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Online Intellectual Property Rights and Law

How do you protect or profit from your intellectual property in a world where people disregard the law of copyright? How do you protect your trademark or brand in a global economy? Does copyright law and trademark law need to be rewritten in light of the realities of the worldwide Web? Here you will find articles that discuss intellectual property law in the context of online publication and distribution.

Voice Your Objections to Systems and Methods Patents by September 27th

You either have read about “systems and methods” patents or run into or afoul of them: patents granted for “systems and methods” of carrying out obvious steps in simple processes. Something like a patent granted for filling in a Web form that places a person on a mailing list to receive coupons. < – THAT [...]

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How To Compete Online – Trademark Generic Industry Phrases

From the U.S. Patent and Trademark website, discovered by searching reputation management in the U.S. trademark database. Word Mark INTERNET REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: On-line advertising and marketing services. FIRST USE: 20090105. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20090105 Standard Characters Claimed Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD [...]

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Patent Pending: Placing a Link to a Gift in an E-Card

I just performed a search on the U.S. Patent Office website using only the word “social”. Why did I do that? I did it because scanning a number of recently “beta released” social networking websites I was reminded of a concern I expressed several years ago, that the USPTO was granting patents to the evolution [...]

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