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About Kurt Leyendecker

Kurt Leyendecker specializes in intellectual property law, including the procurement of United States patents for individual inventors and small entrepreneurial companies.

Maximize your business’ value

The law once said that to file an application for a United States federal trademark registration, an individual or a business had to actually be using the mark in interstate commerce. That individual or business must have actually sold the goods or services to someone in another state, or their sale of the goods or […]

October 31st, 2014|

My take on Tesla

What’s really behind Musk’s blog post?

Kurt Leyendecker

Tesla Motors and its CEO Elon Musk made news in the patent and intellectual property world a few months ago with a company blog post entitled “All Our Patent Are Belong To You” (the error in the title is Musk’s, not mine). The […]

September 22nd, 2014|

The K-cup story

Many years ago, John Sylvan had an idea: provide a hermetically-sealed, compact cartridge containing a filter and enough ground coffee to brew a single serving in a specially designed brewer. After the freshly brewed coffee was delivered, the remaining carcass would simply be discarded without fuss or muss. Sylvan’s brilliant idea came to him in […]

Can I Patent That?

A question I frequently get from prospective clients is, “Is my invention patentable?” Variations on this inquiry include the following:

• “Can I patent an improvement to a device that is already available?”
• “Is it correct that in order for something to be patentable, it has to be at least 10 percent different than the known […]

File that Patent! Time is Running Out

Do you or your company have a product or process that you’ve been developing for some time but have yet to patent? If so, a new law could considerably affect your ability to patent.

In 2011, Congress passed the America Invents Act (AIA), with the provisions of the act to be amended over time.  The most […]

January 21st, 2013|

Does Tim own Tebowing?

And does this mean you can’t do it any more?

Has a trademark taken Tebowing off the table?

The short answer: No. Neither Tim Tebow nor any business entity with which he is involved owns a trademark on his signature move.

Interestingly, headlines just a week or so ago may have indicated otherwise. The opening line of the […]

November 19th, 2012|

Avoidance: Understandable, but Often Painful

This is about pain — the avoidable kind.

Lawyers can get a bad rap for shark-ism and sometimes, that’s fair. In this case, however, the pain is shared across the board, by both the lawyers and the clients. No one, including a hard-working and ethical attorney, likes seeing people have to spend blood, time and money […]

A grape by any other name is still a grape…

 

When launching a new company or adding a new product or service, a name must be determined to brand the company, product or service. In the legal field, we refer to brand names and logos identifying a good as a trademark; and brand names and logos referring to services as […]

April 30th, 2012|

Economic Lemons = Lemonade Profits

Last summer my nine-year-old twins set up a lemonade stand and sold the yellow elixir to thirsty Parade of Homes passersby. They learned the thrill of running their own business and having people buy and enjoy their wares. They learned about the cost of raw materials and pricing their product to make a profit. They […]

March 28th, 2012|
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