Blog

Funny Lawyer Letter About Disney Trademarks

(And, the Hilarious Lawyer Letter I Never Got to Send) One of the things I love best about my work is filing creative trademarks for inventors and firearms business owners.  One of the things I love least is dealing with some of the “other” lawyers out there. The "Star of Death:? The saga begins when one of my oldest and favorite clients, MGM Targets had me file a trademark application to secure the trademark DEATH STAR for their star-shaped Whirly-Gig® targets.  I have to say that Mike Gibson is one of my favorite industry figures, and maybe that’s  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | September 7, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

New Gun Inventions

(But Can’t Reveal…Until Now) The best thing about my job is being on the inside and able to see all the new inventions in our industry.  Sometimes I see some amazing things that I think might just cause revolutionary changes. The worst thing about my job is that I have to keep my mouth shut.  Those who know me know I love to chew the fat, and I write this newsletter as one way to get things off my chest.  So this month’s issue is a first:  I reveal the deepest secrets of some of my clients.  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | July 14, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Mossberg Trigger Patent Dispute – How to Invalidate a Mossberg

Photo credit: The Truth About Guns The Anatomy of a Patent Lawsuit What every patent applicant can learn from the Mossberg Dispute As most of us were enjoying the elegance and convenience of the Kentucky Exposition Center at the NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Mossberg filed a lawsuit against 12 trigger makers on the first day of the show.  No “We’ve got a problem” letters.  No phone calls.  Just “Bam!  You’ve been sued.”  It’s a hair-trigger legal strategy that raises the question of whether Mossberg figured they’d probably be sued in 12  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | June 8, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Guns.Com Article about Gun Patent Attorney Ben Langlotz

The PR Triumph I Never Expected I was pleased, flattered, and humbled to be featured last month in a profile interview by one of the Internet’s most prominent gun news blogs, Guns.com. The author gave me a chance to share what I think is really important for gun inventors to know, and threw in a few extra nice words about me after the check from my mother cleared. Seriously, I must thank all those who have had faith in me the early years beginning 15 years ago, when I was an experienced patent attorney who hoped to make my hobby and passion for guns into part of my  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | May 10, 2016 | Firearms | 0 Comments Read More »

Can a Cartridge Design Be Patented?

This is an article written by Kevin Crank for AllOutdoor.com. Crank is a wildcatter, meaning that he makes wildcat cartridges. Wildcat cartridges are customized versions of commercially available cartridges, usually designed to enhance some performance characteristic of the original cartridge. These alterations produce measurable differences in ballistic performance, and he reached out recently to find out whether or not the designs were patentable. Enter Kevin... ### My colleague Russ and I were debating the merits of new cartridge design when Russ asked a question  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | April 14, 2016 | Firearms, Intellectual Property Advice, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »

How to Write a Provisional Patent Application

I try to be observant and to follow the trends, especially in my small specialized world where law, technology, and guns intersect.  But I managed to underestimate the significance on what I think is the biggest thing to happen in United States Patent Law in my lifetime. I’ve written before about how important it is to file to secure patent rights as quickly as possible, under the new First-to-File legal regime that Congress enacted about three years ago.  I had no idea how significant this would turn out to be for inventors and innovative companies everywhere.  I  [...]

By Ben Langlotz | March 10, 2016 | Books & Resources, Business, Firearms, Firearms Industry Advice, How To, Patent | 0 Comments Read More »