Carothers & Carothers

If you want to gauge the financial risk of bringing your invention to market, a good place to start is with a freedom to practice opinion. This is a legal opinion that compares your design against similar patents to assess the likelihood of patent approval.

Did you know that getting a provisional patent isn’t a way to fast-track your patent application? Even if you file a provisional patent application, you will still have to file for the actual patent.

Did you know that not all types of intellectual property necessarily require a patent? Depending on what you’re trying to protect, you may need a trademark or copyright instead.

Did you know that patents are one of the few jobs delegated in our Constitution to the Federal government? It is! One reason for this is to prevent the states from patenting the same exact idea to two different people.

Copyrights protect works of authorship, such as writings, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed. The Library of Congress registers copyrights, which last for the life of the author, plus 70 years. An example of a piece of work that is copyrighted is the book, Gone With The Wind.