4. Rule of law -- a concise summary of the main precedent established. Support with quotes form the book

The main thing that I established in my opinion is how to protect myself in the future working field. There are a lot of things to consider when you are hired to a new company. One thing in particular is prevention assignments pg 111 “some employments agreements have a provision requiring the employee to assign any inventions to the employer.” You have to be extremely careful of what you are signing away your rights to. When dealing with legal issues surrounding your patent you want to have presumption of validity pg 74“In an infringement suit brought by a patent owner against an alleged infringer, it is legally presumed that the patent owners patent is valid”. There are some circumstances where you can catch a break when dealing with patents such as a reconsideration request “ A patent application may request that the patent examiner reconsider an application whose claims were rejected in the final office.” So much is put into the consideration of a patent. One thing that is done is the preliminary look at prior art pg 123“this preliminary investigation by inventors consist of checking stores, catalogs, reference books, product directories, and similar sources to discover whether a proposed invention already exists.” With all of this information it seems like it’s a lot to take in but what I’ve learned is that actually all of these rules play hand in hand with one another. If you put in the energy to deal with one matter correctly then most of the time you have unconsciously already covered the rest of the contributing factors. I enjoyed all that I learned dealing with this matter and look forward to applying them to my future!
10th edition Patent, Copyright & Trademark by Ralph Warner

3. Reasoning of the Law -- analysis of the thinking process and logic used by your lawyer

Reasoning of the Law has always come very easy to me. I make it a point to play by the rules and not violate anything or anyone. One thing I appreciate is the statue of limitations, infringement action pg 86“In patent law there is no time limit (statute of limitations) for filing a patent infringement lawsuit.” This is extremely to the patent applicant pg 73“ The inventor or organization who files the patent application (and, often, who will own the patent if the application is granted). When dealing with patents be very careful of misuse of patent “Use of a patent in a manner that violates federal patent or antitrust laws may result in the patent being declared invalid or unenforceable by a court.” There can be a number of things you run into such as multiple claims “a single patent application may contain two or more claims describing a single invention” which my attorney told me was more common than you think. Narrowing a claim pg 84“a claim in a patent application that was initially rejected by a patent examiner as being too broad” is one of the things I think protect a lot of us. It’s interesting how everything has its boundaries in the whole patent process. I like the idea of the design around “to design or build a device that is similar to but doesn’t infringe on an invention.” This allows you to enhance an idea or if the duration of patents pg 135“utility patents-the most common kind- expires 20 years after the filing date of the regular formal patent application” then there is a possibility of this patent becoming yours. For art students I found that if you have designed something digitally you must include drawings, patent application pg 135“Visual representations of an invention must be included in the patent application”. This whole process has just reminded me of how critical I need to be when dealing with protecting my designs so I don’t have to deal with fraud on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “any behavior by an applicant for a patent that attempts to mislead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office”. I am truly grateful of this overall process.
10th edition Patent, Copyright & Trademark by Ralph Warner

2. The Questions: Explain why these are of interest to you. What specific concepts and terms were involved – in other words, what are the legal is

These questions were very important to me because these situations play a very important role in my future. These are things I have to definitely be careful as to how I incorporate them into business matters. I knew to a certain extent things I needed to do in order to protect my designs but I had no clue as to how I could be so easily taken advantage of without taking the proper steps to securing my design elements. The whole research project was so resourceful for me and I am extremely elated with the results I obtained from them!

LAW OFFICES OF
Aisha M. Johnson
(310) 642-0408 Fax (310) 642-4684



1. If I lose inspiration and go online and use someone else’s design, more than I intended to. Will I be safe from a lawsuit if I changed it enough so it isn’t exactly the same? What recourse do I have if the roles are reversed, if my work is the work being stolen?

No one is completely protected from a lawsuit. Copyright or trademark infringement ultimately will be determined by the judge or jury and to a degree the determination can be (subjective) based upon each individual circumstance. It is best not to use other peoples work and to make sure that you copyright and/or trademark your personal designs. Request for compensation, threat of a lawsuit, or an actual lawsuit seeking monetary damages are your options for recourse.

2. If I come up with an original idea during employment with a company, who owns the rights to it, myself or the company? Is there any way I can make it my own to sell to others?

It depends on what you have agreed to in your employment contract. In most instances, unless the contract states otherwise, the work will be owned by the company, your employer. You can only make it your own if your company is willing to make that agreement with you.

3. If I get caught hacking, what are the consequences.

Possible consequences are: termination from your employment, legal action against you for fraud, theft, copyright or trademark infringement, monetary damages/fine, and/or imprisonment.

4. If my spouse pays to set up my business and I ran everything, if we get a divorce does he have a claim to it?

In a community property state your business product and business earnings are subject to division with your spouse in the event of divorce unless there is a legally binding agreement entered into by the parties stating something different.

5. If I create a fashion design and displayed it at a trade show, and someone took that design and sold it as their own, can I sue that party and what are my chances of recovering my design?

You can always sue but whether you have a successful lawsuit will depend greatly on whether your design was protected by copyright or trademark and whether the damages were ascertainable.
6. If I made a logo that had a had a trademark to one of the letters and another marketing company used that letter exactly how it is displayed/designed but used the letter in a logo but did not have the same complete logo then what could happen if I take legal action.

It would be up to the court (judge or jury) to determine whether the copy was an infringement upon your trademark. They may consider whether or not the copy was too similar or misleading to the public.

7. Can packaging look exactly the same as other products on a retail shelf (ex. Medicine products Color, Shape, Look). **EXCLUDES the name.

It can but again if a lawsuit resulted it would be up to the court (judge or jury) to determine whether the copy was an infringement upon your trademark. They may consider whether or not the copy was too similar or misleading to the public. Why expose yourself unnecessarily to potential legal action.

8. Can you sue a company that advertises a commercial which sells a product that has a disclaimer at the bottom but don’t give you enough time to read the disclaimer and it ends up affecting your life or puts you in burden?

Anyone can file a lawsuit. I am uncertain as to whether or not this type of lawsuit is likely to prevail.

9. How much do you charge to read a contract and advise/interpret it for me?

It depends on the length of the contract but my hourly rate is $300.00.

10. What rights do I retain when using company software?

Again, it depends on the contract that you have with the company/employer but most likely your rights will be very limited. The company is going to look out for their own financial interest and you must look out for yours.

5. Your own argument and opinions. Did you agree or disagree with the rulings. Provide some authority for your argument such as quotes from the

I agreed with everything my attorney had to say in reference to the rulings she gave me. I found some of them to be very obvious in her explanations and extremely fair. Although she was not an patent attorney which is “attorneys that must be licensed to practice law and also be licensed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, (USPTO) to practice before it” I felt like she was spot on in her delivery. We discussed the possibility of double patenting pg 56“two patents which are obtained on (or claim) a single invention) and how this could possibly happen when working so close to an individual or company. She informed me to always be careful of the contract. Now there is the possibility of co-inventors pg 43“where an invention is attributable to the creative effort of more than one person” that she explained also needs to be carefully documented. Once I started to really look into all of this I noticed that copyrighting your designs at the date of invention “the date an inventor can prove that the invention was built and tested” is critical to do. When you want to take legal action on something like infringement pg 60“when someone makes, uses, or sells items covered by the claims of an in-force patent without the patent owner’s permission” it is important that you have all the necessary information to defend yourself. This is the point where you would make and infringement action “a lawsuit alleging that one or more parties (defendants) have, without permission, made, used, or sold an invention protected under a patent owned by the party bringing the lawsuit.” All of these things you may take lightly but prove to be critical when you are trying to defend yourself. You could face willful infringement pg 135 “occurs when someone deliberately and in disregard of the patent owner’s right, copies a patented invention.” This is what I thought mattered most in my conversation with my attorney!
10th edition Patent, Copyright & Trademark by Ralph Warner

1. Legal Authority: How I made contact, found this person and why they are a good choice

When I discovered that we had to find an attorney I found it rather difficult in the beginning to find anyone who would actually give me the time and energy when looking into this situation and being helpful in answering the 10 questions that I had come up with within my group. I initially wanted to find a patent attorney who could help contribute to some things I wanted to know about group work. I found that coauthors’ are pg 39 “two or more people who have contributed significant creative input to a work of expression are legally considered coauthors”. Well I did not have any luck with finding a patent attorney but my search led me to an even more amazing attorney name Aiesha Johnson. She is a probate, business formations, trusts and wills attorney. I discussed a lot with her. Another one of our topics she helped me understand was derivative work which is pg 47 “based upon preexisting material to which enough original creative work has been added so that the new work represents an original work of authorship.” I felt she was the best attorney for me because throughout our conversation we had so much in common and she related so much with me and what I was trying to do in order to enhance my career. What she did focus on a lot is false representation in copyright registration application which is pg 36“a deliberate lie on a copyright registration form, such as a false statement that no preexisting works are included in the work being registered, may invalidate the legal effects and benefits of registration”. She informed me that this is taken very seriously and that I should be extremely careful. I really enjoyed working with her and look forward in building a future relationship with Ms. Johnson.
10th edition Patent Copyright & Trademark by Attorney Richard Stim