal gains in USPTO efficiency? Mr. Kappos clearly made the right play here!

Consult a patent attorney to find out the exact boundaries of current patent law!

WWE is actively trying to put Philadelphia Wine School’s use to an end but Philadelphia Wine School doesn’t plan on caving and is prepared to fight the opposition. Philadelphia Wine School seems to be banking on the idea that “smackdown” by itself is a generic term that cannot be registered.

Even if the generic defense doesn’t pan out, I think that WWE won’t be able to show that consumers will be confused as to the source of Philadelphia Wine School’s event. Call me crazy but I don’t really see Hulk Hogan sitting around, sampling a ’52 Merlot!

What do you think of this face-off? Please post your comments or contact me to discuss!

Kickoff happens to fall on Halloween at 3:30PM and about 100,000 people are expected to come through the Landing in the days before and the day of the game! The Landing is slashing the number of alcohol sources in half and is eliminating roving shot girls and giant-sized beers.

Both tailgating and the game are always fun and hopefully this year it’ll be a little more competitive. We all need to make sure we don’t put ourselves in dangerous situations and take precautions so that nobody gets hurt either at the Landing or on the roads afterwards. Enjoy the game and have a happy Halloween!

If any unfortunate incidents do occur, contact a thoughtful personal injury lawyer for assistance!

Anspach’s invention had a rough start. When he first marketed the game, the owners of Monopoly sued for trademark infringement. Anspach defended by arguing that the trademark was void because the idea for the game and the name monopoly was in public domain. Contrary to the official Monopoly history, a version of the game was invented more than a quarter century before the current owner registered the trademark. Public domain refers to intellectual property so widely used it belongs to the public and cannot be restricted by a single party. After an almost 10-year legal war, the judiciary agreed with Anspach. This prevented any further infringement claims against Anti-Monopoly and allowed him to market his game. The Monopoly mark did not become void because the United States Congress amended the Trademark Act to create an exception.

In an ironic twist, Hasbro, which owns the Monopoly trademark, now also holds the trademark registration for Anti-Monopoly. The Anti-Monopoly distributor simply uses the mark pursuant to a license as indicated on the game’s website.

Cuppy’s isn’t the only franchisor to be hit with lawsuits in Florida; I recently posted a blog discussing The UPS Store franchisees suing UPS alleging it withheld information from franchise purchasers regarding profitability. Another franchisor sued by its franchisee is Cold Stone Creamery, which was sued by a Tallahassee, Florida, franchisee on claims of fraud related to the store’s profitability.

I find the continuous stream of investors in franchises and other business opportunities who buy into risky and questionable businesses both startling and saddening at the same time. The most important thing a potential franchisee can do is research the company; that means researching other sources of information about the franchisor and not just relying on information provided by the franchisor itself. Potential franchisees can look to sources such as, franchise magazines, franchise blogs, franchisee associations, and talk to current franchise owners to find out things like what kind of support, feedback, and dispute resolution the franchisor provides. In addition before signing any Franchise Agreement a potential purchaser should seek counsel from an attorney experienced in franchise law.

In this blog I would like to show you how the few franchisors I already listed, along with Tim Hortons and Caribou Coffee, a couple of the other major players in the specialty coffee market (neither of which have locations in Jacksonville), use their niches in the coffee and food chain restaurant business to compete. Here is a brief explanation of what helps each of them succeed in garnering a portion of the market share.

McDonald’s, the largest franchisor, uses its buying power to provide the product at a slightly cheaper price and sells it along with its wide array of breakfast and burger meals.

Starbucks is probably the originator of the specialty coffee boom, so it can rely on the fact that it was the first in the market and that it is primarily a high-end coffee business.

Dunkin Donuts combines its primary product, donuts, with coffee to reach its particular market, and prior to Tim Horton’s entering the marketplace, Dunkin Donuts, was the only one of these businesses offering its customers a wide array of donuts. Dunkin Donuts has recently added breakfast sandwiches in order to compete with McDonald’s and Tim Hortons.

Tim Hortons, like Dunkin Donuts, sells a wide variety of donuts, but it also sells breakfast sandwiches and other foods, including soups and lunch sandwiches.

Caribou Coffee, the only other primarily high-end coffee focused chain besides Starbucks, competes by selecting smaller unexploited markets to locate its stores, avoiding direct competition with Starbucks.

Whatever your business is, you can still find a way to compete in a crowded market by finding your niche. Drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Ninety percent of Burger King’s restaurants are franchisee owned, and by contract they are required to update their restaurant. Just like Burger King’s franchise agreements, most franchise agreements require franchisees to make upgrades at certain intervals. Thus, it is a contract term that becomes vitally important to franchisees and potential franchisees when they are entering into a franchise agreement. All kinds of issues must be considered on the franchisees part; for example, what are the costs of upgrades, are the upgrades optional or required, who will provide financing if the upgrade will be costly, and what if the franchisee cannot obtain financing? An attorney experienced in franchise law can help you sort through all of these concerns and ensure you, as a franchisee, know exactly what your obligations will be.

We all get ideas at times that we think are sure to generate big profits, unfortunately in the business world we know those great ideas can sometimes end up only generating big losses. That appears to be the case with two investors, Richard von Houtman and Mark Rodberg, who entered into a contract to start D Wade’s Place, a sports themed restaurant bearing the name of its superstar endorser. Both investors are now involved in a lawsuit filed against Wade. In return, Wade has filed a counterclaim against von Houtman and Rodberg and a libel lawsuit against von Houtman seeking $100 million in damages. Currently, the case is in mediation to see if it can be settled.

Oftentimes, persons entering business partnerships plan for splitting profits and job responsibilities but, fail to plan for what happens if the business results in losses. If your thinking about entering a business partnership, make sure you develop a plan that takes into account potential adverse results to the business and partnership. If you have questions regarding the potential risks you should take into consideration, send me an e-mail.

A mark has to indicate the source of a good in order to qualify for registration as a trademark. The court said that an exclamation point alone isn’t enough to show a link between a manufacturer and its product. In other words, consumers would not necessarily associate an exclamation point with Joop!

While decisions outside of the United States are not binding on us here, they may be helpful in interpreting our trademark statutes. I think that the analysis done by the EU court is analogous to what an American court would do. Intellectual property is a global field so it’s important to stay on top of both domestic and international rulings!

Want to know if your mark is registrable? A thorough trademark attorney can let you know what the law allows!

Driver's Mate uses a camera to monitor 534 points on the driver’s face and rates his or her condition on a scale of completely alert to technically asleep. If the system detects that the driver is not paying a safe level of attention, it will sound off an alarm and will also contact a dispatcher.

As a Traffic Court Magistrate, I appreciate any new technology that makes our roads safer! The problem of drivers falling asleep behind the wheel is huge but it sometimes gets lost behind drunk driving and driving while texting. Unfortunately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 56,000 crashes every year are caused by sleepy drivers. We all need to take active steps to cut down on accidents that are so avoidable!

The government is also investing heavily in these firms through loans, grants, and subsidies. Hopefully, this will become a trend as opposed to a flash in the pan undertaking. Clean technology now takes up around 27% of venture investment.

I, for one, welcome anything that could help loosen big oil’s stranglehold on the energy market! It clearly makes sense to find new sources of energy as the world’s supply of fossil fuels is being depleted at an alarming rate. Especially here in Florida, we also need to look at the impact we’re having on the environment, more specifically our waterways and the Everglades!

How do you feel about green technology? Please post your comments or contact me to discuss!

While it is important for a franchise to expand its fan base in the hopes of increasing revenues, it shouldn’t lead to dilution of the team's identity and the undermining of home field advantage. Jags management should be focused on bringing in the right personnel now rather than marketing.

Good coaches and a good GM will bring in good players who will make the team better which will naturally lead to better attendance! The key to any solid business is turning out a first-rate product. I really don’t think that the Orlando move can be seen as a positive development. It smacks of desperation by the ownership!

Does this plan worry you as a Jags fan? Please post your comments or contact me to discuss!

Mr. Karl collects water from underground hot springs lying beneath his resort and pipes it into his device. The hot water then boils refrigerant contained inside casing surrounding the pipes. Next, the boiling refrigerant causes a connected turbine to spin, thereby generating electricity.

According to a 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology report, tapping into 2% of the energy contained inside the Earth as heat could yield 2,000 times more energy than is used globally! I’m all for new, unorthodox technology that can give us energy with minimal damage to the environment. How can one not be a fan of green innovation?

The rules limited patent applicants in two ways. One set of regulations impeded the process of getting extra continuation applications. Continuation applications allow an inventor to disclose additional claims while maintaining the priority date of the original patent. Applicants were allowed two continuations as a matter of right. The USPTO granted additional requests for continued examination however only upon a showing of good cause.

Another regulation limited patent applications in substance. The so-called “Claims Rule” permitted only five independent claims per application. The rule further limited the total amount of claims per application to twenty-five. Anyone exceeding the guidelines was required to submit extra information to help patent examiners process the applications. These rules were put in place to expedite the patent process, however critics said they merely weakened it.

If you are considering patenting your invention, contact a competent patent attorney to arrange a consultation.

Have you noticed your protected work being reproduced on the internet without your permission? When the owner of copyrighted material, or as in this case the owner’s representative, seeks to stop online infringement, a first step is to issue a take down notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). To be valid, the notice must contain several elements. For example, a claimant shall identify both the copyrighted work that has been infringed and the infringing material. Also, the claimant must include a statement that the owner has not permitted such use. The remaining requirements for a DMCA take down notice are listed in the United States Code, 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)(3).

On the other hand, if you notice that materials on your website have been blocked or deleted by the service provider, it may be due to a DMCA claim. In that event, you may pursue a counter-notice. A counter-notice ensures that copyright owners and their representatives do not cause the removal of non-infringing materials.

If you find yourself in any of these situations, it may be wise to contact an experienced intellectual property attorney before proceeding.