Intellectual Property Law


This business web site is primarily about patents and patent law, not general intellectual property law. But you need to know more than just patents.

The strict focus of my practice is patents - and to be even more precise - patent prosecution. I don't do litigation. I don't do trademarks. And I don't get involved in licensing, etc.

But I do know enough about them from a long business career to be a little dangerous.

What I will do on this part of the site is give you a practical, but 10,000 foot view of some other aspects of intellectual property law. In many cases it is all you will need to know until you actually decide to take action in one of these area. Then you might consider getting professional help. Don't worry - I will warn you when you should do that.

A few definitions are in order up front. Patent prosecution is a term I use to cover the practice of law before a patent office. That is what I do. Patent prosecutors are people who have passed the patent bar exam of the country they operate in. They are either patent agents or patent attorneys.

Patent litigation is different - that is the practice of patent law in a court. I'm telling you this because I have encountered this as an area of confusion with clients. If you watch a lot of Law and Order you come to think of a prosecutor as something like a district attorney fighting away in court. But I am a prosecutor and I avoid courts - most of the time.

The folks who practice patent litigation are attorneys - they have passed the bar exam of their state and can practice in a number of areas of law. But they can only practice before a patent office if they have also passed the patent bar exam. Then they can call themselves patent attorneys.

We will attempt to give you a broad view from this part of the site of patent litigation, copyright and trademark, patent licensing, and such mundane things as how to conduct your business day to day to stay on the right side of intellectual property law considerations.

None of this is hard - but quite a bit of it is non-intuitive. So you need to occasionally reference the right way to do things. That's what I hope this portal will provide for you.

And if there is more information you need please let me know.The articles begin below.



Articles


Intellectual Property Protection
Strategy - what is the overall thought process you might use on protecting your intellectual property. Here is a starting point.

Intellectual Property Registration
How do you achieve intellectual property registration - and what does that mean? Simply that most things in intellectual property need to be documented or in some cases registered in some way with the government.

Copyright
Try this minimum primer on copyright law

Trademark
Or this minimum primer on trademark law

Trade Secrets
Or this minimum primer on trade secret law


Links


Intellectual Property Law
Return to the Top of IP Law

The Business of Patent Home Page
Return to Home Page

Patent Law
Let's look at some of the basics of patent law. 

Mike Ervin
Mike Ervin - Cost Effective Small Business Patent Protection.

Contact Me
If you have any questions on on this site - please feel free to contact me.