On December 13, 2011, Rick Michaud and John Mutchler conducted a webinar in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration division entitled “Patent Your Products”.  To view a replay of the webinar, please check out the following link: “Patent Your Products” Webinar If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rick Michaud (michaud@mkgip.com) [...]

 By his signature on September 19, 2011, President Obama enacted the most sweeping changes to U.S. patent Law in over fifty years.  The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“the Act”) changes many aspects of U.S. Patent law that will impact inventors, patent owners and patent attorneys.  A brief summary of some of the most important [...]

Last fall, the USPTO announced a goal of reducing the amount of patent applications awaiting a first office action.  The goal was to reduce the backlog to less than 700,000 applications.  Last week, USPTO Commissioner for Patents, Bob Stoll, the USPTO has hit a “major milestone” by dropping the backlog of patent applications awaiting first office action [...]

Coach Inc., the famous maker of high end handbags and accessories has recently filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against Handbags Unlimited, Inc., for trademark infringement and related causes of action.  Coach Inc. has over 50 U.S. trademark and copyright registrations.  In the Complaint, Coach alleges that Handbags Unlimited is engaged in designing, manufacturing, advertising [...]

With gasoline well north of $4 per gallon and summer right around the corner, now would be a good time to start mass producing the jet cars.  When I was a kid, we were promised jet cars.  Popular Science magazine (back when the cover price was $1) said there would be jet cars.  With one [...]

As we reported on February 9th of this year, Godzilla creator Toho Co. Ltd.,  sued American Honda Motor Co. (“Honda”) for trademark infringement after Honda allegedly used an image of Godzilla in a minivan commercial without permission. Toho claimed the sales of Honda’s minivan, the Odyssey, increased over 40% since the commercial aired and appears [...]

As you may recall a number of years ago Mattel sued MGA Entertainment claiming MGA stole its trade secrets when it entered into an agreement with Carter Bryant, the designer of the Bratz doll.  If you are not familiar with the Bratz, they are dolls who are portrayed as teenagers and are distinguished by large [...]

The Director of the USPTO announced last week that the budget for fiscal year 2011 will result in the postponement of several newly announced USPTO initiatives.  The first initiative to be postponsed, effective immediately, is the opening of the satellite office in Detroit.  The second initiative to be postponed is Track One of the Three-Track program.  Track [...]

Samuel L. Clemens is best known as Mark Twain, the famous American author of books such as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  However, did you know that Clemens was also an inventor? Clemens was a listed inventor on three U.S. patents.  The first patent he received was foran adjustable strap that could be [...]

Thanks to a local holiday in the District of Columbia, tax day falls on April 18th this year.  If you still need some help with your taxes, there are many products on the market that can assist.  And of course, where there are products, there are patents and trademarks.  So, in honor of tax day, [...]