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Wholaw Blawg Seminars
2006-08-24 18:39:03
Wholaw is a new blog promoting legal seminars in Des Moines, as well as other cities in Iowa. Attorney Rush Nigut of Sullivan and Ward and I have teamed up to unveil the first in a series of seminars dedicated to twenty-first century legal issues. Our first seminar covers the nuts and bolts of "blawging" and why it should be important to the lawyers in your firm. The blawg seminar will include not only getting your blawg up and running quickly, but also tips on how to generate quality content and a base of avid readers.Other Related Topics:Des Moines, Iowa, lawyer, Blawg, CLE
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Patent Examining with Wikis
2006-08-21 18:33:02
CNN Money has posted an article by Fortune senior writer Nicholas Varchaver who reports the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is embarking on a pilot software patent examination program. The program will allow those complaining about overly broad software patents to become part of the solution. The problem stems from patent examiners having too little time to review patent
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How to Draft a Patent Application
2006-08-18 18:30:30
Patent Application s are tricky. Even the United States Patent and Trademark Office recommends you get an expert to draft your patent application. It is possible to draft your own patent, heck if the late night informercial lackeys can do it, anyone can. While you do have to be a federally registered patent attorney or patent agent to draft a patent application for someone else, you can draft your own application yourself. Although you might draft your application, and might even get the patent, it would be very unusual to get a patent with broad coverage. Most likely, you will end up with a very narrow patent, unlikely to be useful in stopping anyone from doing anything. Even if you did obtain some coverage, even a slight error in the your dealings with the USPTO in getting the patent could later invalidate the patent altogether. For those interested, I did find some information on drafting your own patent. I provide this link, however, as more informational than instructional. I wo...
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Free Book!
2006-08-18 18:30:30
If you have not already, be sure to check out my book Internet Laws Affecting Your Company. Receiving rave reviews since its publication, Internet Laws Affecting Your Company answers many of the questions you would otherwise have to pay an expert $300/hr or more to answer. While not a substitute for the advice of an attorney, Internet Laws Affecting Your Company brings you up to speed on the
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How to Draft a Patent Application
2006-08-16 18:30:20
Patent Application s are tricky. Even the United States Patent and Trademark Office recommends you get an expert to draft your patent application. It is possible to draft your own patent, heck if the late night informercial lackeys can do it, anyone can. While you do have to be a federally registered patent attorney or patent agent to draft a patent application for someone else, you can draft your
More About: How To , Cat , Draft

Digital Millennium Copyright Act Take Down Notice
2006-08-16 18:30:20
On October 28, 1998, President Bill Clinton signed HR 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) DMCA into federal law. Title II of that law, otherwise known as the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) provides network service providers, such as internet service providers (ISPs) with a ?safe harbor? to avoid conflicting suits for keeping infringing material on their network, or removing content erroneous accused of being infringing.OCILLA contains specific procedures a copyright holder must follow to get infringing uses of their work removed under the DMCA. To gain the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA, ISPs must designate an ?agent? to receive ?take down notices? of infringement. If you identify an online infringing use of your copyrighted work, you can send a take down notice to the designated agent of the associated ISP to have the work removed under the DMCA. An appropriate take down notice must include:1 A signature of the copyright owner or ...
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Criminals Making Real Money Stealing My Virtual Stuff
2006-08-15 18:27:01
Games such as World of Warcraft allow players to increase their strength and abilities with gold which they gain through various in-game activities. Some players bypass the rules of the game and purchase gold directly from of other players. This buying virtual gold with real money has led to a cottage industry of players playing for gold, rather than fun. Although Blizzard Entertainment, the
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Sansone Blogging Workshop
2006-08-09 18:15:02
Des Moines blog guru Mike Sansone is offering a FREE two hour business blogging workshop on August 17, and you are invited. The workshop will cover topics like: ? How to follow the conversations using social media search tools ? Why your company should engage in these conversations ? What are the differences between blog sites and (cob)web sites ? Questions to answer before you begin blogging If
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Get More Out of Your Inventors
2006-08-07 18:15:03
Inventor s are typically overworked and underpaid. They do their job because they love the work. Encouraging inventors to be more creative or spend more time on patent protection paperwork can be difficult. I mean, who WANTS to talk to a patent attorney? Fortunately, time and money do not drive most inventors. What inventors really desire is recognition of their creative efforts and their
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Get Your Patents Faster
2006-08-07 18:15:03
The Department of Commerce?s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) now gives patent applicants the option of getting a final decision on patentability within 12 months. To qualify for this ?accelerated examination,? patent applicants who file under this procedure must conduct a patent search to determine the closest "prior art," submit all prior art that is closest to their
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Be the First Blog on Your Block with a Trademark
2006-08-07 18:15:03
You have a great name for your blog, you have dozens of posts, your readership is growing by the day, your Google rank is climbing, then it all comes crashing down. Now, a competing blog using the same name ranks higher in Google, your readership dwindles and you have no recourse. What can you do? Well, if you had gotten a federal trademark registration on your domain name, you could simply write
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Help me with my patent application
2006-08-07 18:15:03
I get a lot of inquiries from potential clients asking for me to "review" the patent application they drafted themselves. They are often nonplused to hear that we cannot help them. After fifteen years of patent drafting it still takes me about 5-8 hours to draft a single sentence for the first claim of the patent application. Just as I would caution someone not to trust an open heart
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Blawg IT #1
2006-08-07 18:15:03
Thanks for making Blawg IT number one on blawg.org under the Software and Information Technology catagories. Blawg IT also ranks #3 in the Patent and Trademark catagories. Thanks to all of my loyal readers!Other Related Topics:Patent, Trademark, Information Technology, Blawg, Software

Small Inventors - Let Your Voice Be Heard
2006-08-07 18:15:03
The Professional Inventors Alliance (PIA) is very concerned that a patent reform bill introduced last week by Republican Orrin Hatch from Utah and Democrat Patrick Leahy from Vermont, is really just a "wish list" for "antipatent, washed-up tech companies" reports CNET. The PIA believes the bill undermines the protections patents provide to individual inventors. According to CNET, PIA president
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How Good Is My Patent Attorney?
2006-08-07 18:15:03
A patent is not simply a form your patent attorney fills out for you. It is a complex document detailing the scope of your invention. Too broad and the United States Patent and Trademark Office will not grant you a patent. Too narrow and your competitors can simply make a few changes to avoid the patent. Getting the mix just right is why patent attorneys with years of experience, like myself, can
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