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When you are in search of a personal injury lawyer, just as in any other matter, you don’t want to hire the wrong person for the job. You want the right lawyer, with the right experience and the right success rate, not just the one with the loudest television commercials.

There are some things you should think about before you head off to the first lawyer’s office listed in the phone book. The first thing to do is make a list of questions and contact more than one office to narrow down your search. There are several ways to get names of lawyers you may want to consider.

· Referrals from people you know who have used a personal injury lawyer

· Referral services that list professionals and their qualifications

· Referral from other lawyers

Once you have obtained some names, you will want to call the law offices to find out more information. Some of the questions that can help you narrow your search:

· Does this lawyer charge for the initial consultation?

· Does this lawyer have a minimum amount they want to be able to sue for in order to take a case and what is that amount?

· Does this lawyer work for plaintiffs or defendants?

Once you have contacted the law offices and asked your questions, it is a good idea to narrow your list down to three lawyers that fit your needs. You can then make appointments with those three lawyers in order to help you determine if one of them is a good fit for you. This is very hard to do without a personal meeting.

When you go into the personal meeting you will need to be prepared to discuss the information you have about your case. Take everything with you pertaining to the case. That includes any of the following that you have:

· Medical Bills and Receipts

· Pictures

· Insurance Policies

· Police Reports

· Personal Notes

The lawyer will want to talk about the incident and will ask you a lot of questions about it. Be prepared to answer everything including personal questions.

You will have questions to ask as well. Some of them might be:

· Will this lawyer handle your case personally or will someone else be doing it?

· What is this lawyer’s success rate?

· How would this lawyer want to proceed with your case?

After you have met with the chosen lawyers, you may feel you have enough information to make a decision about who to hire to help you. You may simply feel more comfortable with one than with the others. You may be very impressed with the success of one in comparison to the others. No-one can really tell you what one thing to base your decision on, so don’t rush and make the decision that feels right to you based on all the information you have and on the answers you got from each lawyer when you met with them.

When someone sustains a personal injury, they often find themselves in the position of deciding whether or not they want to pursue compensation via legal means.

There are several things to think about when making this decision and you will want to consider the details of each one before you do make that choice.

· Did you have to pay for medical attention?

· Have you been unsuccessful in getting a settlement from insurance?

· Are you willing to spend the time and effort needed to pursue this legally?

· Do you believe in accidents?

· Do you believe someone should always have to pay for what happens to you?

Many people decide to take advantage of free consultations the many personal injury lawyers offer. This can sometimes help you sort through whether your case is something that might be resolvable with legal help.

If you do visit a lawyer about your case, you should be prepared before you visit. They will want to know all the details of your case, so make sure you are clear on everything and bring any notes you made right after the accident.

Bring your medical bills or other bills that were directly related to the injury. A personal injury lawyer needs all the proof you have in order to determine whether or not they feel you have a viable case. In cases where someone feels they do not have the money or the time to seek medical attention for their injuries, there is no actual proof of their injury. Generally, if you don’t take your own injuries seriously enough to seek help for them, you are unlikely to be given compensation from someone else for them either.

When considering your options, you should be aware that many personal injury suits never actually make it to court. If you do pursue compensation in the legal arena, you may well find an out of court settlement is how your matter is brought to a close. The number of such cases that actually end up in court is quite small.

It is important to not allow yourself to be talked into taking out a personal injury lawsuit simply because the lawyer you see insists on working for free until you get a settlement. It is always a good rule in life to not jump on any bandwagon that you have to be convinced to jump onto. If you have serious reservations about pursuing this as a legal matter, then perhaps you should not do it.

In the end, no-one can tell anyone else whether their personal injury case is something worth pursuing legally or not. It is a personal injury and it is a personal decision as well that involves one’s beliefs, their philosophy of life as well as the degree of injury. Make yourself aware of your options and then make your own decision about the matter based on your research and your own personal feelings about the matter.

What does patent pending and patent applied for mean?

These terms are used by a seller or manufacturer of an item to tell the public that they have applied for a patent on the item and that it is on file with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Is there any way that the US Patent and Trademark Office will share information in my application while it is pending?

No – your application is held in the strictest of confidence by the US Patent and Trademark Office until the application is published or the patent is issued. A member of the public may request a copy of the application file after the application has been published and when the patent is issued a copy of it may be purchased from the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Can I write to the US Patent and Trademark Office about my filed application?

Yes, you can inquire about the status of your application with the US Patent and Trademark Office. However if you have an attorney, all inquiries should go through them as the US Patent and Trademark Office will not correspond with both you and your attorney.

Do I have to go to the US Patent and Trademark Office to do business with patents?

No, most of the business is done by written correspondence.

The patent I have was done with more than one person – who will the patent be granted to?

The patent will be jointly given to the people who are joint inventors. However if only one of the people had the ideas for the invention in order for someone else to make it, the patent will be in the name of the person with the original idea.

Does the US Patent and Trademark Office control the fees that are charged by attorneys and lawyers for the services they provide?

No, the US Patent and Trademark Office doesn’t control the fees, this is between you and your lawyer.

Do I have to find an attorney myself or can the US Patent and Trademark Office help me with that?

You have to find your own attorney yourself to help you with your patent application.

Are there organizations that can help me with assistance in developing and marketing my invention?

Yes, there may be some organizations in your area that can help you.

Is there a state government agency to help me with development and marketing of my invention?

Yes, in most states there are planning and development agencies that seek out new product inventions and process ideas. You can look up the information in the phone book or call your governor for more information.

Can the US Patent and Trademark Office help me with the marketing and development of my patent product?

No, the US Patent and Trademark Office can’t help you with any of the business transactions that are involved with the marketing or development of a new invention.

Do I need an attorney to file for a patent?

It’s always a good idea to run this type of business through an attorney. It’s not impossible to do it yourself, but the documentation is quite complex and complicated.

When you file for a patent, it is granted by the national patent office or by a regional patent office. Under some regional systems, such as the European Patent Office and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization, you can request protection for your patent in one or more countries. Each county decides whether or not it will offer you a patent protection in their country.

There are no ‘world patents’ or ‘international patents’ in existence at this time. Usually, you file for a patent and it is then granted and enforced or denied. You would have to do this in each country that you seek protection for your invention, keeping with the laws of each individual country. Each country is different in their requirements for granting patents and each country has its own fee schedule as well.

The best bet for the most protection with your invention and patents internationally is to contact an experienced patent attorney who specializes in intellectual property in each of the countries you are interested in gaining a patent in.

It can be quite pricey to have a patent in many countries, but if your patent is extreme and innovative, it may be worth it. You don’t want people across the borders of the US to infringe on your patent and come up with a similar idea on their own, which they likely got from you.

Remember, that once a patent is published, any person can access that file and once the patent is granted, anyone can purchase the publication.

The best person to help you with the decision about how many countries you should seek out a patent in is a patent attorney. They will be able to help you ascertain if your patent should be internationally patented or if only your home country should be considered. A patent attorney will also be able to help you choose amongst the countries that should be chosen.

It’s not an easy task to seek out international patents – the same procedures are in effect in most countries, which means that you would have to search the country’s patents to see if any are in effect already which are the same or similar to yours. This process can take a long time, however it may very well be worth it in the end. Infringing on a patent in any country can leave you with literally nothing if the offended company or person decides to sue you for damages for using their idea and infringing on their patent.

The easiest thing for you as an inventor to do is hire a patent attorney to help you out. Your attorney can then search the patent databases of other countries to see if any similar patents exist. It may be better to have your patent attorney do that anyway so that you can be sure that your invention is indeed innovative, useful and new.

A patent is a right of property granted by the United States to an inventor for his invention which prevents and excludes other people from using, making, offering for sale or selling the invention. Only the actual inventor of a product/invention can file for a patent.

There are some restrictions on what type of products can be patented. Only utility patents are provide for something that is new, not obvious and useful for:

Processes
Machines
Articles of manufacture
Compositions of matter
Improvements to any of the above.

There are things that can also not be patented and they include:

Any laws of nature
Physical phenomena
Literary, musical, artistic or dramatic works – however they can be copyright protected.
Or, inventions which are:
  Not useful
  Offensive to public morality

Patented products must be:

· Not obvious

· A novel idea

· Sufficiently described or enabled

· Claimed by the inventor in clear terms.

The first step in figuring out if you need a patent is to see if it qualifies and if there is no other thing like it already patented. You will have to search all of the previous public disclosures to figure out if your invention has already been patented. Then you need to familiarize yourself with the basics of the patenting process. The best thing to do is to hire a patent attorney to help you with all the processes involved in applying for a patent. However you can muddle through the process on your own, including doing your own search for other patents that may be the same as, or conflict with the one you propose. It is important to note that it is quite difficult to do the search and file for a patent on your own; your best bet is to hire an attorney to help you with the search and filing.

A patent that has been filed after June 8, 1995 for utility and plant patents are granted for a term that ends 20 years after the first filing date and is subject to maintenance fees. Design patents last for 14 years from the date the patent is granted and has no maintenance fees.

A patent attorney is the best person to help you with all of your patent processing needs, including gaining a full patent, filing for the patent and above all, searching for other existing patents. The patent process is long and arduous and quite complex and daunting for someone who is not a patent lawyer. A lawyer can help you out immensely with the process and ensure that it is done right so that you don’t have to worry about patent infringement or copyright infringement on other people’s inventions. Infringing on a patent can be quite severe if the other person, people or company can prove that you did not do your due diligence to find an existing patent, or that you found it and ignored it. The penalties that are awarded by the courts can literally ruin you for life financially and socially.

A lot of people are interested in copyright law, for a lot of different reasons. Maybe you’re looking to buy exclusive rights to a song you wrote. Maybe you want to download copyrighted songs on the Internet. Whatever the case, there aren’t any hard and fast rules about copyrights – the reality is copyright law is complicated and extensive. But here are some frequently asked questions to help you better understand copyright and where you fit into it all.

·          What can be copyrighted?

Essentially, any creation that shows skill, originality and effort was put into it can be copyrighted. Short stories, novels, handbooks, software, video games, radio broadcasts, songs, recordings, poems, etc… there isn’t much that’s off limits. You can’t copyright a mere idea though. Copyright is focused on the form of expression and not necessarily the basic content. As well, trademarks and patents cover some territory that copyrights don’t, like inventions and logos.

·          What do you get out of a copyright?

You get exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display the work and enforce the law if another person or entity infringes on these rights. As well, you can always sell and negotiate these rights too.

·          How do you get these special rights?

Well, you may already have them and not realize it. You don’t have to register your copyright with the US Patent Office in order to benefit from it in a court of law or in other situations. However, if you do register a copyright, it’s just easier to defend it as you simply have hard evidence of your copyright! Luckily, copyright law comes into play automatically. For instance, if you just wrote a song, you have the rights to it already – whether you actively pursue a formal copyright or not!

·          Is my copyright protected overseas?

For the most part – yes. The United States and many other countries decided to standardize copyright law and respect each other’s policies. However, this doesn’t include every country. Make sure to find out what countries are in line with the U.S before you conduct International business.

·          What’s the difference between a trademark and a copyright?

Copyright is concerned with forms of expression, like a music or literary work or perhaps a photo. However, if you’re trying to make your band name official or promote an advertising slogan, you’ll need to trademark it – not copyright it.

·          Is filesharing illegal?

Filesharing, in itself, is not illegal. This is why operators of file sharing programs are typically not doing anything wrong. However, it’s when the files shared contain copyrighted material that it gets a lot more problematic. Yes, sharing a copyrighted song over the Internet is against the law!

Now that you’ve got the basics out of the way, you can begin the process of preregistration and registration of your copyright if you so choose. You can register your copyright with the US Patent Office. All you’ll need to do is fill out some paperwork, submit the copy in question, and have about $45 on hand.

When you obtain a copyright, you obtain exclusive rights over an original work, whether it be a simple idea or more detailed information. That’s quite a broad definition, isn’t it? Indeed, all kinds of “creations” have the potential to be copyrighted: musicals, plays, songs, books, poems, paintings, recordings, handbooks, software, etc. Essentially, when something is created, its creator gets protection via a copyright.

Now, copyright law is sometimes tricky and difficult to learn. For instance, let’s say you have a copyrighted poem on your hands that is focused on nature. Does this mean nature is copyrighted? Well, of course not! American citizens would be outraged if this were the case. Only the poem is copyrighted. While this example is clear, others aren’t and that’s when copyright law can get complicated. Luckily, what’s true in one country is often true in another, as copyright laws are understood to mean the same thing across the globe.

So, now that you know the basics, the real question is: should I obtain a copyright? Certainly if you have a valuable creation, you should. Valuable is subjective, however, as your work might be important to you but not necessarily earn you money. Either way, if the work is original enough to fit into the requirements for copyrighting, it might benefit you to move forward with the formal copyrighting porcess. Perhaps the better question is: when should I not obtain a copyright?

Well, the fortunate reality is you may already have a copyright and not even know it. Just as with trademarks, copyrights may innately exist, which means you’ll own the rights to them! Perhaps you wrote a short story. Do you have to get it formally copyrighted in order to protect it from being misused by others? No – and you shouldn’t. As long as you can prove you wrote the story and the writing process involved skill and originality, you’ll probably make it out of court okay. However, if you register your copyright, your chances are even better. A registered copyright is a wonderful, compelling piece of evidence and it even allows a copyright owner to sue for more damages. So if you have a high chance of ending up in court, you might as well save yourself some trouble down the road and register your copyright.

If you want more security and exclusive rights to your copyright, it’s best to obtain one in a formal way. Especially if the work in question was created “for hire,” you’ll want to obtain a copyright so as to encourage proper use of it. For instance, a composer might write a concerto, but does that mean he or she has exclusive rights to the concerto? Not always – the composer might be for hire and thus the copyright transfers to another. If this is the situation you’re dealing with, you will definitely want to obtain a copyright.

Copyright law is quite extensive, but hopefully now that you’ve grazed the surface of it, you have a better idea about whether or not to pursue a copyright.

The Internet, and filesharing in particular, has caused quite a stir in several industries, as copyright law has been put to the test as a result. Whether it’s music, movies, software, or literature, people are downloading copyrighted works online every day and only a handful have ever been taken to court over it. What’s going on here?

We all remember how the filesharing giant Napster was taken down because of copyright infringement, but the reality is lots of Napster-like filesharing programs have popped up in its place and their operators have found ways to avoid legal responsibility. And indeed, it is the file sharers that are typically at risk – not the operators of the file sharing program.

So what does that mean for your neighbor or coworker or perhaps even you, who loves to download music online? It may not mean much at all. File sharing is so widespread these days, that organizations like the RIAA can’t possibly enforce copyright laws across the board. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t breaking the law.

In the late 90’s, President Clinton signed into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There needed to be new law to address new technology; it’s been a difficult task preserving old copyrights, because the ease of copyright infringement increases as the number of Internet users goes up every year. Even with new policies, filesharing and copyrights are still very much a big national debate and you can probably find a bunch of news stories on the topic from week to week, all relating to how the debate is gradually changing over time.

College students typically face more risk at being called to task for sharing files, as compared to the rest of the population. This is because universities are also Internet Service Providers and they are  more compelled to hand over the IP addresses of file sharing students when a powerful organization like the RIAA breathes down their necks. Consequently, young people have been aggressively sued and forced to pay up to thousands of dollars out of court. For a few, filesharing has been rather costly and a painful lesson to learn. For the rest of us, at least right now, the risk appears minimal. Be wary, though – the RIAA, specifically, wants to change that – so what’s easy to do today may be difficult to do tomorrow.

This is why keeping up with filesharing news is so important; whether you want to know what’s legal and what’s illegal or whether you’re an artist simply trying to protect your creation, copyright law is constantly being challenged in new ways, thanks to filesharing. Many musicians have embraced file sharing and used it for their own betterment, while others have been audibly offended by it (take the band Metallica for instance).

Parents usually tell their kids to share when they’re little, but should they encourage them to share files online? Probably not! But where do you cross the line between innocuous communication between Internet users and copyright infringement? There doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to this yet, but there are enough private interests who want an answer soon.  

Copyright law is something that you could devote an entire class or book to and still end up with an incomplete picture of it. Especially in today’s world of sophisticated technology and the World Wide Web, copyrights have become all the more complicated and confusing. Why not talk get a copyright attorney on your side who can sharpen the picture for you?

An attorney won’t simply be your go-to guy in court; he or she can help you sort out all kinds of issues involving your copyright and hopefully prevent you from ever having to sue anyone in the first place.

First off, there is the painful process of copyright search that ought to be performed before you get an original creation copyrighted. In other words, does your yet-to-be copyrighted poem closely resemble a poem that’s already been copyrighted? A copyright attorney is skilled at answering questions like these and unless you have the time and money to do so yourself, it might be best to hire one on board. If you then want to register your copyright, an attorney can guide you through those steps as well.

However, if this is the beginning and end of your experience with copyrights, an attorney may just end up a wasted expense. It’s if your story continues that there’s little debate that you will need some outside help in the form of a copyright attorney.

So when is a copyright attorney truly invaluable? If there’s been unauthorized use of your copyright or perhaps if you’re on the other side and are being accused of misusing a copyright, then you need a copyright attorney. How else can you properly defend your exclusive rights? When a copyright is registered, it’s a lot easier to defend it in court, and an attorney will appreciate this. However, if your copyright is unregistered, you’ll run into more than a few snags and it’s during this time, specifically, that a copyright attorney will be crucial to the success of your case.

A copyright is a type of intellectual property and that means you have to watch over it with care. Chances are people will want to negotiate with you about use of it and unless you have a copyright attorney with you to help you out, these negotiations will mean little. How important is your copyright to you? Depending on your answer to this question, you’ll know how important a copyright attorney is to you too

If you are an inventor and have come up with a new product, process or idea, then it’s best to find a patent lawyer to help you with filing for a patent. The application process for patents is extremely complex and difficult to get through, so much so that a non-lawyer may have difficulty getting the documentation completed and correct. Hiring a patent lawyer will ensure that the process is done easily, promptly and correctly. There are a number of restrictions on patents on what can and can not be patented. Your patent lawyer will also be able to help you ascertain if your invention is able to be patented or not. Some of the restrictions on patents include:

• Any laws of nature
• Physical phenomena
• Literary, musical, artistic or dramatic works – however they can be copyright protected.
• Or, inventions which are:
              Not useful
              Offensive to public morality

 
Utility patents provide for something that is new, not obvious and useful for:

• Processes
• Machines
• Articles of production
• Compositions of matter
• Improvements to any of the above.

Patented products must be:
·        Not obvious
·        An  innovative idea
·        Adequately described or enabled
·        Applied for by the inventor in clear terms.

A patent lawyer is the best person to help you the your patent dispensation needs, including gaining a full patent, filing for the patent and above all, searching for other existing patents. The patent process is long and laborious and quite intricate and overwhelming for someone who is not a patent lawyer. A patent lawyer can help you out immensely with the process and ensure that it is done correctly so that you don’t have to worry about patent infringement or copyright infringement on other people’s inventions.

Infringing on a patent can be quite severe if the other person, people or company can prove that you did not do your due diligence to find an existing patent, or that you found it and ignored it. The penalties that are awarded by the courts can literally ruin you for life financially and socially. With all that there is to consider in patents, hiring a patent lawyer should be done as soon as you are ready to launch your invention, or before that, if possible. There are thousands of patents that are applied for everyday, and it is highly possible that more than one of the same type of ideas exist. There is a lot of help available for you with your patent and your invention. The best person to direct you to that help, especially for marketing and creation is a patent lawyer. They have all the information you require to get your patent filed and off the ground. The patent lawyer will also be able to help you with many of the other aspects of filing for a patent, primarily the searching of the patent records in the United States and in other countries, which can be a daunting and difficult task.