You’re angry. Your employer fired you, or your neighbor plays loud music every day, or you slipped walking into the grocery store. Should you sue? Maybe not. Before filing a lawsuit, there are a number of things you should think carefully about, including these risks. 1. No matter how good your case appears to be, you might lose. 2. Even [...]
Monday Night Ventures LLC, a small Atlanta-based brewery that does business under the name Monday Night Brewing, applied to register the mark TACO TUESDAY for its Mexican-style lager, which is sold on tap as well as in cans. The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) refused registration of the mark on the grounds that “Taco Tuesday” is a widely used [...]
We frequently get questions from our clients about requests for payment of registration, publication, or renewal fees for corporate, domain name and intellectual property filings. Requests may also be received for monitoring fees or the preparation of minutes. The scam requests typically look like invoices or letters, often containing false due dates or threats about loss of rights if you [...]
It is believed that either Benjamin Franklin or Mark Twain said “Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” Not having appropriate estate planning documents to address both of these certainties is a mistake. The fact is that we don't know when we're going to die. Nor do we know when we might become incapacitated due to an accident or [...]
In fiscal year 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) collected $164.6 million in back wages for employees that it determined were not paid in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). That law, as well as the laws of most—if not all—states, classifies employees as either "exempt" or "nonexempt" from minimum wage and overtime provisions. Nonexempt employees are [...]
Nearly every business has some form of intellectual property (IP). While it is an intangible asset, in many cases intellectual property is more valuable than tangible assets such as equipment and inventory. Copyrights Copyright protects original creative works, such as artwork, literary works, musical and dramatic works, software, sound recordings and motion pictures. Although a protectible work is automatically copyrighted [...]
Did you know that your failure to retain all relevant materials after litigation is “reasonably anticipated” could result in you being fined or sanctioned by the court? You may even lose the case as a result of failure to preserve evidence. In one cautionary example, a federal court imposed a $10,000 fine on defendants who failed to preserve relevant text [...]
Have you conducted an intellectual property (IP) audit in the last year? If not, now is the time to get started. IP includes copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, patents, trade secrets and the like. In fact, it's called intellectual property since it involves products of the mind. An IP audit involves a systematic review of all IP you own, control, or [...]
Last month, the Guns N’ Roses rock band sued Jersey Village Florist, LLC over its website, TexasGunsandRoses.com, which sells—you guessed it—guns and roses, as well as gun accessories, knives, binoculars, body armor, and other equipment and supplies related to hunting and shooting. Jersey Village Florist registered the TEXAS GUNS AND ROSES.COM logo, consisting of a white star on a blue [...]
Once again, New Year’s Day brought us more than resolutions, football games and hangovers: on January 1st, works first published in 1927 that were previously protected by copyright entered the public domain. Once a work becomes part of the public domain, anyone can reproduce it or create derivative works based on it, and then sell those reproductions or derivative works. [...]
