Legal Watch

Want To Keep Track Of Your Competition? Monitor Their Intellectual Property!

Jan 05 2015

by Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. As businesses grow and develop, so do their intellectual property (IP) assets.  And if these businesses are engaging in proper IP management, they are filing trademark and patent applications to protect their IP. However, because of … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Have You Read Your Employee Handbook Lately?

Nov 21 2014

Most companies with more than a few employees have an employee handbook, which, in an ideal world, provides a positive representation of the business and its culture and clearly spells out the company’s policies and procedures on all major issues … →

Posted in Labor and Employment, Legal Watch

How To Protect Inherited IRAs From Creditors After The Clark v. Rameker Decision

Oct 27 2014
pile of coins in front of clock

In a recent decision, Clark v. Rameker, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that inherited IRAs are not exempt from the beneficiary’s creditors because inherited IRAs are not “retirement funds” within the meaning of 11 USC §522(b)(3)(C) of the federal … →

Posted in Estates and Trusts, Legal Watch

When Does Your Website Become Your Greatest Risk?

Oct 20 2014

by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. Do you have a website? Do you have images on your website? Do you know where those images came from? Truly, do you? If you didn’t create the images yourself or you didn’t license the images from … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

What is Intellectual Property and Why Protect It?

Apr 30 2014

by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. Intellectual property is a concept that is nebulous to most people, you probably have heard of it, but what is it really? Intellectual property is the result of human ingenuity and creativity. The law provides mechanisms … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Intro To Patents

Apr 24 2014

A patent is a government granted monopoly that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use or sell their invention for a limited time, in exchange for disclosure of that invention. There are three types of patents-design patents, plant … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

How Long Does it Take to Get a Patent?

Apr 20 2014

by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. When people come to talk with me about patenting their inventive idea, inevitably this question arises: “How long will it take to get a patent?”  When I tell them the patent approval process will probably take … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

The Basics of Trademarks

Apr 18 2014

by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. What is a trademark? The legal definition of a trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design that identifies and distinguishes the source of goods and services. Most commonly we think of names and logos, but marks … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Intro To Copyrights

Apr 16 2014

 by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. A copyright protects the particular way people expressed themselves.  A copyright gives an owner the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute an original creative work. A work is original if it is not … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch

Design Patent

Apr 14 2014

by:  Kathleen Kuznicki, Esq. You got the (novel and non-obvious?) look! In the recent Apple-Samsung case, the jury found that Samsung infringed six of Apple’s patents.  While we think of Apple as having such technological superiority, three of patents that … →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Legal Watch