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Preserving Claims of Priority in the EPO Via Provisional Claims in the U.S.
The value to U.S. practitioners of provisional patent applications is still being uncovered, even though they arrived more than 10 years ago and were substantially improved more than 7 years ago by allowing convertibility to non-provisional patent applications.
Viewed from one perspective, a provisional patent application costs 20% of the cost of a non-provisional patent application and gives the applicant the benefits of the Paris Convention, while avoiding the onset of search, publication, and examination in the United States. For more from this perspective, see this author's article 'The Third (and Best) Way to Use PCT,' Patent Strategy & Management, Vol. 5, No. 3, July 2004.
With considerable thanks to Robert Watson, European Patent Attorney at Mewburn & Ellis in London, another value of a U.S. provisional patent application has been uncovered: preserving a Paris Convention claim of priority of claims in European patent applications because of the presence of extensive claiming in U.S. provisional patent applications.
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.