Patent Attorney and Founder
Hey everybody i’m jd hovener patent attorney owner here at bold patton’s law firm welcome to our live show uh we’re here every wednesday 9 a.m pacific and then on the east coast and i’m excited to have our live audience here with us um just announced this show earlier today so we will give you about a minute or so to join in and during that minute uh if you would just uh join me in a little bit of a happy birthday ukulele play uh i was here last week and i got a good uh good amount of laughs and entertainment from my ukulele play we need someone to sing though because i’m not going to sing so guess this tune if you know what it is i learned it on youtube this morning [Music]
oh that’s a little rub one more time one more time [Music]
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and i was looking online the only person i saw that had a famous person with the birthday today was none other than dr phil so happy birthday dr phil and any of those fans out there of uh of his work um we have got a pretty uh action-packed day um i’ve got a cool set of paths that is related to back to school and um you may have children you may personally be going back to school and it’s an exciting time there’s a lot of products and uh things that are new certainly with with covid uh with different types of uh you know solutions that are needed for personally protecting uh you know against viruses um of course without all the new technology as well so i’ve got three different uh inventions to show you one a unique pencil believe it or not there are still new pencils being developed the second is a new virtual classroom um which is just invented just patented just this month and two months ago and the last one is a backpack um so yeah there’s still new inventions uh related to backpacks out there so i’ll go through those three as soon as we uh get started here uh i will prioritize live and uh q a so if anybody’s online from uh youtube or linkedin or facebook community and you’ve got a question uh far away in the comments i will take that as a priority uh if you don’t get any live questions i will move on to our alvo.com questions where i’ve got a 13 trademarks and one patent question so i’ll just try to do what i can to get through those trademark questions um with the time we have allowed a quick disclaimer um i’m an attorney but uh i’m not going to give away any legal advice okay i’ll talk about patents and share with you some of the fun stuff going on this guy’s process and i can answer hypothetical questions but i don’t want you to be disclosing any confidential information here this is not a legal consultation but if you believe that after having this maybe a meeting with me or after doing some research and you want to move forward and and start to see it now is the right time to move forward with your invention i’m giving you a link right there to schedule a free screening session with one of our representatives and for taking action for doing that i’m gonna give you a copy of this book it’s a free pdf of bold ideas the inventor’s guide to patents and it’s gonna give you the whole kind of lay the land what what patents is all about what the difference between patents and trademarks is anything you might need to know in in between uh so what i’ll do is uh i’ll upload i’m gonna jump right into our our topic today which is back to school i have got uh yeah i’ve got three patents i want to show you so i’m gonna share my screen with you so i’m going to take a moment
there we go all right perfect so this first invention is is actually one that was just granted less than a month ago uh to the inventor it’s all kurani and this is a writing device this is a writing box this is so cool this is uh if you can picture kind of a james bond pencil for teachers professors this is it uh this pencil pretty much does it all i was blown away with how many different functions uh this writing device this pencil does and you can kind of see with that image and i love going to the drawings look at that bad boy the swiss army knife of pencils mr karani whoops has really helped us kind of take pencils to the next level so you can kind of start to see what this thing does it has a fold out protractor it’s got a stylus it’s got a mechanical pencil tip it’s got a magnetic closure and yeah that is right here this is actually a projector so it’ll project an image of whatever’s shown down below pretty incredible um now you kind of see some of these other functions and what’s involved here with different leds i’m not even sure what a dichromic filter is imagines multi-colors optics condenser light pipe prisms optical lenses imaging systems microphone different types of touch sensors of course bluetooth and wi-fi enabled this is a super [Music] pencil um so believe it or not this is this is a granted patent
i can imagine this kind of for like you know your entry level or maybe your first one college level trigonometry or geometry level class let’s take a look uh there’s a cool image up above and how you might actually use how it’s connected to different computers like scrolling down past the written description to see what’s claimed here you know what uh what the inventor actually owns is listed here at the bottom in the number of set of clients and so we’re not on page 41 uh multifunctional writing device comprising and so all these elements right are part of this client okay it’s part of what they own meaning if you uh if you’re out there making smart multifunctional writing device and it has all of these elements all these things a whole body first writing member a second projector and so on you will be infringing this pad okay but it’s got the ability to have a mechanical pencil a drawing tool compass needle stylus eraser flash drive imaging system projector pen set of cameras and an attached projector stick so pretty darn cool i was looking online to try to see if there was any type of a product like this available to buy and i couldn’t quite find it but there it is patent number eleven million eight eighty four thousand three hundred eighteen congrats to mr kirani so who needs an upgrade in their pencil i certainly do let’s check that out all right any live questions on that let’s see if we have anything back in our our studio
nothing yet all right let’s jump back over to the next patent so this one was issued a couple months ago in july of this year and this one is uh in commerce so this is a class edu incorporated it’s a virtual classroom um and they have actually partnered with the zoom uh to deliver sort of a custom you know in-class virtual learning uh platform um i was really intrigued by this i mean it’s uh you know zoomed us a lot i think a lot of many many students teachers communities have used zoom and other technologies like that to get together and connect when in person just doesn’t make sense with respect to the chronovirus they’ve taken it to the next level and so this is a it’s a method of both not just connecting on the video but actually allowing assignments grading and interaction between the students to happen in the live meeting so they sort of always stay online they stay in this platform this is zoom like video for the whole time but that they’re actually teaching so it isn’t just um you know seeing the video only so i thought that was really neat uh they’ve got some some slides here that i thought were pretty uh pretty well done to kind of show what this would look like let me try to rotate this over
okay i do love the names here too the teacher is justin bieber um but uh so the teacher would be up here for example and you’d have the rest of the class uh but there’s three students here that are part of a presenting group and you kind of see who you know who’s featured on the left or shooter these actually be the teaching assistants but they show different modes and the students there’s 49 students and you kind of see they’re in a different panel but it’s nice to see you know the teacher would be constantly up there the assistance might be also be up there um kind of in a college setting as you can see they can assign give a syllabus going to go over what’s going to happen here’s some instructions
take a poll begin testing launching different products in the system interacting with that
and
it seems like they’re able to actually answer and ask questions and also provide identification for real what type of devices are being plugged in with sort of a live readout on how many people are there
i um one that sort of showed them presenting i thought that was pretty unique
lots of different instances here
we play videos
yeah here we go so you got ronaldo and elton john presenting teaching assistants are up there and then the rest of the class so anyway very neat very neat system and i’ll show you briefly where um
where i found them and so they’re online uh class technologies and so they partnered with zoom they kind of put together that platform that we sort of looked at in a much more you know colorful and user-friendly type of position so that’s cool all right any live questions on that nothing yet okay let me show you um a third invention on back to school this is a backpack right and who thought the backpacks there’s something to do and it’s true almost everything every product out there can be improved on and it’s just another example of an improvement patent this was issued just a month ago on august 3rd 2021 um and someone thought of this neat idea to include a magnetic back panel so a lot of you know the back but the backpack is usually soft and kind of ergonomic um but it’s got some sort of cardboard or maybe it’s a rigid plastic liner um but this is actually a magnetic panel and that they’re still using in two ways they’re sort of creating these cavities you can see 104 i’ll make it choose the bigger picture uh this rectangle area and then they’ll show a section that’s unzipped that will create a little cavity opening we can put magnetic objects in there see a little opening right there some keys or maybe containers that are metallic um you know valuable type objects of course you can put your normal books and papers and anything else you may need to carry around your lunch in there but maybe something more valuable than these inner chambers that would be magnetically attached um secured rather in this sort of innermost chamber i thought that was really neat the other aspect is that of course it’s magnetic on both sides and so on this back panel part you can attach it to really any metal structure and uh other than the funniest and better might be you know someone who doesn’t who may spend time in the gym you know hang your bag up get a couple squats in and uh pick up your bag and be on your way i think it demonstrates a couple cool things where you kind of keep the bag off the ground a lot of bacteria a lot of uh eventually viruses who knows it could be on the on the bottom underside of the bag if it were sitting on the ground so it’s nice sanitary way um to secure the bag and it’s not actually hanging right on a rod or anything it’s stuck to the to the net okay and i i thought dude why didn’t they include something like a locker you know locker would be a great example just keeping your bag off the ground uh maybe while you’re doing something else with your hands um you can store things and protein drinks on your lunch whatever food you might want to have it’s kind of neat so it’s a magnetic back backpack um and it can be positioned on any middle middle object let’s take a quick look at the claims you know that’s pretty nice and a short plane like this that’s usually a really good sign that it’s covering a nice broad subject matter it’s not too specific um so it’s got a storage compartment with an inner volume shoulder straps back panel having you know essentially positioned along the vertical spline and one magnetic position of that panel at the central position so they did have to get kind of specific with respect to what the angle and the position of that magnetic device but aside from that i think it’s it’s going to cover them for almost any type of a backpack which is neat so i wish them well and um again it was just granted a month ago to michael mccarthy so congrats on that and thanks for being a part of our show today so those are the back to school inventions um kind of interesting it’s always fun to look at subject matter and it’s incredible how much innovation there really is every day um you know in almost every area so well a lot of us are going back to school um you know this is going to be uh just one of many subjects that we can bring up so if any of you guys have uh the topics you want to hear about as we move forward this year i’d love to hear them feature it um we want to try to build a live audience and try to get some more participation here um for sure so what i’ll do is uh i look to open up our elbow questions i don’t see any live audience or live questions at the moment uh so here’s the first question here that is asked at baltimore maryland that was a good one so i’ll put it in the comments here
all right so how do i patent a weight loss program i want to protect a weight loss program that i researched myself i don’t want the company that i’m with to use it without giving me credit okay so it’s kind of a two-part question i’ll take the first first part which is you know eligibility and patent patentability of a weight loss program and i will say that certainly a novel meaning a brand new first of its kind in the world method right method of of you know eating or working out or some way of losing weight if there’s actual process there that is patent eligible absolutely if it’s the first time and it’s not an obvious change or iteration or version of a different workout plan that’s come before it that’s been published it’s eligible and a weight loss program is certainly part of that that spectrum of the other method you know method
i will say that you know it’s probably going to be worth your time to think hard about whether you want to go down the path of seeking a patent protection before um you know is it going to be something that’s going to be enforceable uh easily detectable even if you get the patent granted if someone are you able to tell that someone else is using your patented system your patented method um without uh without you kind of looking inside and seeing how they’re consulting so that’s something to make sure you think uh think about um the other aspect of a program or where you’re doing some sort of a presentation or a package is copyright definitely will come with a play right any type of writings you have um whether it’s videos written descriptions um you know every course on you know how to and you know use the system or the method of losing weight you want to think about how to protect that using copyright that’s going to control any our creative artistic expression you have around you know this innovative weight loss system okay so the second part of your question is actually about ownership okay and so this comes up a lot we like to make sure we have this clear flood of our clients that are first-time inventors or may not know what they’re obligated to do as an employee so take a very close look at your employment agreement so some of the i mean and this will be you know case by case even state by state evaluation to see if there’s any risk that your own that your employer would own what you’ve created and it’s kind of a two or three part test uh the big one is is this invention related to what you do on the job right do you work for um you know 30 30 10 weight loss do you work for a weight loss company um is it you know do you do consulting for how to lose lose weight or stay in shape a fitness type of company um that may be a concern the second perhaps bigger question is did you develop it um as part of what you know your boss or employer asked you to do and and otherwise in furtherance of your job or your position um and uh the last one is was it developed during hours right during when you’re being paid to to work right did you come up with this solution on the job and if you did right and it’s related to what you’re doing um that may lean toward you know the employer actually owning and so there are ways to address that certainly with you know a simple contract where they could waive the rights they say hey you know as long as you do your job that we’re paying you for you can own this you know interesting idea on your own independently and there may be a simple way to do that via contract that will be a specific question and we want to make sure you work closely with an attorney to draft that contract up okay i’ll put that question aside for now and thank you for that i we’ll do one trademark question i think we’re going to close up
let’s take a peek here so trademark application questions
this one is out of tucson arizona
okay and there are food developers that’s kind of cool [Music]
okay so i’m a food developer and i’m giving free samples at an event how would i protect myself from someone stealing my logo or brand i’m a food development developer and i pass out free samples i haven’t become legal yet although one point i was now this event is useful uh is this weekend what if anything can i do to protect my logo if i use it uh i’m thinking i won’t uh without my brand or idea so hopefully this answer is coming in time and it wasn’t just this past weekend uh but in any events um you know free samples um you know when you’re out there showing off your company right and who you are and what your what your logo is what you want your company to be known for um in a way you know you’re you’re saying this word this logo represents our company’s product right our our company’s goods and i want this to be you know the the symbol i want your customers to start to get to know this as our quality and represent our our products and so as soon as you start using that in commerce even if it’s you know for free and that’s arguably still in the stream of commerce you’re still you know asking them to give you feedback there’s some sort of compensation there but i will say certainly when you start selling okay selling a product and yes you’re getting money for it that is definitively something you could use to as evidence that you’re using that mark in commerce that’s what the trademark office would be looking for when you try to go register and say yep you’re the only one able to use this logo or this mark for your types of goods or services also quality classification so it’s kind of a long way of saying it’s okay and it’s actually good to just start using a logo or mark to be even wiser okay the best case scenario is to actually work with an attorney a trademark attorney to conduct a clearance search right to make sure that before you just launch that you’re not going to be stepping on the toes of someone else i mean someone else may already have my registration for that type of logo or certainly that type of word that you’re trying to be um you know make uh make is yours and you may not know it right innocence unfortunately is not uh does not absolve you of liability um so you’ve got to make sure you take a look and make sure you’re not going to be treading on someone else’s mark before you open up uh because it is kind of unfortunate to have to change branding uh change your logo after you start customers they lose some you know faith and trust in you that you’re going to be there forever or you’re going to have um you know always be changing right is something else happening is your product changing too so you don’t have to start out um with one brand or one logo and then have to change later so uh be wise take a look uh hire an attorney to review that certainly bold pass be happy to do that we have trademark attorney on staff uh if you’re interested okay cool good questions i’m gonna put my information here below so you can get a hold of me personally if you have any questions and i’ve got a text only line you’re welcome to text me and i’ll get back to you within a couple hours during business hours um so again uh i’m jd gupta with bold patents law firm owner here and also patent attorney i’ll be here next week wednesday and we’ll talk about another subject here have a good day everybody and happy going back to school bye