Intellectual Property

JUDGE ERROR MAKES PREDICTION OF CASE OUTCOME DIFFICULT Judge error makes predicting outcome of case difficult if not impossible. The usual reasons given are the uncertainty of the evidence available, the believability of the witnesses, the obscurity of the law applicable, the quality of representation, the unknown biases of the fact finder and so on. […]

Copyright claims jurisdiction in Colorado state courts – Long v. Cordain In a recent decision the Colorado Court of Appeals decided that a complaint containing copyright related claims was not preempted by the federal Copyright Act and that Colorado State Courts had jurisdiction over such claims. “Long’s complaint advanced four state-law causes of action: breach […]

Colorado Trade Secrets Owners May Use Non-Compete Agreements to Protect Trade Secrets in conjunction with the Colorado Uniform Trade Secrets Act to prevent employees from misappropriating trade secrets. Colorado has enacted two statutes which can be read together to enable an employer to protect its trade secrets. Colorado has a very strong policy favoring the […]

Exploring Trademarks for the General Reader A trademark is a name, sign or symbol used in association with goods or services to indicate to a potential purchaser the source of the goods or service We all are familiar with trademarks even if we are not conscious of them and how they work. The most common […]

Introduction to Patent Law In the United States a patent is the only effective method for an inventor to prevent others from practicing the invention.  Litigation is often necessary to prevent infringement of the patent.  Patent litigation is an expensive and frequently painful process to endure.In the United States a patent is the only effective […]

The maintenance of trade secret rights requires internal business procedures and the use of non-disclosure agreements with those who have access to the trade secrets.

Trademark rights exist at common law.  Federal and state registration of trademarks enhance the value of the marks and increase the chances of success if it become necessary to resort to the courts to protect the trademark owner’s right. Proper trademark use and searching to prevent others from using the owner’s mark or marks too […]

Copyright registration has become far more important to the copyright owner than formerly.  Copyrights protect the actual expression of content not the intellectual content of the expression.   Einstein’s exact writings could have been protected by a copyright but not the theory described.