Did you know that neither your state law license nor your federal court admission will allow you to represent clients seeking a patent? Or that just because a product isn’t on the market, it doesn’t mean that it hasn’t been patented? If any of this comes as a surprise, Rich Goldstein, writing for the ABA’s Law Practice Today, sets out a list of the 10 most important principles for all lawyers to know.
Have a read through of at least these favorites, because as Goldstein warns, “these days—whether you practice family law or transactional law—it is inevitable that a patent issue will come up.”
Your client can still infringe on a patent when they have one of their own
Goldstein says this is the most common misconception in the world of patent law. He chalks the confusion up to the difference between infringement and patentability. When the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reviews patentability, it doesn’t consider whether the idea is violating another patent, which Goldstein says is assessed exclusively by the federal court system.
First-to-file is important
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