Blogs on Patent & Trademark cases

Did You Know…?

Nick Woodman founded the GoPro camera in 2002 as a great way to record footage while on a surfboard. His desire was to create a wearable camera that would allow him to capture himself and friends while out on the water. Initially, the camera company was called Woodman Labs. In 2004, the company sold its first camera, which was a 35mm unit called the Hero. They coined the phrase “GoPro Be A Hero” and later became known as GoPro Inc. Today they have a variety of offerings to satisfy any action seeker and have succeeded in their effort to merge sports & technology.

Amazon Has Fashion On Its Mind

The king of supply chain logistics has made its way to the way you and came up with a fashionable idea for cutting the cost of making clothes. Amazon was recently awarded a patent for what they call “on-demand-apparel-manufacturing” that will create or make your clothing once it has been ordered. The Patent has the software designed to collect clothing orders internationally and then derives a way to fulfill them.

Also, stated in the patent, “the orders can be organized by the computing environment into one or more groups of orders based on one or more productivity factors like size, shape, fabric type, or delivery location for the textile products.” On-demand or fast fashion is taking over the country and is an affordable way to consume clothing.

If the disclosures in the patent are any indicator of future plans, Amazon intends to expand beyond on-demand manufacturing and dive into other items such as fabric products, accessories, footwear, bedding, curtains, towels, especially in a variety of different materials, but not limited to paper, plastic, leather etc. Just last year, Amazon came out with seven in-house fashion brands and some experts believe it is on its way to becoming the biggest clothing retailer in the U.S. They also debuted a fashion tool namely, Outfit Picker, that even helps its Prime members choose what to wear. The company also launched a TV ad campaign for $15 million that featured fall fashions from Amazon.com.

Lincoln American Car Manufacturer

The American automobile manufacturer Lincoln and the China based company, Lynk & Co. go head to head on how their names sound alike. Lincoln plans to take legal action against Lynk & Co with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to block use of the Lynk & Co name in the United States. United States Trademark Law protects against such alleged consumer confusion and this matter may give rise to a trademark infringement case against the Chinese company. Lynk & Co. currently have two model concepts they would like to release next year in the U.S. What is unique about the Chinese based firm is that it plans to avoid dealerships and sell directly to customers. They also plan to offer peer-to-peer rentals much like AirBnB with a lifetime warranty. #omnilegalgroup #trademark #USPTO

Apple Patent

Apple continues to wow us with yet another patent that provides insight into what they are working on. The company has invented a way to secretly call 911 using your fingerprint. The 911 patent was granted on technology that will sense the manner you are holding your phone in order to trigger the 911 call. Once the panic command is activated, the phone would provide the users’ location to responders and could also livestream audio or video off the iPhone. With this patented technology, if an attacker requires the user to unlock the phone, the user could comply and put in a combination such “thumb-pinky-thumb,” and that would unlock the phone, but also call the police. The technology isn’t available yet, but this feature would build on the already SOS feature recently added to the Apple Watch to help support emergency calling. #patent #omnilegalgroup #intellectualpropertylaw #apple #iOS

Amazon News

Amazon is back at it again and this time they seem to have their sights set on Blue Apron. Amazon has filed an intent to use trademark application for prepared food kits with the phrase “We do the prep. You be the chef.” Earlier this year, the online giant purchased Whole Foods for $13.7 billion but their involvement in this space dates back to 2013 with Amazon Fresh grocery delivery. The company also trademarked the phrase “Some eat to live. We live to eat” on their Wickedly Prime snack foods released earlier this year. #Trademarks #OmniLegalGroup #Intellectualpropertylaw

Frederick McKinley Jones

On this day in 1940, Frederick McKinley Jones receives a patent for an air conditioning unit for trucks, helping to change long-haul carriage of food and blood. His invention altered American society’s eating habits, so that people could eat fresh food throughout the United States, especially during the summer and winter seasons. The air-conditioning unit also branched out to the military field hospitals and military field kitchens. Today, Jones is celebrated as the most creative African American inventor of our time. #patent #frederickmckinleyjones #USPTO #omnilegalgroup

News

Omid Khalifeh of Omni Legal Group Named 2017 Southern California Rising Star by Super Lawyers

Omni Legal Group’s principal patent attorney, Omid E. Khalifeh, has once again been selected to appear on the 2017 Southern California Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers.

Omni Legal Group is congratulating its principal patent attorney, Omid Khalifeh, on being selected as a Rising Star by SuperLawyers in the publication of the 2017 Rising Star list by Super Lawyers, which was officially released in July 2017.

Super Lawyers is an honor that is reserved only for those lawyers who exhibit excellence in practice. Out of the thousands of lawyers in California, only a select few will be considered by Super Lawyers for inclusion in this list. Only 2.5 percent of attorneys in Southern California have received this distinction.

Super Lawyers provides ratings of the top Southern California Lawyers and compiles annual lists following a nomination and selection process. During this process, each candidate that is being considered undergoes measurements against 12 indicators of professional achievement and peer recognition in order to determine which attorneys are excelling the most in their respective fields.

As a result of this multi-phase selection process, which includes independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations, only the best of the best lawyers are selected each year, making Khalifeh’s inclusion in this list an exceptional distinction.

Omni Legal Group was founded by Omid Khalifeh. As the author of The Gene Wars: Science, the Law and the Human Genome (Loyola Law Review), Omid Khalifeh is a published attorney who has been invited to speak at conferences across the country about changes in intellectual property law.

As of January 2017, Khalifeh accepted the nomination to be included as a 2017 Southern California Rising Star. As a part of a write-up about the lawyers who have received this recognition, a brief mention of his achievements will appear in Southern California’s Super Lawyers Magazine in July 2017. Super Lawyers Magazine is a publication that reaches more than 65,000 attorneys.

Los Angeles magazine will also publish a feature that includes the details of his award in July 2017. Khalifeh’s designation as a Rising Star will also appear directly on his attorney profile at SuperLawyers.com.

For inquiries about this recent development, Omni Legal Group’s media contact is available to answer any questions about Khalifeh’s recognition by Super Lawyers. For further assistance, interested parties should contact the firm directly via email or telephone.

About Omni Legal Group: Omni Legal Group is a premier patent, trademark, and copyright law firm. With offices in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Beverly Hills, the firm specializes in intellectual property protection by securing patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Founded in Los Angeles by Omid Khalifeh, Mr. Khalifeh is a published attorney who has worked on matters for Fortune 500 companies and has represented companies in a wide variety of matters involving copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and cyberlaw disputes. To learn more about Omni Legal Group, visit omnilegalgroup.com.

Did You Know?

In April 2011, Even Spiegel floated the Snapchat idea in front of his class as a final project, the classmates focused on the temporary aspect of the potential product, and started the thought of temporary photos. Bobby Murphy was eventually brought into the project to write the source code for the application, and Picaboo first launched as an iOS-only app in July 2011. The application was relaunched in September 2011 under the name Snapchat.

What You Need To Know About Trademarks For Your Business

Highly acclaimed musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z have recently filed trademark applications in the names of their newborn twins, Rumi and Sir Carter. Both applications were filed on June 26, 2017, around the same time as when the entire family returned home from the hospital. As we reported after the birth of their first child, they took the same precautions for the name of their eldest daughter, Blue Ivy. This month we discuss the importance of registering one’s intellectual property interest in a name by filing for trademark registration. The following is some important information business owners should know about trademark law.

Trademarks let consumers know where the goods and services they are purchasing originate. They also prevent third parties from free-riding off of the goodwill another company has generated by copying their name. In other words, trademarks help the consumer identify or recognize your company. Trademark registration can be used to protect not just your name, but your logos, emblems, colors, and characters.

When filing a trademark application you must identify what your specific mark is and what specific goods or services you provide under that mark. The scope of protection will be limited accordingly. For instance, a company who registers the name of GREEN MUSHROOM to use with the jewelry they sell would not be able to prevent another party from using the name GREEN MUSHROOM Pizza Parlor for their restaurant because they are in a completely different category and therefore not likely to cause consumers to be confused about the source of the goods they are purchasing
There are numerous benefits to trademark registration. Some of the benefits of registering your trademarks include nationwide as opposed to regional protection of your mark, proof that the mark is yours via a Registration Certificate from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in a situation where the owner wants to license the mark (such as with a franchise) registration can provide others with proof that you are the owner of the mark.

Business owners should begin by conducting a clearance search before they invest too much into a mark. This can help make sure they don’t receive cease and desist letters from other parties who already registered that mark. Once you receive the search results, you can file an intent-t0-use trademark application even before you begin using the mark in commerce. The trademark registration process can take a while (often over 6 months), so it is best to start early.

Because of the intricacies and nuances inherent to trademark law, it is generally advisable to use a lawyer to register your trademark. A lawyer can research in depth and advise you on how to avoid potential pitfalls that can lead to costly lawsuits. Choosing the right lawyer can be crucial. For more information on selecting the right counsel see our blog article entitled HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE RIGHT ATTORNEY FOR YOU? By using the following link: https://omnilegalgroup.com/blog/choosetherightattorney/.

Learning more about how trademarks can add value to your company and protect your company’s goodwill in the long run. Familiarizing yourself with some of this crucial information will help mitigate the risk that someone else will use your hard-earned trademarks and mislead your customers.

Sir Isaac Newton

On this day in 1687, Sir Isaac Newton makes public his outline of the laws of motion and universal gravitation. This world renowned work entitled Principia was first published by the Royal Society in England. Today we honor this great physicist and mathematician with some patents putting these principles to work. #patents #omnilegalgroup #isaacnewton #physics #USPTO