There are a lot of good reasons why my firearms industry clients and other clients want to do a patent search. Sometimes, they’ll hire me to the do the job, but I’d like to offer a reliable resource for doing it yourself. Some patent searches are too formal for do-it-yourself internet work, even by me. In extreme cases, finding the “smoking gun” patent that wins a [...]
TWO FAMILIAR WAYS TO PROTECT PRODUCT DESIGNS, PLUS A THIRD WAY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF AND CAN UNDOUBTEDLY AFFORD. Everyone wants a patent. It’s perfectly logical to want to protect a new product. Technical innovations help set you apart in a crowded marketplace and a patent prevents anyone else from offering your innovation for 20 years. But let’s be honest, [...]
How My Crazy Trademark Strategy Revealed Tesla’s Woke Lawyers. I believe in covering your bases, and leaving yourself a backup. When filing a trademark application for my own business I’ve been known to file two in advance, and let the trademark examiners make my final choice. That’s how I ended up with “Hybrid” as the brand that conveys my patent-pending [...]
This one goes back more than a few years, but it’s being resurrected because the issues are timeless, and it’s a little amusing looking back when I was just a bit feistier, at least in print. Email me if you have a good guess as to what year it first appeared. It was so tempting, but I didn’t dare poke the giant beast, even though I could have gotten away with it, [...]
(And Why Republicans Need to Erase their EV Blind Spot) Fun in the "Frunk" Sometimes, new technology is so disruptive that it becomes a magnet for attention, even to those with no actual need or interest in the technology. Lately, I notice widespread curmudgeonry from some of my smart and perceptive friends and clients in the firearms community on social media. A [...]
The Surprises and Secrets of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) Photo credit: Oleg Volk Photo credit: Oleg Volk In the patent world, one of the most important, yet surprisingly overrated, issues is secrecy. Yet while it’s a needless fear for many, it can make sense to protect yourself when you have to trust someone else with your secrets. An NDA [...]
