Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC

Given the risks and costs of intellectual property (IP) infringement claims (even when your company isn’t found liable), most companies ideally want coverage of perceived infringement of the products they sell or the services…more

The last few days have been abuzz with the revelation of Twitter’s soon to be implemented “Innovator’s Patent Agreement” (IPA). Supposedly, the IPA places Twitter in a primarily defensive posture with respect to patent…more

I have previously written about how courts will ask, when presented with a claim of trade secret misappropriation, whether the trade secret owner took reasonable steps to maintain the confidentiality of its information (see here…more

So you’ve got an idea and, although you briefly thought about buying the “Do-it-Yourself” patent kit you saw offered on TV after the late show with David Letterman, you’ve decided to call a patent attorney/agent for help with…more

Any patent agent or patent attorney who has been working for any length of time has undoubtedly had a call from a small company, startup, or individual inquiring about obtaining a patent. And most, if not all, of us have had to…more

In my first post on Trade Secrets, I wrote that a trade secret is information that has commercial value, is not generally known, and is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it secret.  So, you ask: what are…more

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently attempted to promulgate new rules that are designed to protect downwind states from smog and fine particulates emanating from upwind coal burning power plants (it has been…more

On August 16th last year, United States Patent No. 8,000,000 was issued by the USPTO.  And with over 400,000 new applications filed every year from 2006 through 2010, it is likely that patent number 9,000,000 will come…more

In an opinion by the New Jersey District Court in December, the Court found that a requested preliminary injunction against infringement of US Patent No. 6,293,731 could shut down a port dredging project and jeopardize the…more

You’ve probably heard by now that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has opened the first application round for new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs). What this means is that your organization…more

We all recognize that there are benefits to products that are disposable or biodegradable. However, broadly speaking, everything is disposable or biodegradable, which makes it difficult, in many instances, to patent an invention…more

If the Coca-Cola Company had used patent legislation to protect its secret formula, would it have become the most popular soda in the world? Possibly not. Coca-Cola would have had to make the formula known to the world when it…more