FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The Law Office of Howard M. Cohn and Associates specializes in Intellectual Property and is renowned for providing excellence in both legal services and customer care. Our firm has the unique capacity to effectively service large corporations, small businesses, startup companies and entrepreneurs alike. Drawing on over thirty-five years of experience, Howard M. Cohn leads our team of legal experts and personally oversees each and every piece of intellectual property that enters and leaves our office. Translating complicated legal parlance into more understandable language is a specialty of Howard’s and ensures that the client has a full understanding of the legal process. Our goal is your success and our mission is your satisfaction.
While the protection afforded by such legal instruments as patents is largely restricted outside the country of their issuance, this does not mean that there exists no recourse. It is also important to bear in mind that protection laws vary greatly from country to country. If the international arena is a concern, it is highly advisory to determine your legal options from the outset. Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent applications are a reasonably cost way of initially obtaining patent protection throughout the world. International patent protection increases the value of your invention while maintaining the option to file in any foreign country for a period of 2½ years.
The provisional patent application is designed to provide a one-year period to further develop the invention, determine marketability, seek licensing agreements and protect the ability to obtain international patent protection. An important aspect of a provisional patent application is the right to label the invention patent pending. Within 12 months of the filing date of the provisional application, a non-provisional patent application based on the information contained in the provisional application and any additional aspects of the invention that were developed since the filing date of the provisional must be filed.
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device used in trade with goods to indicate the source or origin of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. Trademarks are ubiquitous in the world of business and include many different types of marks. For example, some of the more common types of trademarks, brand names and logos, help distinguish a company’s products from its competitors’. Advertising slogans, which strengthen a corporate reputation in the minds of consumers, can also be trademarked. Certification marks, which are also a type of trademark, attest that a product meets a specified set of standards.
Utility patents are the most common type of patent protection, and are typically what people mean when they discuss patents. Utility patents apply to new and useful processes, machines, manufactures, compositions of matter, or any new and useful improvement of one of these. Generally speaking, if your invention does something, you should apply for a utility patent. Utility patents have been divided into three basic types: mechanical, electrical, and chemical.