Your U.S. patent is powerful at the border! Even if knockoffs are manufactured and sold freely overseas without you being able to do much about it, your patent gives you the power to stop them from entering the lucrative U.S. market.
The Power Move: You can record your granted U.S. patent (and trademark) with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Not all border patrol agents are sweeping through cities and suburbs nabbing people off the street and violently dragging them out of their cars. Some are doing the important job of protecting U.S. commerce from imported goods that violate U.S. patent, trademark, and copyright rights. CBP trains its officers to seize and detain the goods that violate your registered IP rights at the port of entry.
The Impact: This simple filing turns your legal document into an enforcement tool for customs agents, blocking the flow of counterfeit goods and protecting your market share without expensive lawsuits. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to catch every counterfeit product trying to come into the U.S., but it’s better than not even trying.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent
Before you even start manufacturing, you find out your invention would be infringing on another patent. Your freedom-to-operate search revealed a competitor holds a patent on a core component. Now what? Don't Panic. Redesign!
The Choice: You face two options, and only one protects your long-term profit:
1. The Licensing Trap: Buy the patent rights, which can be expensive. Alternatively, pay a royalty to the patent holder for every unit you sell. This creates an ongoing cost and allows a competitor to profit from your success. There’s also no guarantee the patent owner will grant you a license or sell the patent rights to you.
2. A Legal Workaround: Work with your engineers and patent attorney to "design around" the blocking patent. By changing the component's structure, material, or function, you can often achieve the same result without infringing the patent’s claims.
The Lesson: The upfront cost of a redesign may be cheaper than the perpetual cost of a royalty. Designing your way out of starting an infringement battle is a worthwhile subject to look into.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #patentinfringement
Here’s the true cost of manufacturing your invention overseas. The minute you send your blueprints to a manufacturer, you introduce a massive risk of intellectual property theft.
The Horror: When an idea is copied overseas, it's virtually impossible for a small business to stop it. Your U.S. patent is powerful here, but useless in their jurisdiction. International patents can help, but they’re really only as good as your ability to pay for lawyers overseas to defend them against infringement. Large corporations can handle that cost far better than small businesses.
Your Defense: The Contract Chains
You must bind your manufacturer with an iron-clad contract that includes:
1. IP assignment clauses explicitly stating all resulting intellectual property belongs to you.
2. Strong non-disclosure clauses (or separate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)) for everyone involved to protect confidentiality.
3. Audit and termination rights clauses allowing you to inspect their facility and clearly defining penalties for unauthorized production.
Like with international patents, though, the cost of hiring lawyers here or overseas to help you if the manufacturer doesn’t abide by the contract can be significant.
The best protection against the likely problems with overseas manufacturing is to have your invention manufactured in the U.S. Yes, that may be more expensive in terms of manufacturing costs, but what you may save in enforcement costs may be worth it.
Whether you have your product manufactured in the U.S. or overseas, don't start production without legal chains securing your intellectual property, and be prepared to hire lawyers here and overseas to help you enforce these contracts!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #internationalpatents
Let’s look at the two scariest patent searches! An inventor should run two different types of patent searches, and mixing them up is a huge mistake that can cost millions.
1. Patentability Search: Answers the question, "Is my invention new enough to get a patent?" To be granted a patent, an invention must be both novel and non-obviousness. This is the search that investigates those issues. It also looks at whether the subject matter is patentable, but that’s often something a patent attorney can advise you about before you have this search done.
2. Freedom-to-Operate (FTO) Search: Answers the question, "Can I legally sell this product without being sued?" This search looks at active patents whose rights are still enforceable to see if your invention contains components or processes that any of those patents protect, and to see whether your invention is committing infringement by including those parts or processes. This kind of search is much more expensive than a patentability search, and that’s because the level of detail and time necessary to do the search and analysis of results are much more extensive. It’s still less expensive than infringement litigation, however.
The Lesson: Getting a patent is risky if you haven't done a freedom-to-operate search. Don't rely on the USPTO to check for infringement; that's ultimately your responsibility. Always get a freedom-to-operate search before you invest in manufacturing to ensure your path to market is clear!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #freedomtoperate #patentsearch #patentability
Welcome, innovators, to a critical lesson that separates successful patent entrepreneurs from those whose patents collect dust. I’m Julie King, and today I’m revealing the terrifying truth that owning a patent does not automatically give you the right to sell your invention.
You see, a patent is a legal shield, a right to exclude, not a sword you can wield freely in the marketplace.
In this episode:
Owning a patent is an achievement, but it's only the first step. Before you invest in manufacturing, invest in a Freedom-to-Operate analysis. Protect your invention from your competitors and protect your business from accidental infringement. Make sure the patent application is likely worth the investment of time and money by doing careful market research.
Want to make sure your invention is market-ready? Consult with a patent attorney to assess the legal landscape before you invest in manufacturing and sales. They can also advise you about how to protect your invention’s secrecy when you work with market research experts, so your work with them doesn’t cause legal headaches.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you’re a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand and business, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent
Be careful not to let your trade secrets die with you, or you may accidentally kill your business. If you have a proprietary formula, customer list, or algorithm that gives you your competitive edge, it’s not registered with the government. Its protection relies entirely on secrecy and contracts.
The Horror can be that since there is no government registration, if the owner dies unexpectedly, and the secret formula only exists in their head, written down somewhere no one can find it, or on a single encrypted hard drive no one can access, the entire value of the business can disappear. If there’s no way for the estate’s executor or trustee to retrieve and protect the secret, the core value of the company can vanish overnight.
The Solution is to have a trade secret succession plan.
1. For Individuals: Create a secure, sealed protocol that names a trusted successor/trustee who can access the secret only upon documented events, such as death or incapacity.
2. For Businesses: Explicitly name the trade secret as an asset in the operating agreement, bylaws, or shareholder agreement (but don’t reveal what it is in those documents); make sure the proper trustworthy business partners or successors know where and how to access the trade secret; and mandate strict confidentiality protocols for all partners and employees.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #tradesecret #businesstips #estateplanning #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Fatal mistakes are often made when people unfamiliar with patent and trademark law leave that kind of intellectual property to people in their will or when they inherit it.
At the Mountains of Madness: A Vague Will.
“’All patents,” “all trademarks,” or “all intellectual property” owned by me may sound like a great clause to have in a will. It’s better than nothing, yes, and fine as a catch-all in case you don’t update your documents in time with more detailed information, but it really can leave a maddening mess for the executor or trustee of your estate. The way to keep them from cursing your name is to specify by registration number exactly which patents and trademarks are involved. That’s because the USPTO, the agency that registers patents and trademarks in the US, as well as international agencies that handle international patents and trademarks, require documentation to officially transfer the ownership rights to the registrations. That’s MUCH easier to handle if specific registration numbers are in the will or trust.
Creature from the USPTO: Official Assignments
Speaking of those documents transferring ownership that need to be registered with the USPTO and perhaps international agencies, those are documents most people aren’t aware need to be filed. Even some estate administration lawyers who don’t have much experience with intellectual property can be unaware of this requirement.
Official assignments of ownership must be filed with the USPTO and any international agencies that apply in order for ownership of the patent or trademark registrations to fully transfer to the new owner. Without that official transfer, it can be hard to enforce the rights that come with the registration.
This doesn’t just matter when your estate is being administered. It matters while you’re alive as well. If you put your patent or trademark registration in a trust, you need to record an assignment of ownership. If you sell or transfer your ownership to your business, you need to record an assignment of ownership then, too. As I mentioned before, the more specific the assignment is regarding identifying the intellectual property, preferably with registration numbers and other identifying information, the easier the assignment will be to prove and enforce.
Specificity and proper recording of transfer documents are the silver bullets to stop the monster of probate horror when it comes to registered intellectual property.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #trademark #businesstips #estateplanning #horror #halloween #spookyseason
The patent clock keeps ticking after you die! A utility patent is a time-sensitive asset. If you own the patent rights to your invention, you must make sure it’s managed properly after your death. Even if your heirs successfully inherit the patent, if they don't know how to manage it, the rights may die a premature death.
The Horror is that heirs unfamiliar with the invention and the patent protecting it often forget to pay the mandatory maintenance fees to the USPTO, or they fail to defend the patent against an infringer. The patent lapses, and years of potential revenue are lost forever.
The Solution isn’t to haunt your heirs into doing the right thing. It’s taking care while you’re among the living to have your will or trust designate a manager for the patent rights. This should be someone with the technical and legal ability to manage the patent, not just someone to receive the royalty checks.
To keep living beyond your death, a successful patent needs a competent manager, not just an heir.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #businesstips #estateplanning #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Not having provisions about control of your business’ intellectual property in your business operating documents is a grave mistake in intellectual property protection.
When one of the owners of a business dies, their ownership share is handled by their estate planning documents and the business’ operating documents, such as an LLC’s operating agreement or a corporation’s bylaws and shareholder agreement.
Why does it matter what the operating documents say about the ownership interest that gets inherited? If the documents aren’t clear that only financial interests and not voting or management interests are inherited, or insist that the heirs to the interest sell the interest back to the business, serious trouble with business management, including management of the business’ intellectual property, can occur.
If voting or management rights transfer to the heirs, they can be, essentially, zombie co-owners, whose lack of participation or refusal to cooperate with the other owners can completely hamstring the business when it comes to handling its intellectual property.
The Horror is that the remaining owners can't make key decisions, like licensing a patent or selling the brand, because the new, often inexperienced co-owner has to agree.
The Solution is to have one of two provisions in place:
1. A mandatory Buy-Sell Clause that compels the company to purchase the deceased member's ownership share (often funded by life insurance).
2. A Silent Partner Clause that says that upon the death of an owner/member/shareholder, only economic interests transfer, not voting rights or management rights, making the heir able to receive the financial benefit of ownership but not allowing them to interfere with the operation of the business.
These provisions ensure the management of the business’ intellectual property continues smoothly after you’ve gone.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #trademark #tradesecret #businesstips #estateplanning #horror #halloween #spookyseason
35 years is a special time for copyrights created after 1978. A right emerges from lurking in the shadows. Importantly, that right can transfer to whoever inherits your original copyright rights.
This copyright jump scare is the termination provision in the 1976 Copyright Act that allows creators who transferred their copyright rights to someone else to reclaim those rights, even if they were assigned permanently. This is how Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller successfully reclaimed his rights to the original script! I talked more about that in an episode a couple of years ago.
Thirty-five years after the transfer, and for a period of five years after that, the creator, or their heirs, can reclaim their copyright rights.
There are some strict rules to follow. Notice to the grantee and the Copyright Office of the intent to revert the rights must be in writing and must be made no more than 10 years before the 35-year period starts, and no more than two years before the five-year reversion rights period ends.
This reversion opportunity doesn’t apply to works for hire or transfers of rights made through a will.
Even if you bought a creator's work "forever," they, or their legal heirs, can get a mandatory second bite at the apple.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #copyright #businesstips #estateplanning #horror #halloween #spookyseason
What’s the intellectual property horror lurking in the closet that gets overlooked the most? Welcome to the final, and perhaps most terrifying, week of Spooky Season. We’ve talked about how patents, trademarks, and trade dress are all massive business assets. But too often, people spend a good deal of time and money protecting those assets, but then they leave their future value to chance.
I'm talking about the Grave Truth of Succession. Your intellectual property does not die with you. The question is: Will it transfer smoothly to the right person or entity, or will it be tied up in probate hell? When an IP owner dies, some of their most valuable intangible assets, their patents, their trademarks, can become legally trapped, or worse, split between co-owners who can't agree, sucking the value right out of the business. You need a plan, or your legacy may become a legal horror story.
In this episode:
Your IP is your legacy. Plan for its succession, or it could be buried forever.
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #trademark #tradesecrets #estateplanning #businesstips #brand #branding #horror #halloween #spookyseason
The most powerful strategy for protecting the design of a physical product is the dual protection of a design patent and trade dress.
1. Start with the patent: File the design patent application early for a 15-year period of exclusivity.
2. Build the trade dress: Once your product has been around long enough for the public to recognize the design as an indicator of your brand, you have the acquired distinctiveness from secondary meaning needed for trade dress protection.
The Result: When the patent expires, your now-famous look is protected by your perpetually renewable trade dress trademark registration. It's a seamlessly handed-off protection that ensures your unique product can be protected as long as it’s around.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #designpatent #trademark #tradedress #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Both design patents and trade dress have one unfortunate thing in common: functionality of the design can be a killer.
You cannot protect a design feature if it is essential to the product's use or purpose.
The Test: If a unique shape makes the product work better, cheaper, or easier, it's functional and cannot be protected by Trade Dress and will be much harder to protect with a Design Patent.
For example, if the scent of Play-Doh were a byproduct of how it’s made or its essential ingredients, it couldn’t be protected as a trade dress trademark.
If a uniquely thick and textured spoon handle makes it easier for witches with arthritis to grip and stir what’s in their cauldrons, that is functional and belongs in a utility patent. It’s the essential part of the function of the ergonomic handle, so both design patent and trade dress protection for the appearance of the handle are prohibited. However, if the texture just needs to exist and can be in any format, the texture being in a pattern of, say, repeating bats, that pattern on the handle could be protected by a design patent or as trade dress.
The Lesson: If your design is purely aesthetic, a style choice, it's protectable. If it's utilitarian, a necessity, or unavoidable, like a particular color or scent caused by manufacture, it is not. If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #trademark #tradedress #patent #designpatent #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Trade Dress is a type of trademark that protects the overall look and feel of a product or its packaging. It’s the brand's persistent visual identity.
What it Protects: Elements like a product's distinctive shape, size, color combination, texture, or even the layout of a retail store (think the distinctive look of a McDonald's). The iconic, curvy shape of the Coca-Cola bottle is the textbook example of protected trade dress for product packaging.
The Power: If it successfully identifies the source of your goods to consumers, protection can last indefinitely, as long as you continue to use and defend the mark.
The Catch: It must be non-functional (it can't be required for the product to work better), and for product design itself, it must have Acquired Distinctiveness (Secondary Meaning). This means you have to prove to the USPTO that customers associate that unique shape only with your brand. This takes years of marketing and sales.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #trademark #tradedress #brand #branding #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Here’s a Petrifying Patent Fact: For protecting a product, most people only think of utility patents, which protect how something works. But there's also a powerful tool for protecting how it looks: the design patent.
A Design Patent protects the ornamental appearance of an article of manufacture. Think of it as a blueprint for the eye.
• What it Protects: The specific shape, configuration, or surface ornamentation of a product. It's purely aesthetic, not functional.
• The Power: It gives you a 15-year monopoly to prevent others from making, using, or selling a product that is "substantially similar" to your patented design.
• The Advantage: You can get this protection early. Since design patents don't require proof of marketing success, you can file the application before your product even hits the market, giving you a strong, 15-year head start.
• The Catch: It expires. After 15 years, the ornamental design enters the public domain.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #designpatent #horror #halloween #spookyseason
How do you protect how your product looks? Today we’re tackling the Two-Headed Monster of Design IP: design patents and trade dress trademarks.
This is where serious protection and some serious money is for innovators in product manufacturing and design.
I’m Julie King of King Patent Law, and welcome to week 4 of this year’s Spooky Season posts!
This week’s topic covers an often-neglected but important way of using intellectual property law to protect your business, which is protecting how your products look.
Utility patents protect how a product works; design IP protects how a product looks. You may need two different types of protection to fully keep your product safe from copycats: design patents and trade dress trademarks.
In this episode:
Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook" on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#kingpatentlaw #julieking #intellectualproperty #patent #designpatent #trademark #tradedress #brand #branding #horror #halloween #spookyseason
Trademark genericide is a real-life horror story! What happens when your brand is too good? It dies of success!
Genericide is the legal process where a trademark (like the original name for aspirin) becomes the common name for an entire type of product. The public no longer thinks of the brand; they think of the item itself.
The Tragic Tale of the Escalator: The word Escalator was once a trademark owned by the Otis Elevator Company. Because consumers started using "escalator" to describe any moving staircase, Otis eventually lost the trademark in 1950. Now, any company can use the word.
The Fix: You must always link your brand name to the generic product name.
• BAD: "Let's take the Escalator."
• GOOD: "Let's take the Otis® brand escalator."
Use your trademark as an adjective, not a noun. Never let your customers use your brand name as a verb! (e.g., Don't "photoshop" that image; use Adobe® Photoshop® software to edit that image.)
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween
Trademark Terror for T-Shirt Tycoons!
If you’re a designer, a band, or anyone else making and selling apparel, one of the biggest, scariest mistakes you can make is confusing Decoration with Brand Identification.
The Ornamental Trap
To be granted trademark registration, the mark must function as a source identifier. That means consumers must look at the name, logo, or slogan and think: "This is the company that made or sold this."
Here's the terrifying truth about apparel:
1. Ornamental Use is Decoration, Not a Brand: If you print a catchy phrase (like "STAY CREEPY") or a large design prominently across the front of a shirt, the USPTO will usually consider that ornamental use (decoration). People buy it because they like the saying, not because they think the saying is the name of the clothing manufacturer.
2. No Exclusive Rights for Decoration: Unless your mark is already famous (like Nike's JUST DO IT), you cannot stop others from using the exact same phrase ornamentally on their shirts. You were just the first to decorate.
How to Prove You’re a Brand, Not Just a Decorator
To get your mark federally registered on the Principal Register, you must show proper trademark use. Consumers are conditioned to look for the brand in specific, subtle places.
The Ghost (Ornamental Use)
The Source (Trademark Use)
If you're building a clothing line, make sure your brand name or logo is visible in the source-identifying location on the garment itself (the tag, the collar, the hem). That's your best proof that your mark is an actual trademark, not just a spooky apparition!
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween
Unlike patents, trademarks can live forever. Patents (like the one for the Ouija board's mechanism) die after about 20 years. Trademarks (like the one for the Oujia brand name) can last forever, provided you keep using them and file the necessary maintenance documents with the USPTO.
A trademark is the only major IP registration that can be renewed indefinitely. This perpetual life is why names like Ouija or Universal Monsters are still highly valuable business assets a century later.
The only magic you have to work to keep the rights alive is to submit your maintenance documents and fees when they’re due, which is at 5 years, 10 years, and every 10 years after that. As the renewal talisman, you have to show examples of the mark in use with the goods or services it’s registered for.
The catch? You must actively use and police your mark. If you stop using it, or if you stop enforcing it against infringers, your mark can become an abandoned "ghost brand."
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween
Trademarks aren’t limited to the words connected with a brand. Visual elements like logos, packaging, and unique shapes, like a Coca-Cola bottle, can be trademarks, too.
The Universal Monsters movies are protected by a slew of trademark and copyright registrations. Most of the images of the monsters are protected by copyright.
However, Universal also registered the appearance of the Wolfman character as a trademark (Reg. No. 1681501), for “entertainment services in the nature of individuals in costume who entertain at amusement parks.” They did the same for their version of Dracula (Reg. No 3529543), Frankenstein’s monster (Reg. No. 1705502), the Bride of Frankenstein (Reg. No. 1710492), and the Mummy (Reg. No. 3529544). Sadly, they let the registration for the Creature from the Black Lagoon for the same thing expire in 2016 (Reg. No. 1707310). For these registrations, since it’s for people in costume, the drawings are more of a “general gist” of the marks, and the examples of use just have to look pretty similar.
They also have applied just this summer to register the Wolfman (Serial Nos. 99299793, 99299795, and 99299792) and Dracula (Serial Nos. 99299788, 99299785, and 99299781) characters as trademarks for a host of foods and clothing.
I want to pause to note that one of the foods is “meat tenderizers for household purposes.”
The description of the Dracula image is “The mark consists of a male figure wearing a formal suit with a prominent, high-collared cape draped over his shoulders. He is standing with his arms slightly outstretched.”
For the Wolf Man, it’s “The mark consists of a male figure standing, facing forward with his arms slightly outstretched. His head and neck are covered in a dense, shaggy mane of dark fur. His hands, also covered in fur, end in claws. He is dressed in a long-sleeved shirt with two pockets on the chest, and loose-fitting pants.”
What does this mean for you? If you have a highly recognizable image associated with your brand, it doesn’t have to be a logo to be registered as a trademark. However, to get the maximum protection for it, you must register it as a design mark to protect its unique look from copycats. Your aesthetic is your asset!
You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.
I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.
If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!
You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.
The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.
#trademark #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #trademarktalesofterror #horror #spookyseason #halloween