Free Law Information Blog

Business is a risky nature. It is also said the higher the risk, the greater the benefit. Discretion is the better part of the valor, as the potential downfall might lead to complete financial failure and recovering could be a mammoth task. It is important to know how much money you should risk, and incorporating a business venture reduces the risk and the personal liability. Read the rest of this entry »

On October 17, 2005 the world of bankruptcy law changed for the worse. Or did it? Is it really that much harder to file bankruptcy under the new bankruptcy law?

In the run up to the effective date of the new law, bankruptcy filings increased to record numbers in virtually every bankruptcy court district in the United States. Scary terms like “means test” and “bankruptcy credit counseling” seemed to drive people out of the wood work to beat the deadline.

After the law changed, many lawyers who used to file bankruptcy under the old law simply gave up filing bankruptcies because of a perception that the new bankruptcy law is overly complicated and time consuming.
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It was not until 1986 when a law protecting whistleblowers is made. Congress added an anti-retaliation protection to the then existing False Claims Act.

A whistleblower is a person who tells on something he believes is an illegal act. The employees are the most commonly known whistleblower. They tell on their employers which they suspect is doing or committing an illegal act.

Under the Whistleblower Protection Law, the employee should not be discharged, denoted, suspended, threatened or harassed in any form that discriminates the terms and conditions of his employment because of the legal act done by the employee.
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The primary Federal law governing wages, hours and overtime, the Fair Labor Standards Act (”FLSA”), 29 U.S.C. § 201, et seq., was originally enacted in 1938. This law is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.

Most employers see no reason to even think about this law if the pay their employees more than the widely known minimum wage. In fact, problems involving violations of the “wage and hour” laws are relatively uncommon to most employers. However, often when a problem arises, its not discovered by an employer until the violation has been ongoing for years. Too often the liability under the law at that point is absolutely staggering to most employers. Employers assume that as long as they pay the minimum wage and overtime there is nothing else to know about the wage and hour law. This is simply not the case and navigating the complex wage and hour laws is something best left to a wage and hour specialist. One clear sign that you need to consult a labor and employment law specialist immediately is that you still believe that paying an employee a salary means you don’t have to pay them overtime.
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For an object or idea to be patentable, it must fit into one of the following four categories; process, manufacture, machine or composition of matter. The subject matter must also be original, an unmodified, previously existing invention is never patentable. There must be a significant improvement over previous inventions for the new one to qualify. If two previous inventions are combined together, the combination must yield new and unexpected results for the invention to be considered patentable.

In addition, an invention must be useful and must actually work in order for it to be patentable. A useful invention is one in which the object already has a utility without anyone having to pursue further research to identify or reasonably confirm the utility. So, if you’ve invented a nifty little widget or doodad, but haven’t got a clue as to what it could be used for, the PTO isn’t going to be impressed and isn’t likely to grant your patent.
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When injured on the job your injuries could be catastrophic which could leave you with no means of survival if you are left in a wheel chair or bed ridden but don’t have the money to buy a bed or a wheel chair and if you need a medical alarm system or medical equipment you could receive medical equipment free of charge to make your life much easier they are several agencies that provided these kinds of services thought out the country Rehabilitation Commissions, Medicaid, Medicare and private organization could pay for your equipment.
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Many businesses make more than a decent living helping inventors just like you make money from their inventions. From filing a patent to licensing and marketing your invention, someone is around every corner offering assistance.

Unfortunately, not all of this help is the kind you want. There are companies out there who make a living off exploiting inventors. It’s important not to get caught up in any of these scams. What you need is a professional who has experience and is licensed to help you patent your invention. You really need either a patent attorney or a patent agent.

Both patent agents and attorneys are registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. No one else is. Please take note of that. No one else may legally help you fill out the paperwork associated with filing for your patent. And you definitely don’t want anyone else to help you for this aspect of your invention journey.
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Trademarks can be anything from words, phrases, logos, symbols, or slogans, anything that will identify or distinguish a person’s goods or services manufactured or sold to indicate their sources. Trademarks allow companies and businesses to be identified by their symbols or logos by what they are selling. For example, Nike is identified by the check symbol, and people identify that symbol with athletic wear and sneakers, that is Nikes symbol and cannot be used by anyone else. McDonald’s symbol is the Golden Arches, when people see those they know who those arches belong to and what they sell. There are all different types of trademarks; a service mark is the same as a trademark except it promotes a service instead of a product. A certification mark is a symbol, device, or name used by an organization to vouch for their products. A collective mark is a symbol, mark, phrase, or label, used by member of an organization to identify goods, members, products, or services they provide. Only members of particular groups or organizations are allowed to use the collective mark, even the group itself cannot use collective marks, only the members of the group. Protecting your trademark with trademark law consists of preventing others from using your mark. If others were able to use your trademark, how would the consumers distinguish your product from others?
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Inventions may qualify for a utility, a design or a plant patent as set out by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This article attempts to provide you with an overview on each of these patent types.

Examples of utility based inventions are everywhere. Most mechanical objects fit under this category. A rocket engine, paperclip and a new drug are all examples of utility based inventions. The variety between these objects is vast, but they all fit under the same category; those with utility.

Design patents are those that incorporate a design into an object of manufacture. A good example is a new design for a headboard.
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