Can a company own a concept?

Unfortunately, concepts like this can be difficult, if not impossible to protect. To obtain a patent, your idea must be new and non-obvious, but...

Procedure for protecting intellectual property of original board game design

Your game may be protected by copyrights, trademarks and/or patents. Ideally, you should use all three types of protection, if...

Employer and employee filed a joint patent, employer is threatening legal action. What are my rights?

Mr. Ballard's response is spot on and I concur. Additionally, I would like to clarify how ownership or "title" to a patent works. Any person...

I would suggest going to www.uspto.gov for guidance on filling out trademark applications. The trademark office website has good resources to help...

Protecting your ideas when using outsourced foreign programmers

Indeed, it is difficult, and expensive, to enforce an NDA in a foreign jurisdiction. However, keep in mind that your foreign programmers may not...

Someone posted a picture of my girlfriend on an adult dating website, can we order them to take this down

Additionally, I would contact the website administrator and have them remove the profile. Typically, websites like these are quite responsive when...

What is a provisional patent application and how can I file for one in New York state

I concur with Mr. Rylander’s comments. Filing a “cheap” provisional can provide a false sense of security because the actual protection gained...

Can I appeal a patent application that was denied

It is not entirely correct that you cannot patent an “idea.” Generally, processes and physical products are patentable. Accordingly, as long as...

Establishing Prior Art against a 3rd Party Patent Application

I am assuming that you have discovered a patent application that has been filed by “a predominant Silicon Valley company” that you believe includes...

Federal and WA state patent law

A patent search can cost anywhere from $1000 to $4000, or more, depending on how thorough of a search you want to perform. However, you should be...