The Blog For Business Law

— By Gerry RichardsonJanuary 15, 20190 Comments

WHAT IMPACT WILL MEDICAL MARIJUANA HAVE ON MISSOURI WORKPLACES AND DRUG TESTING BY EMPLOYERS?

On November 6, 2018, Missouri voters approved Amendment 2, the Medical Marijuana and Veteran Healthcare Services Initiative by a margin of 66% to 34%. It legalized marijuana for medical purposes. Basically, the amendment allows licensed physicians to recommend marijuana use to patients with any one…

— By Joseph RolnickiDecember 19, 20180 Comments

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ADOPTS FEDERAL COURT CLAIM CONSTRUCTION STANDARD IN PROCEEDINGS AT THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD

On October 10, 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a Final Rule in the Federal Register, changing the patent claim construction standard used by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and covered…

— By Alex HurstNovember 15, 20180 Comments

A Rose by Any Other Name: Making Sure Your Trade Name Smells as Sweet

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, actually. Most entrepreneurs are aware that their businesses’ trade name has value as a trademark or service mark and that using someone else’s name could expose them to liability for infringement, but that’s only part of the story. …

— By Joseph RolnickiOctober 8, 20180 Comments

THE “ON SALE” BAR AND “READY FOR PATENTING”

The On Sale Bar, set forth in 35 U.S.C. §102 of the Patent Statute provides that “[a] person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise…

— By Joseph RolnickiJune 29, 20180 Comments

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS AND PATENT OWNERSHIP RIGHTS

Employers often have new employees sign an Employment Agreement at the time of their employment. Basic terms of an Employment Agreement often require that the employee protect the intellectual property of the employer, and not disclose confidential information of the employer without authorization. The basic…

— By Joseph RolnickiFebruary 19, 20180 Comments

INVENTION DISCLOSURE

If you are involved in a business that routinely introduces new products to the marketplace, or a business that exists due to a recently developed new product such as a startup business, you should consider protecting the new product or products with a patent. A…

— By Ron HackFebruary 12, 20180 Comments

APPLICATION OF THE “OPEN and OBVIOUS” DOCTRINE

What to most of us would seem to be an obvious conclusion, the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that if you try to move rolls of insulation in a self-service area, and notice that a stack of insulation is leaning, don’t expect…

— By Ron HackJanuary 2, 20180 Comments

OH MY, MY RELATIVE HAS JUST DIED, WHAT DO I DO?

There is an all too common occurrence facing many people: What to do when an elderly person dies and you are the only one around to pick up the pieces. Here is the scenario: You receive a call and learn your Great Aunt Minnie or…

— By Alex HurstOctober 11, 20170 Comments

The Serious Uncertainties Surrounding Series LLCs

Much as the limited liability company (LLC) took the country by storm in the early 1990s, forever changing the American landscape of corporate governance and small business taxation, a new type of entity is proliferating from state to state: the protective series LLC. Originally developed…

— By Ron HackSeptember 7, 20170 Comments

ASBESTOS PLAINTIFF EXPERTS CAN’T TESTIFY EVERY EXPOSURE IS A CUMULATIVE CAUSE OF CANCER

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently decided that a major type of testimony traditionally used by asbestos plaintiff’s medical experts to attribute a cancer’s causation to each and any exposure to asbestos (no matter how long or intense) is unavailable…