Houma Trademark Attorneys & Lawyers

Key Takeaways

• Trademarks identify the source of goods/services using logos, words, or symbols; trade dress protects the visual appearance or overall image of a product or business.
• Trade dress must be non-functional and have distinctiveness (often proven through secondary meaning) to qualify for protection.
• Registration of trade dress occurs through the USPTO's trademark system and can involve litigation to enforce rights.
• Trade dress is subject to stricter scrutiny than trademarks due to its broader and more abstract scope.
• Design patents, while not the focus here, offer another route for protecting visual features but differ significantly from both trademarks and trade dress.

What is Trademark vs. Trade Dress?

A trademark offers legal protection for a logo, symbol, phrase, word, name, or design used to show the manufacturer of a product. Trade dress protects al

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Key Takeaways

• The doctrine of equivalents allows patent holders to enforce rights even when an accused product doesn’t literally infringe but performs substantially the same function in the same way for the same result.
• U.S. law applies the triple identity test and the all-elements rule, while defenses like the vitiation rule and file wrapper estoppel limit its scope.
• Hypothetical claims are used to balance DOE against prior art and prevent overbroad enforcement.
• The reverse doctrine of equivalents can protect defendants when an accused device achieves the same result but in a fundamentally different way.
• Other jurisdictions, such as the UK (Actavis v. Eli Lilly) and E

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Key Takeaways

• There is no single worldwide patent; protection is achieved by filing national or regional patents.
• An international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) simplifies filing in over 150 countries, providing a unified procedure before entering national phases.
• Applicants gain up to 30 months from their initial filing date to decide where to pursue protection.
• Common mistakes include assuming a PCT itself grants rights or missing strict filing deadlines.
• Costs vary widely, often $4,000–$5,000 initially, plus thousands more per country for national phase entry.

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Key Takeaways:

• Internet laws encompass regulations on privacy, security, intellectual property, and digital rights.
• Cybercrime, online fraud, and intellectual property theft are major concerns, necessitating robust cybersecurity laws.
• Various countries regulate online content differently, with some enforcing strict censorship and others prioritizing free speech.

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Key Takeaways

• A trademark domain name protects a web address as a brand asset if it's used as a source identifier for goods or services.
• Merely registering a domain doesn’t give trademark rights; you must use it in commerce to gain trademark protection.
• Trademarking your domain name helps prevent cybersquatting, customer confusion, and dilution of brand reputation.
• Before trademarking, ensure the name isn’t already in use or registered — otherwise, you may risk infringement.
• Not all domain names qualify for trademark protection; generic or merely descriptive names typically won't.
• Legal recourse such as UDRP or ACPA may be available to reclaim misused domain names.
• Trademarking your domain provides stronger protection than domain registration alone.
• You can find experienced IP attorneys through UpCounsel for help with domain name trademark filings or disputes.

What is a Tradem

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