“The Great American Hall of Wonders” will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from July 15 through Jan. 8, 2012.  Through a collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the exhibit will reveal both the successful experiments of the past, as well as the ones that went awry, and will [...]

On April 11, 2011 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, co-founders of Facebook®, could not back out of a settlement deal they reached with Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) and Facebook, Inc.  The parties had entered into a settlement which was based on a previously filed lawsuit by [...]

According to yesterday’s press release, in case of a federal government shut down, the USPTO will be able to operate as normal for six (6) business days “because the USPTO has enough available reserves, not linked to the current fiscal year, to remain in operation until then.”  For more information, please see the press release [...]

On Monday of this week the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) started accepting requests for prioritized examination of patent applications.  As mentioned in our blog of February 11, 2011 this accelerated examination will allow patents to be processed within 12 months.  Currently it takes nearly three years to process a patent.  Requests for [...]

Under Kentucky law there is apparently something to be said for the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This past February in a child custody case, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that photographs posted or tagged on Facebook can be admitted as evidence in a proceeding.  The Appellant in this case argued [...]

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) has approved a request by ICM Registry (“ICM”) for the use of .xxx (also known as “dot triple-X”) as a top level domain name (“TLD”).   The approval of .xxx will provide all the same rights as other TLDs but will be made available only to the [...]

In trademark news Jimmy Buffett has applied for protection of the mark “TIGER BLOOD” for energy drinks and vodka.  As you may recall the phrase TIGER BLOOD was coined by Charlie Sheen during one of his many interviews.  See the Buffett trademark application at http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007:mm4v2n.2.2 and http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4007%3Amm4v2n.2.3. On February 7, 2011 Nicole Polizzi, probably better [...]

Per a press release last Friday, the USPTO announced  ”special accomodations” for patent and trademark applicants and owners that are located in Japan.  The accomodations relate to extending deadlines for responses to trademark and patent office actions, notices of allowance and other notices from the USPTO.  The accomodations also waive surcharges with respect to late payment [...]

At the end of this week the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) basketball tournament will start.  This is the beginning of what has been coined “March Madness.”  March Madness was originally used to describe the Illinois High School Association’s (“IHSA”) annual high school boys basketball tournament.  The name has been around since the 1930’s and [...]

Sam Adams® beer is a popular domestic beer that has been brewed in Boston, Massachusetts since 1985 by the Boston Beer Company.  Over the past twenty-five years the Boston Beer Company has expanded in size (the company now brews beer in Cincinnati and Pennsylvania as well as Boston) and selection (the company now has seven [...]