Today I'm talking about Trademark Tales of Terror: specifically, how to stop a competitor from committing a trademark chainsaw massacre on your brand identity.

If a patent protects what your invention does (like the Ouija board’s mechanisms I talked about last week), a trademark protects who is selling it. It’s your name, your logo, your slogan, a signature scent or sound, signature packaging, and more, and it's how your customers instantly recognize and trust you. Without it, your brand is vulnerable to copycats and imposters, the ghouls of the business world.

In this episode:

• The Horror of Consumer Confusion (0:38)
• Four Ways Your Brand Gets Haunted (2:29)
• 1. Literal Infringement (The Doppelgänger) (2:37)
  2. Likelihood of Confusion (The Close Call) (3:09)
  3. Brand Dilution (The Slow Rot) (3:46)
  4. The Curse of Genericide (The Mark That Died of Success) (4:29)
• Trademarks Are Nearly Eternal (5:44)

Don't let your brand name be hacked up and stolen. Conduct a thorough trademark clearance search, register your trademarks, be on the lookout for trouble, and be prepared to defend them. That's the only way to ensure your brand lives forever!

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe! You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#intellectualproperty #trademark #trademarktalesofterror #law #horrorlaw #horror #kingpatentlaw #julieking

The scariest part of a patent to would-be infringers isn't the drawing; it's the claims section.

The claims are the numbered sentences at the end of the patent that legally define the precise scope of protection. If it's not in a claim, it's not truly protected! That’s why it’s of the utmost importance to have strong, well-written claims that properly cover everything you want to protect.

The claims in the Ouija board patent, US Patent 446,054, narrowly defined the board and its indicator. If a competitor made a board with a different shape or a different indicator, they may have avoided infringement. Indeed, many did!

The level of detail in patent claims is important. Too broad, and they probably won’t be granted. Too narrow, and it will be harder to prove infringement if someone makes something slightly different.

This is something DIY applicants and online patent mill services often get wrong. The thing is, you won’t know if they’re not good until either years pass and the application is rejected or you have trouble showing something slightly different is infringement.

Don't let your claims be weak! Working with an experienced patent attorney to craft precise, properly scoped claims is the best way to build a protective fortress around your invention.

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#patent #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #petrifyingpatents #horror #spookyseason #halloween

Don't Believe the Hype

The USPTO is going to put some new applications through an AI search and give applicants “an initial communication identifying a ‘top ten list’ of potential prior art issues in need of attention.”

1. Too soon. I don’t have confidence in an unsupervised AI tool like this. The technology isn’t there yet and will likely give applicants, especially pro se applicants, some misleading and confusing results along with the helpful ones.
2. Wrong stage. The best use of this kind of USPTO AI tool would be to have it available for applicants to use BEFORE filing, since once something is filed, the scope of allowable changes is limited.
3. Doesn’t replace a patentability search. This doesn’t replace having a thorough patentability search done before moving forward with an application, and I’m concerned laypersons will think otherwise.
4. Patent examiners think it’s a problem. From what I’m hearing from patent examiners, it sounds like (a) they think this AI tool isn’t very good yet and (b) that it is the first step in transitioning eventually to largely AI examination. Once again, the AI technology is absolutely not there yet. Can it help? Sure. Can it replace a human examiner? Not even close. (N.b. my master’s degree concentrated in AI, natural language processing, and LLMs.)
5. Pay to play. Of course, there is a fee to pay to participate in the pilot program.
6. Propaganda. Don’t buy that line about the USPTO Director’s “commitment to dramatically improve examination quality.” What he’s doing to examiners behind the scenes is absolutely counterproductive to that goal.

This program could be useful to some applicants, but it’s definitely overpromising and trying to draw attention away from the chaos and poor treatment of examiners happening at the USPTO. It’s almost like the leadership is trying to break it so it can be turned over to a private company to handle. I’m NOT happy about my clients paying the same fees for poorer quality examination, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen thanks to new policies about examiner quotas and limits on their ability to help applicants.

The original Ouija board patent expired in 1908, and the claims to the invention, a letter board, a planchette, and the way they worked together, went into the public domain. These days, utility patents for how something works last for 20 years. Design patents for how something looks last 15 years.

Once patent rights expire, there is no resurrecting them from the dead. At that time, your success depends on competing with imitators on quality, price, service, and name recognition.

The moment that patent expired, competitors could make their own identical or similar talking boards. However, only the company that protected the name as a trademark could claim ownership of the valuable brand.

Unlike patents, trademark registrations can be renewed indefinitely and even, in a way, resurrected after accidental death. That’s why there are many talking boards for sale, but only one named Ouija.

• Patent: A temporary monopoly on the invention (20 years for Utility, 15 for Design).

• Trademark: Perpetual protection on the brand name/logo as long as you use it (like the name OUIJA).

You need both patents and trademarks to protect your invention and your brand for the long haul!

Don't let your creative work or business become a ghost story. Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#patent #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #petrifyingpatents #horror #spookyseason #halloween

I’m hammering home a petrifying patent pitfall that often hits inventors hard: the 12-month on-sale bar.

Let’s look to the sad tale of inventor Lawrence Pfaff and his failed patent for an electronic socket. He missed his application deadline by just 11 days after the first day he offered his invention for sale. Waiting for 12 months and 11 days after that initial on-sale date destroyed his ability to obtain any patent rights.

In the US, you have a one-year grace period from the date of your first public disclosure (selling, offering to sell, or publishing) to file your patent application. Missing that deadline means your potential patent rights become ghostly. You won’t be able to receive a patent, and that means you won’t be able to stop others from making or selling it.

Filing before public disclosure is the silver bullet to protect your invention. Using non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, can help you keep your invention private until you’re ready to make it public and have legal remedies if anyone who signed it violates the terms.

Don't let your creative work or business become a ghost story. Intellectual property is one of the most terrifyingly useful tools you have. If you're a creator or other entrepreneur ready to build a frighteningly powerful brand, you need to know how to use it.

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#patent #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #petrifyingpatents #horror #spookyseason #halloween

People often assume the Ouija board patent protected the "spirit communication." NO!

A utility patent (like the original Ouija patent US446054) only protects the functional parts of an invention: how it works, how it’s made, or what it does.

The Ouija patent protected the specific arrangement of the letters and the moving indicator as a game device. It had nothing to do with the claim of contacting the deceased.

An invention must be capable of working as described and can’t be an abstract concept. You can’t prove the paranormal is behind the functioning, so the paranormal part can’t be given a patent.

You can patent the machine, but not the magic. What specific scientifically provable mechanism or process is unique about your invention? That’s where the value and the protection lie!

You don't have to face the darkness alone. To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com.

I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms, and at @kingpatentlaw on most social media.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#patent #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #petrifyingpatents #horror #spookyseason #halloween

Buckle up, my beasties, because we’re about to do a deep dive into divination patents.

This week, we’re going to look at one of the most famous, and creepiest, game-related patents ever granted: the patent for the Ouija board. Now, buckle up, my beasties, because we’re about to do a deep dive into divination patents.

Most people think of patents for things like new surgical tools or smartphone features. But a patent can be granted for any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, and yes, that includes a paranormal-themed game!

Let’s look at the most famous horror board game of the century. You know it. You may be scared of it. If Regan McNeal had left hers alone, Captain Howdy might have looked elsewhere. Movies have been spawned from it. It’s been in countless tv shows. It’s been around for long, long years under several names and has possibly stolen many a man’s soul and faith.

In this episode:

• The Ghost in the Patent Machine: Protecting the unique operation and construction of the device as a toy or game, NOT as a spirit medium (1:05)
• The Life and Death of a Patent: The story of the Ouija board is a perfect lesson in the limited lifespan of a patent (3:57)
• Protecting the Paranormal: What parts of spooky games can be patented, trademarked, and copyrighted (7:34)

#patent #intellectualproperty #kingpatentlaw #julieking #petrifyingpatents

Failing to protect your confidential business information is not only a grave mistake; it can be fatal. Trade secrets aren't just for big corporations like Coca-Cola. Your business might have a special recipe, a unique marketing plan, or a customer list that needs protection.

Say you’ve made a new slime formula that will make running a seasonal haunted house less expensive and won’t stain visitors’ clothes. Your business depends on big sales to the companies that run the haunted houses. You didn’t bother with a patent because you didn’t want the formula to be public when the patent is published, or have the rights expire after 20 years. You didn’t have employees sign non-disclosure agreements, also commonly called NDAs and confidentiality agreements, and there’s nothing in their employment agreements about keeping confidential company information quiet. You start to see something being sold by a new competitor that seems suspiciously like your product, but at half the price. The haunted house companies switch to their product, you lose your business, and you are going to have a much harder time going after any employee who leaked the formula than you would have if they’d signed an NDA.

Don’t let your business secrets be a business tragedy. Talk with an intellectual property attorney about the best ways to keep them secret so you can keep doing what you do best and not be up at 3:00 am, wondering if you’re protected against loose lips. That’s the time for worrying about the thing that may be under the bed.

To learn more about protecting your creations, your name, your business, and your legacy, you can book a consultation with me at kingpatentlaw.com. I help entrepreneurs across the U.S. make smart, legally sound decisions about their intellectual property. I'm an attorney in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and I serve intellectual property clients nationwide.

If you’d like to consult with me, please book a consultation online at kingpatentlaw.com or by calling my office at 312-596-2222 or 217-714-8558.

If this episode helped you survive the horror of learning about how to protect and manage your intellectual property and business, please like and subscribe!

You can find all of my other frighteningly good content on intellectual property and business law issues here on Substack, on the King Patent Law website, at "Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook " on all major podcast platforms (video on YouTube, Spotify, and Substack only), and on most social media as @kingpatentlaw.

The information provided in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or form an attorney-client relationship. You should not act on any information presented here without first seeking the counsel of a licensed attorney for your specific legal needs.

#intellectualproperty #nondisclosure #confidentiality #tradesecret #NDA #law #horrorlaw #horror #kingpatentlaw #julieking