Importance of Safeguarding Trade Secrets
Generally, every company has confidential information, including, for example, customer and supplier lists and their contact information; pricing information and criteria; proprietary methods and/or ingredients in products or services provided; and proprietary research and development that may lead to patentable inventions. Employment Agreements specifying what is trade secret and confidential, as well as having procedures […]
Link to videos taken from our conference room window of the Mississippi River (including time lapse videos)
We have cameras in our 43rd floor conference room windows recording the Mississippi River. The following playlist has over 25 time lapse videos and videos of fireworks: Time Lapse Videos. We plan to continue to add time lapse videos in the future. We hope that you enjoy them. Seth Nehrbass, Patent Attorney, New Orleans, 16 […]
Non-compete clauses in agreements may not violate federal law
We first posted about the FTC’s position on noncompete agreements on 6 June 2023: Non-compete clauses in agreements likely violate federal law. Then, the FTC has adopted a new rule effectively banning noncompete agreements in the US. See https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/noncompete-rule (reported in our 9 May 2024 post). Now, a federal judge has declared the rule to […]
GSN Patent Attorneys to make CLE Presentations in December 2024
Fabian M. Nehrbass, Patent Attorney, and Seth M. Nehrbass, Patent Attorney,will each conduct a one-hour continuing legal education presentation at the 2024 New Orleans Bar Association’s Procrastinators’ Programs℠ Pan Am Building, 11th Floor Conference Center,601 Poydras Street, New Orleans. Here is the link to sign up for Fabian’s 17 December 2024 NOBA CLE Presentation: https://www.neworleansbar.org/?pg=events&evAction=showDetail&eid=292471 2:30 p.m. […]
Can You Submit Color Drawings in a Utility Patent Application?
It depends. Normally, in a utility patent application, drawings (required if necessary to understand the subject matter sought to be patented (35 USC 113)) are limited to black and white. However, color drawings can be submitted if color drawings are “the only practical medium by which to disclose the subject matter sought to be patented […]
The Perils of Joint Inventors Without An Ownership Agreement
“I’d like to reward my friend/colleague/investor by listing them as an inventor on the patent application.”While a seemingly insignificant gesture, such an action could have grave consequences.Not only can improper inventorship lead to your patent being invalidated, but in the absence of any ownership agreement, your friend/colleague/investor will have the ability to exploit the invention […]
Trademark Application Abandoned? – You Might Be Able To Revive Your Application
The USPTO allows one to revive an abandoned trademark application for failure to respond to an office action, under two circumstances:You did not receive the Office action; orYour failure to respond timely was unintentionalThe deadline to file the Petition is 2 months from the issue date of the notice of abandonment of the trademark application […]
False Addresses in a Specimen of Use = Fraud
In a recent decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, Look Cycle International v. Kunshan Qiyue Outdoor Sports Goods Co., Ltd. (Cancellation No. 92079409), August 9, 2024, the trademark registration BLOOKE (Registration No. 6683483) was cancelled by the TTAB due in part to fraud committed on the USPTO.”Fraud in procuring or maintaining a trademark […]
GSN Patent Attorneys to make CLE Presentations in July 2024
Julia M. FitzPatrick, Patent Attorney, andFabian M. Nehrbass, Patent Attorney,will conduct a 50-minute continuing legal education presentation regarding Copyright/Trademark/Patent Law with a focus on bars and distilleries,at the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s first-ever Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Course taking place on Saturday, July 20, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at The Ritz-Carlton, New […]
Non-compete clauses in agreements violate federal law
We first posted about the FTC’s position on noncompete agreements on 6 June 2023: Non-compete clauses in agreements likely violate federal law. Now the FTC has adopted a new rule effectively banning noncompete agreements in the US. See https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/noncompete-rule (slightly edited text of webpage announcement reproduced below): Noncompete Rule [Webpage announcement on FTC website above] […]