Year: 2016

written by Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., Patent Agent at Gearhart Law www.GearhartLaw.com We all want more transparency from our government, don’t we? Well, the USPTO heard our pleas, and they’ve launched a ‘Patents Dashboard’. It shows a variety of stats for recent months, and some for previous years too. You can see how long it takes...

written by Susanne Somersalo, Ph.D., Esq., Patent Attorney at Gearhart Law www.GearhartLaw.com The European Patent system has been complicated and expensive: once a European patent is allowed by the European Patent Office (EPO), it needs to be ratified in each individual country. The ratification process includes national fees and in many cases it still requires...

written by Roy Rosser, Ph.D. Patent Agent www.GearhartLaw.com

Is it Atomic Chicken Wire? Is it the Usain Bolt of Crystals? Yes, it’s the new Super Material Graphene

Since 2010, when the discoverers of graphene were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, this latest miracle material has had Angel Investors leaping tall buildings – and the Patent Office...

Written by Susanne Somersalo, Ph.D., Esq., Patent Attorney at Gearhart Law www.GearhartLaw.com As was discussed in last week’s blog, a US design patent is an alternative way to get some protection for an invention in the United States. A design patent is valid for 14 years and protects the ornamental design of the invention. Many other...

Why would anyone want a design patent? Design Patents Part One: US patent system written by Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., Patent Agent at Gearhart Law www.GearhartLaw.com Why would anyone want a design patent? 2 reasons: time money Caveat:   the protection from a design patent is very narrow compared to a utility patent. Compare a typical design patent application to a...

Written by Roy Rosser, Ph.D. Patent Agent visit our website at www.GearhartLaw.com Do you need international patent protection, and when do you have to decide? This post describes the method used to file in foreign countries with a timeline for filings. In a nutshell, you have one year from filing a US provisional or...

The Cronut, or rather CronutTM trademark controversy Written by Susanne Somersalo, Ph.D., Esq., patent attorney at Gearhart Law A small bakery in New York is selling fried croissant dough in the form of a doughnut and calls the pastry a Cronut™. Cronuts™ have become so popular that people are lining up outside the bakery in the...

Written by Susanne Somersalo, Ph.D., Esq., patent attorney at Gearhart Law Genetically modified foods are slow to gain acceptance in some quarters – some argue that no one knows exactly how the natural foods have been changed and what they’ll do to our bodies and health if we ingest them. Others argue that the modifications...

Do you know where the United States ranks on the Global Innovation Index for 2013? The answer is below. The Global Innovation Index (GII) is published by Cornell University, INSEAD (“Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires” or European Institute of Business Administration), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The GII looked at 142 economies world...

Fireworks are patentable and have been around for awhile. The figures above are from US Patent No. 001,217,544 granted to William H. Willson of Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 1917. As of July 2, 2013, we’re up to US Patent No. 8,474,092, meaning the USPTO has granted over 8 million patents since patent number 1...