đ11 Kiryat Hamada Street, Jerusalem, Israel
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In the United States, designs are examined and maintained as a type of patent, subject to the same patentability requirements as a utility patent.
Mr. Junker is the owner of US Design Patent no. D450,839 (the Dâ839 Patent) claiming â[t]he ornamental design for a handle for introducer sheath, as shown and described.â (Junker vs. Medical, 4). The designâs novel feature is that the handles have âlarge, rounded Mickey-Mouse shaped ears that made it easier for doctors to grasp the introducer sheath during catheter-insertion proceduresâ.
The filing date of the design application was February 7, 2000, which makes February 7, 1999 the critical date for determining the on-sale bar.
In 2013, Mr. Junker sued Medical Components for infringement of the Dâ839 Patent.
There are many pearls of wisdom of the type âlook before you leap.â The above unfortunate case in which adequate precautions were not taken for a safe landing, should be a lesson for us all. Owners of potential IP should consult with their attorneys about their proposed business actions; and IP attorneys should take an interest in the business activities of their clients, the IP owners.
And all of this is necessary due to the fact that the imperative to look before you leap, or the pain entailed in shooting yourself in the foot, are not likely to change very soon(!)
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My first real job was working at a delicatessen in suburban Pennsylvania when I was 13 years old. Through this introduction into the real world of business, I learned that the way the business earned money was by investing in inventory, premises, equipment and salaries. Through hard work and patience, these investments could allow the store owner to sell items and to profit.
Years later, I found myself in the intellectual property (IP) field. As opposed to the tangible investments required in the delicatessen, I have spent the last 20 years helping companies obtain intangible assets such as utility patents and trademarks.
It is relatively straightforward to recognize that tangible assets help a business generate revenue and profit. But how does one determine if IP assets have the same effect? Are IP assets having a positive impact on the economy today? Or are industries without IP performing just as well as industries which invest heavily in IP?
To answer these questions, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently released a report entitled âIntellectual property and the U.S. economy: Third edition.â
Back to the Future
The world of the late 1980s, when I was a kid at my first job, was a very different one than todayâs world.
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Ronen Sobel is the co-founder and CEO of Genoxy, an Israeli bio tech startup that has developed a green technology to kill bacteria by converting water to hydrogen peroxide on demand using a jet spray that spreads micro-droplets on any surface.
Avraham sat down with Ronen in the offices of Genoxy in Kochav Yair, Israel to discuss how to take an idea and turn it into a marketable product, how they got funded, how they formed their core team, tips for startup founders and much more.
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Israel Trademark Application 267843 was filed on August 24, 2014, for a mark consisting of the word âMOSESâ and the image of the biblical figure Moses splitting the Red Sea. The application was filed in International Class 33 relating to alcoholic beverages.
An Opposition was filed by the Israeli restaurant chain MOSES, based on confusion, likelihood of misleading the public, exploitation of Opposerâs reputation causing unfair competition, erosion of the uniqueness of their marks and dilution of their marks.
Additional grounds included similarity with emblems of exclusively religious significance, and, last but not least, passing off.
The Judge applied the tri-partite test to the facts at hand, namely the tests of Image and sound; classes of merchandise, and type of consumers; and specific circumstances of the case. In this last test, the Judge agreed with the Opposer that their mark had acquired distinctiveness and that MOSES in combination with the image of the cat/dog, is a known brand in Israel. However, the Judge noted that the message conveyed by the brand is young, abstract, and a bit amusing and has nothing to do with biblical Moses - in contrast to the requested mark, which is a realistic and classic image, with a clear connection to the biblical figure, Moses, and serious.
In handing down the decision, the Judge conveyed the message that trademark law is not always black and white, and exceptions do apply, specifically in the words of the presiding judge: âan exceptionâŚoccurs when the design component of the mark is so unique that it overshadows the verbal similaritiesâ.
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The JMB Davis Ben-David trademark services team works with leading international brands seeking to merchandize their products in the US, Israel and the rest of the world.
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For 25 years, the JMB Davis Ben-David team has successfully assisted clients in registering design patents that protect their original designs for products ranging from medical devices to diamonds.
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The JMB Davis
Ben-David
YouTube Channel
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You'll find our hour long webinars on Patents and using the Patent system to your advantage.
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We're here to help you with your patents, designs and trademarks.
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We started JMB Davis Ben-David with one goal in mind: to help our clients navigate the challenges of securing rights to their IP. This includes patents, designs and trademarks. Since 1995 we have been working with partners around the world so as to secure our clientsâ IP rights. Weâre here for you.
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Managing Partner
JMB Davis Ben-David
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