Understanding the Importance of Trademarks for Small Businesses

Unless you own a Registered Trademark, your idea, concept, and unique branding can freely be stolen by your competitors in the present fast-paced society, which is indeed something you would never want to happen. After you spend all the time, effort, and money on your unique and creative branding, it becomes convenient for other businesses to copy what initially belongs to you. Therefore, without any second thoughts, small businesses do need to have a registered trademark like any other type and size of business out there.

Small businesses and startups with tight profit margins quite often overlook the utmost importance of protecting their most valuable asset, i.e., trademarks. Small business owners must know and understand well the following aspects:

  1. What is a trademark?
  2. Why is trademark a valuable form of Intellectual Property (IP)?
  3. What is the difference between a registered and unregistered trademark?
  4. Why is there a need to go ahead with Trademark Registration?

What exactly is a Trademark?

A trademark refers to any word, phrase, symbol, logo, or their combination that enables the customers in the market to know about the source of a product or service. A trademark is a company, product, or brand name. For instance, Coca Cola is a widely known trademark for cola products.

Trademarks are different from a patent and copyright, which are the other exclusive forms of IP.  When it comes to copyright, it prevents the artistic and creative works, like music recordings, novels, etc. from being used, copied, stolen, or distributed without the permission of the owner.  A patent protects the novel, useful, and non-obvious inventions, like a hybrid engine, a new microprocessor, etc. from being used by the competitors.

There are undoubtedly many good reasons explaining why every small business needs to have a registered trademark; let’s have a look at them:

  1. Official Trademark Registration

Keeping aside the size and type of your business, you need to make sure that you have a registered trademark in place for your small business, which shall help you significantly in preventing and facing critical issues in the future. It is a matter of fact that yes – trademark litigation lawsuits are both complicated and expensive, which can further deplete resources, effort, and time. Hence, if you are not willing to go through the hassle and stress down the road, you need to start considering the scope of getting a registered trademark for your small business.

  1. Brand Identity Protection

If you wish to protect your brand identity, you must own a trademark for your small business as you can then use the same on any concept or packaging solely or exclusively that you create for your brand. Following are a few points explaining the benefits of having a registered trademark for brand identity protection:

  • A trademark helps a business in gaining instant brand recognition.
  • A trademark becomes the core foundation and image of a business.
  • A trademark offers a massive degree of protection against reputation-damaging copycats.
  • A trademark stops the arch-competitors from making unauthorized use of a brand’s identity.
  1. Trademark Designation

The registered trademark designation helps in notifying the other businesses out there about the Trademark Rights associated with a small business’ brand name, logo, or symbol. If you own a small business and have a registered trademark for the same, it implies that your competitors can’t steal your brand identity, which is a result of your sheer hard work and brand building. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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PayRange Sues KioSoft Alleging Patent Infringement

PayRange Inc., which is a network for day-to-day purchases, has quite recently filed a lawsuit against KioSoft Technologies LLC, a technology leader in the payments industry since 2002, alleging Patent Infringement. Consequently, PayRange is now looking forward to seeking damages estimated to be over $50 million, along with a permanent injunction barring further infringing sales.

Established and founded in 2013, PayRange proactively developed the original mobile payment system for use in non-networked unattended retail machines, including amusement, laundry, and vending. The company efficiently protects its innovative technology, creative works, and Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio with 18 patents and even more than 35 pending Patent Applications.

At present, PayRange is the market share leader having millions of users and hundreds of thousands of deployed machines. On the other hand, KioSoft Technologies sells mobile payment solutions unlawfully by infringing upon PayRange’s patented technology. PayRange’s patents cover a wide variety of innovations, including the foundational approach of authorizing payment to unconnected machines leveraging the user’s smartphone, firmware updating of offline machines, viewing machine status on smartphones, and retrofitting existing machines along with payment acceptance devices.

Paresh Patel – the founder and CEO of PayRange, has stated in the lawsuit that his company has invested tens of millions of dollars in both research and development for bringing to market the solutions that have revolutionized the industry. He further said that his company shall always vigorously protect its investment to prevent the competitors from selling infringing products.

PayRange’s counsel on this matter, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, filed the Patent Infringement Lawsuit against KioSoft by stating that the company disregarded PayRange’s Patent Rights blatantly by attempting to encroach upon PayRange’s customers with a solicit new business and copycat product. Now, PayRange is looking forward to seeking recovery of damages, which may even exceed $50 million as per the lost profits, royalties, or price erosion, along with a permanent injunction for preventing KioSoft from continuing future infringement by selling, maintaining, and supporting copycat products, for instance, mobile apps.

Founded by Paresh Patel, a veteran of the automated retail industry, PayRange provides operators and customers with convenient and secure mobile payment and loyalty solutions for amusement, laundry, and vending. With even more than 3 million users and a network of machines throughout 350 cities and towns in the US and Canada, PayRange is currently the North American leader in mobile payments for unattended retail. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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SaskTel Sent 30,000 Copyright Infringement Notices to Internet Customers

As it turns out that a lot of SaskTel customers are allegedly involved in internet piracy, the company, since January 2019, has sent out around 30,000 Copyright Infringement notifications to customers, who are accused of engaging in downloading or uploading copyrighted materials.

A spokesperson for SaskTel said that the number of notices the Crown tends to issue has remained steady in recent years. The spokesperson explained that receiving one of such notices doesn’t mean that the user is being sued by Hollywood studio. However, it can lead to a suit if the user continues with the activity causing infringement.

Although SaskTel doesn’t monitor the customers’ online activities, it is obligated under the Copyright Act of Canada to issue notices related to infringement on receiving communications from copyright owners.

Halifax-based lawyer David Fraser, who specializes in internet privacy and technology law, warned SaskTel customers by saying that they shouldn’t take the notices lightly. Mr. Fraser, during a recent telephonic interview, said that he would neither ignore it and nor laugh it off; rather, he would take it seriously. The lawyer continued and provided an example saying that if he were to receive a notice in his house or to discover that one of his kids was doing something like a violation, he would have a conversation with the kid as he wouldn’t want the thing to go further.

According to Mr. Fraser, copyright owners can track SaskTel users with the help of companies that possess the technology to detect the IP addresses that access copyrighted materials, like movies through peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Nonetheless, the copyright holders don’t get aware of the users’ names, and SaskTel wouldn’t provide that information to anyone unless a court orders it to do so.

Fraser then said that Hollywood studios have sued around thousands of individuals in Canada for piracy. While representing Canadian residents against whom the lawsuits for copyright infringement have been filed by the studios, Mr. Fraser revealed that these lawsuits often fall within the range of $5,000.

Companies usually provide individuals with several notices before deciding to sue them for copyright infringement. If you receive one or two notices, then there’re possibilities that you could be sued in case you continue doing the same thing as you were doing it before. Moreover, once you get sued, you will be sued again and again. You cannot ignore it, as if you do so, then the studio gets a default judgment against you, said Fraser.

A default judgment takes place when a defendant fails to respond to summons or unable to appear in court. SaskTel said it received one court application asking for information about copyright infringement, but the data wasn’t available because the Crown stores the information only for six months. Pirating copyrighted material is in infringement of the Crown agency’s Internet use policy.

According to this policy, customers should not upload, transmit, publish, or reproduce literary work, software, or other material, which is protected by any Intellectual Property (IP) right without obtaining the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

SaskTel, at last, said getting a copyright infringement notice doesn’t affect the customers’ internet access, but the continuation in piracy-related activities can result in the suspension of service. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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What Should You Know About A Trademark Search?

Intellectual Property (IP) alertness and the number of trademark applications are rising gradually. Therefore, it is significant for existing businesses as well as the new businesses who want to register their marks to be aware of the appropriate procedure to do so. It will help them in preventing the rejection of their Trademark Applications, and thus, save their hard-earned money and precious time from being wasted. One of the main reasons why most applications related to trademark registration get rejected is that the mark mentioned within them is either identical or confusingly similar to an already existing trademark in the market. So a trademark search, which lets you have an idea if a trademark similar to your mark is available in the market, is the best way to know whether your mark is eligible to get registered or not. It, in this way, can prevent your application’s refusal.

What is a Trademark search?

It refers to an action taken for determining whether or not a trademark is already being used in commerce. Although often appears narrow in scope, trademark searches can include results from almost all avenue for Trademark Protection for every mark, which is remotely similar to the mark that’s the subject of the search.

An appropriate Trademark Searching Technique or strategy will consider determining the nature of the mark, the nature of the products or services the mark covers, the timeline for bringing the mark to commerce, and the applicant’s allocation of all resources. A Trademark Search Report, in general, is based on:

  • Deep analysis of the elements included in the trademark
  • An intense search of prior trademarks that may impede registration
  • Opinions of an experienced Trademark Attorney on several aspects related to trademark application or registration
  • Suggestions for enhancement of registration probabilities when needed.

Most of the time, the relevant trademark registration office refuses to register any mark because of finding the applied mark either the same or similar to an already existing trademark. However, the office could refuse the registration based on many other factors, such as:

  • Merely descriptive or deceptively misdescriptive
  • Scandalous or immoral trademarks, like racial slurs
  • Trademarks that wrongly suggest a relationship with persons or entities
  • Geographically descriptive or deceptively geographically misdescriptive
  • Prohibited signs like flags, Olympic symbols, etc.

Since rules for registration for trademark vary from country to country, you may obtain different search reports for different countries. For instance, if your mark complies with all the factors essential for Trademark Registration in Maldives, it doesn’t mean that the same satisfies the requirements to get registered in India as well. In the same way, the trademark search report obtained in one nation could be different from that obtained in another nation. Besides, the trademark attorney’s recommendations, along with registration possibilities, can also vary according to the country. Some common reasons responsible for these variations in trademark search reports and trademark registrations in different countries are:

Differences in Interpretation: Trademark Offices interpret what can be and cannot be registered in a different manner. For example, countries like Switzerland will never accept any design that eventually resembles a red cross, no matter how small, big, or deconstructed it appears. However, other nations are more relaxed about what constitutes a red cross and often accept similar designs.

Differences in National Trademark Law: A mark with an image of a crown is not at all an issue in most countries. Nevertheless, in some countries like the United Kingdom, representation of the Royal Crown or similar would be refused.

Wrapping Up

With lakhs of trademarks and thousands of companies in the world, conducting a precise trademark search is essential. The trademark search process, in general, includes all the classes that are registered within that country. One can check the availability of his slogan, logo, brand, or name easily in just one trademark search. Dexterous Intellectual Property Law Firms are available with services that can make things easier for you. With years of experience, these firms can help you choose the right class, etc., by using the free but excellent Trademark Search Tool. The experts within these can also assist you through the entire Trademark Registration Process. In other words, these organizations can make you enjoy robust trademark protection for your mark without facing issues and wasting time or money. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Cypriot Cheese Producers Re-secure Trademark Protection for ‘Halloumi’

Cypriot farmers have recently won back the exclusive right to sell their cheese products as ‘Halloumi’ in the UK after re-securing the trademark it lost in 2018.

Participating on the part of these farmers, the Cypriot ministry first obtained Trademark Protection for ‘Halloumi’ from the UK Intellectual Property Office in 1990. However, in association with a legal challenge brought by the UK-based cheese producers, the trademark had been revoked in the year 2018. The verdict was a result of an administrative error as the Cypriot ministry failed to respond to the legal requests within the asked time frame. Nevertheless, now the ministry has secured the protection again.

According to a Patent and Trademark Attorney, this significant win for the Cypriot farmers means that they have regained an exclusive right to use the mark ‘Halloumi’ while selling their cheese product in the UK. Because of the growing market for this product in the UK, this is expected to prove profitable for them. However, the farmers are unlikely to limit themselves there. They have already filed a Trademark Application for achieving ‘protected food name’ status to the European Commission, and if successful, their application would bring permanent protection. But as it’s likely to take some time, trademark protection in the UK will be beneficial to them in the meantime.

The attorney said that the food and drink producers in the UK might not be aware that they are allowed to apply for ‘protected food name’ status to secure protection for products with unique characteristics that can be linked to a specific geographical location or specified product. The attorney continued that this Trademark Registration certification would affect those who are producing cheese products. It is so because they could not label the product as ‘Halloumi’ unless it meets the certification mark requirements. Hence, restaurants should take care of not to define something as ‘Halloumi’ wrongly.

The attorney further added that if there’s no food name protection in place, and the misuse isn’t spotted as soon as possible, the use of the name or product could become generic. As a consequence, it would lose its eligibility for protected status. For example – ‘Cheddar’ is a name that has now become generic, and thus, no longer capable of obtaining such protection.

The Protected Food Name scheme, which was established by the UK government in 1993, is helpful for producers who want to use a geographical place name as part of their product’s brand identity for preventing others from marketing their items under the same name.

Since a large number of products have achieved the ‘protected food name’ status, there is no reason why Halloumi producers should not look for the same. Still, the application by these producers has been affected by many delays. Nonetheless, now it has gained the approval, meaning that the producers have re-secured ‘Halloumi’ trademark protection in the UK. ✅ For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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5 Essential Things Photographers Must Know About Copyright

Have you taken a photograph? Then under Copyright Law of many countries, you own the copyright to that photo. This law is something that affects not just photographers but also those who want to use photos taken or created by someone else. With the ease of taking and sharing images, the concerns related to their unauthorized use have increased much. Hence, comprehending legal rights associated with the photographers and their photographs is more crucial than ever. Let’s have a look at five vital things everyone should know about copyright in photographs.

  1. Copyright is Automatic

If you take a photo, then you automatically become its owner according to the provisions provided in the copyright law of the US and several other nations. As it is automatic and immediate, you needn’t file or publish anything to establish or own your copyright. However, going for Copyright Registration of your photograph is recommended due to several reasons, but it’s not mandatory.

  1. Use of the Copyright Symbol Isn’t Mandatory

Using the copyright symbol on your images at the time you publish them is a good idea. It is a reminder to the viewers that the specific image is protected as your copyright. In other words, it’s a smart step to secure your work from being infringed by those who mistakenly believe that photos without a copyright symbol are available for free use. However, the copyright law of most countries is clear that using the copyright symbol isn’t required to protect your photos. The law states that one’s images belong to him/ her regardless of whether he/ she put the symbol when publishing them or not.

  1. Registering Your Photos With Relevant Copyright Office Offers Additional Protection

Registering your photo with Copyright Office bestows you with extra protection in the Copyright Infringement case. It limits your case to actual damages, i.e., the amount of money that the violation costs you as opposed to statutory damages, i.e., damages valued by the law based on the type of infringement. Since the actual damages are often very difficult to prove and can be very limited in some cases, the ability to obtain statutory damages is a remarkable reason to register your copyright whenever you come up with new and useful work.

  1. It’s Possible to Allow Others to Use Your Photo Without Giving Up the Copyright

You, as a copyright owner, possess the right to license your photo to another party. Copyright licensing refers to a way of permitting someone to use your photo without affecting its ownership. Copyright License Agreements can vary based on the control over the image you want to grant to others. You can grant the right to use your photo for specific purposes for a specific time or broad usage. Besides how you plan to license your photo, you can allow the party to use the same without giving up your ownership. Hence, if someone asks for permission to use your photo, ensure understanding what rights you are granting, along with whether those rights relate to licensed use or copyright.

  1. Use of Photos Doesn’t Always Mean Infringement of Owner’s Copyright

Although the law provides the owner with exclusive rights to reproduce, display, share and distribute his/ her work, there are a few legal provisions under which someone can use a copyrighted photo even without obtaining permission from the original owner. For instance, quoting a portion of any written work or sharing a photo for purposes like educational, reporting, legislative, etc., can be allowed under ‘fair use.’ Nevertheless, fair use is limited in scope, and therefore, most cases where someone uses your work without your consent result in copyright infringement. So, be careful.

As photographers, it’s essential for us to at least have a basic understanding of the Copyright Protection and rights we can enjoy under the law of the respective nation. For further information and questions/ answers related to copyright law, protection, registration, or more, you are recommended to find a good Intellectual Property Attorney. You can also look for a deft Intellectual Property Law Firm as such companies will provide you with the best possible information. These can assist you with almost every concern, from the Copyright Registration Process to the fee required to register your photo and even how to secure other Intellectual property (IP) assets. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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8 Significant Trademark Terms You Must Know

In the present era of rapid advancements and cut-throat competition, the importance of Intellectual Property (IP) is exponentially increasing. Besides significance, thefts and unauthorized uses of IPs are also multiplying, thus making the owners think about the protection of their valuable IP. Amongst the several ways in which one can safeguard his/ her IP assets, trademark registration appears to be the easiest one when it comes to the protection of the businesses’ unique brand names, logos, or slogans. Apart from preventing the use of one’s hard work without his/ her permission, the trademark serves him/ her business with remarkable goodwill and reputation. And this is what makes it the foremost choice of many entrepreneurs and companies worldwide.

Trademark is assuredly emerging as one of the excellent kind of IP and interests more and more businesses, you still need to comprehend some frequently used terms while planning obtaining protection for your mark. In this article, we will explain a few important trademark terms in simple and understandable language.

  1. Trademark

 It can be anything like a sign, symbol, name, sound, or word that distinguishes its proprietor’s products or services from that of others.

  1. Class

A trademark class represents a distinct group of goods and services. As per the NICE Classification, which is an international classification system followed by most registries, the class of goods and services to which the trademark pertains must be specified in the application. There are many trademark classes, and each class holds various goods or services, which are not always obvious from the class name. Under NICE Classification, goods and services are divided into 45 classes, out of which 1-34 define goods while 34-45 include services.

  1. Priority Claim

Priority claim refers to a right given by the majority of countries worldwide to the applicant of a trademark that has been filed for the very first time. Under this, the applicant applying for registration of a mark for the first time is granted the right to claim priority while filing applications to register the same mark in other countries within six months from the date of the first filing. If priority is claimed, the second application would be considered as having been filed on the same date of the first filing. As a consequence, the applicant will enjoy prior rights against applications filed by other parties from the date of filing in the first nation.

  1. Infringement

Trademark Infringement is an issue, which occurs when a mark that’s identical or confusingly similar to another company’s trademark is used without the owner’s permission.

  1. Trademark Journal

 It is where the mark is published if the application hasn’t been refused by the duty officer during the trademark registration process. In this way, the Trademark Law provides the public with a legal opportunity to file an opposition against the registration of the associated mark. Note that the opposition should be filed within a limited period before Trademark Protection is granted.

  1. License

It is an agreement amid a trademark owner (licensor) and another party (licensee), where the licensor allows the licensee to make specific and limited use of his/ her trademark. These licenses are often subject to royalty payments.  

  1. Symbols ® and ™

The symbols ® and ™ represent that the term on which these are put is someone’s trademark. ® means that the trademark is registered with the associated registry, and this symbol cannot be used before the Trademark Registration Process is completed. However, ™ can be used if the company is using its mark as a trademark even though it hasn’t yet applied for their mark.

  1. Distinctiveness and descriptiveness

As the prime purpose of a trademark is to identify its origin, it must be distinctive to the consumers to be accepted by the registry. In general, arbitrary trademarks like Blackberry and fanciful trademarks like Nike are considered as the most distinctive ones. Along with being distinctive, your trademark should be descriptive, i.e., it describes some characteristics like the quality, quantity, value, origin, or intended purpose of the goods or services. Descriptive trademarks cannot be secured as a trademark unless their extensive usage enables them to have acquired distinctiveness.

The above information will hopefully prove beneficial for you, no matter whether you want to register your trademark or provide your Registered Trademark as a license to any third party. In other words, the data will help you in protecting as well as monetizing your trademark. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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What Can Impact Intellectual Property Trends in 2020?

Till now, when it’s around 20 days from the start of the year 2020, you hopefully be aware of statistics from 2019, no matter whether in association to Intellectual Property (IP), brand protection, or anti-counterfeiting. Nevertheless, besides gaining information about the past year, it is vital to consider some of the key IP and brand protection trends for 2020, and the new decade beyond.

In 2020, we undoubtedly expect to hear more about the US-China trade talks, and the European (EU) Copyright Directive. However, this is not all. We can come across many other trends and stories that would be significant for brands and how they secure themselves from IP infringement in this year.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

2020 is expected to be the phase when many companies move from experimenting with new tools and technologies to their broader implementation. The scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) looks to increase and affect the interactions brands used to have with consumers and counterfeiters.

It appears as if the sophistication of conversational AI interactions will enhance, resulting in improved communication between businesses and consumers. It further may improve buying patterns. On the other hand, ML will become more advanced in regards to image recognition, data clustering, and web scraping. It means that data monitoring and IP enforcement will benefit comparatively more from automation, allowing machines to fight the scams in addition to human expertise.

Blockchain

Blockchain and its operative use in anti-counterfeiting can be the other key area of growth in 2020. As technology is becoming cheaper day by day, the world would see it into the hands of many more businesses. Widespread adoption and embedding of blockchain-based smart contracts system will make the technology to execute a license for the use of original creator’s IP, scale automatic payment, and ensure that he/ she gets the correct compensation for his/ her unique work. Apart from assisting the users in making profits by earning more money and saving financial resources on getting agents to manage IP, blockchain technology would work even to prohibit content piracy, one of the common challenges creators often encounter. Indeed, 2020 and other upcoming years are expected to provide blockchain technology with advancements that would help you monetize your IP in several new ways.

Social Media Expansion: WeChat, TikTok, Etc.

For a long time, online platforms have dominated the talks about the availability and impacts of counterfeit and copied goods. As these platforms have been one of the easiest ways for consumers to shop, they have created spaces where fake sellers of infringed products or services could anonymize their identities. Previously, online platforms like social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, etc., were a secondary option for counterfeiters and sellers of violated products. Nonetheless, with the introduction of additional social commerce-oriented extensions, they gained importance. Social media channels are remarkably difficult for Intellectual Property Law enforcement to target as communications on these channels are private. Moreover, there is no ID transparency rule, and accounts can be made using false information. All these facts make it important for the brands to enlist the support of an experienced IP Attorney. They can also partner with a specialized Intellectual Property Law Firm that can provide online monitoring and IP enforcement. This is what we expect to see more in 2020.

Another thing to watch in 2020 will be the increase in both the size and scope of spaces like WeChat, TikTok and more. As counterfeits and IP abuse, especially Copyright Infringement, is common on online sites and channels, brands need to be cautious about ‘how can they deal with such issues.’ Intellectual Property Law Firm in Maldives or any country appears to be the best helping hand to battle against the problems caused by counterfeiting and IP abuse in this advanced but malicious decade. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Protection of GUIs as Industrial Design Patents

GUI (Graphical User Interface) design is an emerging player in the technology industry, and more so in the world of patents. For companies that are in the business of selling goods and services through websites over the internet, GUI plays a vital role in attracting their consumers. Hence, the GUIs, which often exist in the form of simple icons, visual signals, and screen layouts, have become invaluable and beneficial Intellectual Property (IP) assets that represent a business’s brand identity and goodwill. Like other assets, these GUIs are also vulnerable to get infringed, i.e., copied and used by unauthorized users. Hence, the companies, which rely on GUIs to make profits by attracting and making consumers buy from them, need to protect their GUIs. In this article, we’ll explore how Industrial Design Patents can protect GUIs, thus making them vital components of any robust IP strategy.

Depending on several aspects, different countries have different rules and laws for the protection of GUIs. In general, GUIs may be secured under Copyright and Trademark Law, but Design Patent Protection offers distinct advantages over many other forms of IP protection.

  • Design patents can protect icons and screen designs that don’t function as trademarks.
  • For obtaining protection by the Registration of Industrial Design Patent, there is no requirement of creativity, as in the case of copyright.
  • Design patents possess validity. It means although the term of a design patent registration is limited to 15 years, it rarely outlives because of the driving nature of design, especially in the graphic user interface area.
  • Unlike copyright or several other Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) where fair use defense exists, design patent infringement isn’t available with this defense.
  • Design patent rights are easier to enforce than trademark and copyright, as no consumer survey or copying is required to prove infringement.
  • The measure of damages is a remarkable advantage. For instance, according to the rules for design patent damages – an infringer shall be liable to the patent owner to the extent of his total profit; whereas, Copyright Law limits the damages to the defendant’s profits attributable to the infringing component.
  • A design patent cannot just expand the intellectual property portfolio of the company but also increase its future asset value.

Significant Aspects Associated with GUI that Are Protectable as Design Patents

  • Firstly, novel icons related to GUI are protectable as design patents. These icons are the visual representations that display the subject matter related to the application. For example – an envelope representing e-mail, camera lens representing a camera, etc. In the case of third-party applications (apps), the app icon appears to be the most vital thing with which that particular company can convey its brand. Hence, protecting the app icon with the help of the design patent is of great importance.
  • Secondly, the GUIs that you can view when the app gets opened are also eligible to be protected as design patents. For instance, on clicking the icon, you can open the app and see the GUIs inside. At this stage, the novelty aspect is all about the GUI’s layout that includes the specific location of each element, which is also protectable. For instance, on opening a camera app, you can see the control and settings buttons displayed in a specific layout. All these are protectable as long as they are novel and nonobvious.
  • Finally, animation related to GUI is also protectable. For example, when you click on the settings of the camera app, the screen often slides to either right or left off the settings page. This type of movement in the app is protectable as a design patent. One common example of protection of such movement in GUI is the Apple ‘Cover Flow’ design patent, which safeguards flipping through albums in the music player interface and iTunes.

GUI is a booming technological area, and if we talk about GUI patents, then it is true that a major portion of the total design patent filings made worldwide is related to GUIs. Moreover, the number has been rapidly accelerating. The protection of GUI is an imperative type of Intellectual Property Protection that a developer should obtain to protect the company brand. Because of the continuous and rapid technological developments, it is expected that the future will see GUIs as essential assets for any business that wants to interact with its audience. That’s why almost all, including people, companies, national to International Industrial Design Registration service providers, etc., believe that the GUI protection must not be limited only to the software world, rather all industries should consider protecting GUIs strongly.

Design patents are what offer unique rights/ protection against GUI counterfeits and third parties, whose mimicking designs may cause the likelihoods of confusion. Furthermore, they can even help the owner to increase the value of his/ her IP portfolio, and thus, attract investors. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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Sonos Enters Patent Infringement Dispute Against Google Over Smart Speaker Tech

Smart speaker maker Sonos Inc. has recently filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that the search giant has copied its patented home speaker technology.

California-based Sonos is in the business of making high-end home sound systems that users can control with their voice. Although the firm is famous for its quality indoor speakers, it also makes the related accessories, like amplifiers.

Through the Patent Infringement suits filed in the Log Angeles Federal District Court and with the U.S. International Trade Commission, the company is looking for financial damages and a sales ban on Google’s speakers, smartphones, and laptops, in the US market.

Sonos claimed that the features in the Google Home smart speakers infringed upon five of its patents, including technologies that enable their speakers to communicate and synchronize with each other wirelessly. The company further claimed that the scope of Intellectual Property (IP) infringement could be much bigger, potentially beyond the search giant.

Sonos, in a statement, said that Google had been blatantly and knowingly copying its patented technology in creating and selling the audio products under the search giant’s name. It then added that despite the repeated and extensive efforts made by its team over the last few years, Google hadn’t shown any willingness to work with it on a mutually beneficial solution.

Executives at Sonos told the New York Times that they provided Google with a list of around 100 patents found to be used unlawfully. They further told that Amazon’s Echo smart speakers are also believed to be violating a similar number of patents. Nevertheless, the company opted to limit the litigation to the lawsuit it is pursuing against Google because battling against both the tech giants at once would be a risk.

Both Google and Amazon, on their part, have strongly pushed back the Sonos’ accusations. Google said that they are disappointed with Sonos’ move where the smart speaker maker brought these lawsuits rather than continuing negotiations in good faith and that they would battle against these claims and defend them vigorously. On the other side, Amazon’s spokesperson said that the Echo family devices and their multi-room music technology were developed independently by Amazon.

It is predicted that the recently launched lawsuit against Google will only complicate Sonos’ tense partnership with the search giant and Amazon. Besides, in the big picture, the lawsuit may add fuel to the upsurging pressure tech giants are having from competitors. Sonos revealed that after it started asking for patent licensing feeds, Google added new technical caveats to their partnership. However, Congressional staff members discussed having Sonos Chief Executive Officer – Patrick Spence – testify on the matter before the House antitrust subcommittee. For more visit: https://www.trademarkmaldives.com

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