By Audrey A. Millemann
A business’s intellectual property may be its most valuable asset. Whether it is biotechnology, trade names, business methods, or computer software, intellectual property should be protected to the greatest extent possible in order to maximize the value of the business. This article summarizes the types of intellectual property protection that are available.
By April Hiroshima Gatling
This month, a United States District Court ruled that retailer Land’s End will get a trial in a case where defendant website owners are accused of profiting from the company’s online affiliate program through a scheme that gave “typosquatting” a new twist.
“Typosquatting” is a form of cybersquatting that relies on typographical mistakes made by Internet users when inputting a website address into a web browser. Most typosquatters are either in the practice of tricking or diverting Internet users to alternative websites or attempting to sell the domain name back to the trademark owner. In this case, however, defendants directed Internet users to the Land’s End’s website, but only after channeling them through “affiliate” sites owned by defendants, who in turn received commissions associated with subsequent purchases.Continue Reading Lands’ End May Put an End to Unusual Typosquatting
By Andrea Anapolsky
What do Fendi, compact discs, car parts and Viagra have in common? They are among thousands of products targeted by intellectual property pirates who have successfully infiltrated the global market with thousands of counterfeited trademarked items. And buying Fendi handbags at Wal-Mart is just the tip of the iceberg. What lurks beneath the surface is a lucrative underground economy, which as of January 2006, resulted in an annual loss of $1.54 billion dollars worldwide, reported the Gieschen Consultancy.
Continue Reading Modern Day Piracy Brings Fendi to Wal-Mart
By Scott Hervey
Canada has made a fundamental change in its Trade-mark Examination practice. It had been a longstanding practice in the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (the governmental body responsible for reregistering trade-marks) of determining the priority of applications based on the earliest of the following: the date of first use or making known in Canada, the date of filing in Canada, or the date of filing of the Paris Convention priority application. The legitimacy of assessing priority in this regard was challenged and overturned by the Federal Court of Appeals in May of this year in Attorney General of Canada v. Effigi (2005 FCA 172).
Continue Reading Canada Adopts The First To File System For Trade-marks
Are you tired of all of the letters inviting you to refinance your home mortgage?#160 Have you ever been shocked and a little angry when you receive such a letter and see the name of your lending institution, your account number and the amount owed on your mortgage?#160 You are not the only …
