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The Third (and Best) Way to Use the PCT: Why the Patent Cooperation Treaty Makes U.S. Prosecution Better
If you asked 100 patent attorneys walking down the street, “What is the PCT for?”, the vast majority would answer that the PCT is used to file a U.S. patent application under the Paris Convention to reserve patent rights in many other countries. A minority of them might reply (particularly if they were on a street in New York or Washington), that the PCT is the way their foreign clients bring their own applications into the United States. But very few would answer, “to control the timing and location of my search and the timing and location of my examination for my U.S. patent application.”
Why?
This third way of using the PCT has recently appeared on the scene with the advent of the Paris Convention-certifiable Provisional U.S. Patent Application in 1999. Between 1995 and 1999, one could gamble that a U.S. provisional patent application would serve as a Paris Convention Priority document for filing in other countries. The 1995 law did not make clear that a provisional could mature into a patent, and some in other countries questioned that deficiency. Since the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, there is no doubt because a provisional patent application could be converted into a non-provisional patent application. So American patent attorneys should now be poised to use provisional patent applications to their fullest power.
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.