By: L auren Tagarao Associate Attorney The terms trademark and trade name may sound similar, but business owners should know that they serve different purposes and have different legal implications. What’s the difference? A trade name (commonly referred to as “doing business as” or “DBA”) is a name...Read more
Blog
Like most of your colleagues, you have a background in engineering. How did you find your way to Intellectual Property? I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Throughout that time, I worked in research and found it to be very narrow and limiting. I couldn’t...Read more
By: Sarah Boone Associate Attorney Companies are typically aware of the potential patent pitfalls associated with the launch of a new product or product design. However, many companies fail to consider the potential related copyright pitfalls, particularly when the product is not designed in-house...Read more
Your journey into the world of IP is slightly different than others. What made you make the jump into this career? I was active in the Marine Corps for 6 years, working as a KC-130 Navigator, where we primarily performed aerial refueling and airdrops/cargo delivery. I knew I had an affinity for...Read more
By: Kathryn Imeli Associate Attorney You’re a solo inventor who just came up with a brilliant invention and you have scoured the internet to see if you are really the first person to come up with the idea. You become convinced that your idea is novel. Or you’re a technology executive in a large...Read more
By: Scott Chmielecki Associate Attorney Working with a Patent Examiner can sometimes feel like an exercise in frustration. Rejections that don’t seem to make sense, restriction requirements, and other seeming roadblocks can try the patience of any practitioner after a while. But guess what? Patent...Read more
You’re a self-proclaimed music fanatic - how did you end up in IP law? I grew up obsessed with music. I worked at music venues throughout my teenage years and entered Columbia College in Chicago, eager to pursue a degree in arts management. I happened to have an entertainment law class requirement...Read more
You went to Cuyahoga Community College to study Psychology - how did you wind up in the Intellectual Property industry? I consider myself a creative thinker who always needs to be learning something new in order to stay engaged. I had tried customer service jobs in the past, but nothing seemed to...Read more
By: Bonnie Smith, Partner The US Fair Use doctrine of law enables the use of copyrighted material without first acquiring permission from the copyright holder. There are many instances in which the words or materials of others are borrowed, such as in advertising, educating, news reporting, etc...Read more
Like a lot of your colleagues, you have an academic background in engineering. However, unlike many of your colleagues, you truly enjoyed being an engineer and spent quite a few years as an inventor. What made you choose the legal side of inventorship? I always enjoyed science, and my “heroes”...Read more
