Services
Patents
A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO.) Generally, the term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. U.S. patent grants are effective only within the United States, U.S. territories, and U.S. possessions.
The grant of a patent confers, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without aid of the USPTO.
Trademarks
A trademark is a word, name, symbol, or device that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.
A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product. The terms “trademark” and “mark” are commonly used to refer to both trademarks and servicemarks.
Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark. Trademarks that are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the USPTO.
What about litigation?
We protect intellectual property (IP) by obtaining patents and trademarks. If you are in need of litigation service, we recommend hiring a registered patent attorney who specializes in that area. You can search for registered attorneys through the USPTO website here.