E-Commerce:  The Final Frontier?*
By Gerald T. Bodner, Esq.
Actor William Shatner may never have been more on target - even when battling Klingons as Captain James Kirk in the classic “Star Trek” television series - than when he said, “This is going to be big…really big.”  In fact those words, penned to herald the 1998 debut of Priceline.com, for which Shatner is spokesperson, could be applied to e-commerce as a whole... FULL STORY>>

Patent Protection for Board Game
Question:  “I have an idea for a new type of board game.  What should I do to protect and possibly market my idea?”
Answer:  Board games may be protected by patents, trademarks and copyrights. A board game may be patented as long as it is new, useful and not obvious, the three criteria for patentability.  A board game is not new if it has been sold in the United States or made public more than one year before a patent is applied for.  The “useful” criterion is easily met if the game is educational, for enjoyment or serves some other purpose... FULL STORY>>

"The Role of Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights For Defense Contractors Who Commercialize Their Products
By Gerald T. Bodner, Esq.
In the past, many defense contractors on Long Island were not concerned with the protection of their research and developments.  Very often, the projects in which they were engaged were federally funded under Department of Defense (DOD) contracts... FULL STORY>>

Filing Foreign Patent Applications?  Beware of Bar Dates*
By Gerald T. Bodner, Esq.
For those companies who wish to file patent applications in the United States, the U.S. patent laws provide a grace period of one year to file the application from the time of an actual sale of, or offer to sell, the invention, or from a public disclosure of the invention, such as at a trade show or in a printed publication, including another’s patent... FULL STORY>>

U.S. Patent System Under GATT and NAFTA
The United States took a step closer to harmonization of its patent practice with the rest of the world when Congress adopted and implemented the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  President Clinton approved the GATT legislation on December 8, 1994 (the NAFTA legislation was approved earlier) and significant changes to our patent system took effect six months later, on June 8, 1995.By Gerald T. Bodner, Esq... FULL STORY>>