Patent & Trademark Attorney - DFW Dallas Fort Worth Texas

REGISTERED PATENT ATTORNEYS | TRADEMARK LAWYERS

DFW | Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas



HANDLEY LAW FIRM, PLLC

1452 Hughes Road, Suite 200

Grapevine Texas 76051

www.iplawfirm.us

972-378-4990
mail@iplawfirm.us

SPECIALIZING IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
PATENT, TRADEMARK COPYRIGHT

Registered Patent Attorney Trademark Attorney
Located in DFW - Dallas Fort Worth, Texas
Counseling Regarding IP Protection
Filing of Patent and Trademark Applications
Patent Novelty Searches and Clearance Searches
Opinions Regarding Infringement
Trademark Clearance Searches
Licensing Negotiation and Counseling





PATENT SEARCHES


Patent Novelty Searches are useful for determining whether to pursue patent protection for an invention.  A Patent Novelty Search seeks to discover prior art patents disclosing the particular features of the invention being searched,  to provide an indication of the chances for securing a patent for the invention and the possible scope of such a patent.  


Patent Clearance Searches are useful for indicating the risk of a particular product infringing the patent of another.  A Patent Clearance Search seeks to discover unexpired patents which the particular product under study might infringe.  Patent Clearance Searches are often performed prior to significant investment in a particular product, and often lead to changes to the features of products to avoid infringement.

Patent Novelty and Patent Clearance Searches are typcially conducted in person at the US Patent Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia.




TRADEMARK SEARCHES


Comprehensive Trademark Searches are typically performed by a third party search service which maintains a database of trademark registrations and common law uses of trademarks.

Comprehensive Trademark Searches include search of Trademark Register of the U.S. Patent Trademark Office, and State Trademark Registers.



 Common law databases searched include content from an assortment of magazines and periodicals covering a wide selection of fields,  Business Name Directories, Domain Names and Web Content.


Initial cursory knock-out searches performed upon request, prior to initiating comprehensive trademark searches.




UTILITY PATENTS


Utility Patents protect a particular structure which defines an invention.  Utility patents do not protect a general idea, but instead the scope of patent protection extends only to the particular structure set forth in the claims of a patent, and equivalents to particular elements of such structure.

Patent claims for an apparatus set forth the structure of an invention in terms of the combined component parts. 

Patent claims a process set forth the structure of an invention in terms of the combined steps of a method comprising the process.

The time from filing a utility patent to issuance as a  patent typically ranges from two to four years.




DESIGN PATENTS


Design Patents protect the ornamental features of a product or article of manufacture.  The term "Design" refers to ornamental design and not engineering design.

A Design Patent does not protect the same type of structure features protected by a Utility Patent, those which render the product as being operative or performing a fun