Insights
Investors and IP: Making Your Company Attractive
Investments enable companies to expand, hire new talent, build new production lines, establish fresh distribution channels, conduct more research and development and pursue other opportunities too numerous to list. There is no surprise that investors look at these opportunities as a means to gain a return on their outlay. Companies spend hours networking and polishing a pitch to achieve a nod from an individual or firm that their idea is worth the risk.
Building a Ground-Up Innovation Strategy
Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos. Popular culture likes to cultivate the myth of the maverick entrepreneur, often attributing the innovation in a company to a lone genius. The reality is that innovative companies cannot and should not rely on singular flashes of genius, but instead should build a culture of innovation from the ground up.
The Rise and Fall of Theranos: Clarifying Important IP Concepts
Martensen IP’s Barbara Courtney is an intellectual property (IP) attorney and former engineer with more than 20 years of experience in Silicon Valley. She works with public and private companies to develop IP portfolios, from the stage of identifying and protecting innovation to assertion of IP assets and defense of IP assertions from others.
Why You Should Care About the Trademark Modernization Act
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began implementing the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA) on December 18, 2021. Why should you care? Well, if you’re a business, you should care about your brand, generally, and your mark is a visible reminder to the world of that brand: It is what separates your business from the rest of the pack. TMA makes taking care of that brand a lot easier – but it also presents potential new threats to current registrations.
Strange Bedfellows: IP Rights and Accounting in SBIR/STTR Grants
It seems natural to expect that in exchange for an SBIR grant the government should gain something in return. Indeed, the government does gain rights in the innovations fostered through such a grant, but an SBIR effort is unlike a similar transaction in the commercial sector.
Don’t Let a Vaguely Defined Employment Relationship or a Weak IP Assignment Clause Lead You Into Litigation
A fact pattern we see all too often is a former employee claiming an ownership interest in or over software or intellectual property (IP) developed by or for a former employer. Typically, this occurs with the former employee attempting to exploit a real or perceived ambiguity in his or her employment relationship with the employer—i.e., ambiguity regarding the former employee’s status as either an employee or an independent contractor.
A Practical Approach to IP Protection for Government Contractors
A recurring concern voiced by small or emerging companies working in the government marketplace is, “How do I effectively protect my IP when I’m forced to work with large prime contractors?” A threat is perceived that a prime contractor will take or steal the IP from a subcontractor (small company) to eliminate competition or capture leverage with the government and that the government turns a blind eye to such actions.
Trade Secrets: Practical Considerations
In the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a worker wheels perhaps the greatest archaeological find in human history into an enormous government warehouse, where it is stashed among thousands of other crates, perhaps never to be seen again. Unlike the Ark, trade secrets that businesses are seeking to protect can’t just be hidden away in a vault.
Post-Grant Review of Patents in the United States: The Recent Supreme Court Decision v. Arthrex
On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the administrative patent judges (APJs) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) were not constitutionally appointed, and that the patent owner, Arthrex, Inc., is entitled to a remand for a rehearing by the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 593 U.S. _ (June 21, 2021).
IP Law and Your Protection Strategy: Ongoing Evolution Is Essential
You have to know the rules to win the game, especially when the rules change… often. In 2013, the movie Captain Philips told the true story of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. In April 2009, the Maersk Alabama cargo ship was attacked and captured by four Somali pirates less than 300 nautical miles off the Coast of Somalia. The Maersk Alabama recognized the threat yet had little ability to repel the assault.