Your invention became "patent pending" as soon as you filed the provisional application. If the application fully characterized your invention,...

I'm surprised my colleagues here didn't jump on your use of "provisional patent". There is no such thing as a provisional patent. There is such a...

I can see arguments both ways. On the one hand, some attorneys may be better with searching than they are with drafting. So, one could hire a...

All of the practical advice my colleagues have offered here is good to follow. I add that the question of whether your invention is patentable...

An expired patent is unenforceable. If it expired for failure to pay maintenance fees, you might possibly revive it by payment of additional fees...

A provisional patent application is a very informal document, in the senst that there are no requirements on the detailed format. You will need to...

Copyright protects creative works that are original and fixed in a tangible medium. If you draw your own cake toppers and then cut them out, these...

I question whether the patent in question is a design patent. A design patent protects the ornamental aspects of an article of manufacture. The...

A patent is infringed if an unlicensed product practices each and every element of at least one claim in the patent. Note that EVERY claim in this...

Any intellectual property concerns with posting images sourced from a large for-profit professional networking website?

The safest practice is to start with the assumption that everything online is protected by copyright unless you have specific information...