No Las Vegas patent attorney has seen it all, though some have seen quite a lot
Businesses and entrepreneurs in Nevada enjoy state incentives to create, produce, develop, build, and most especially, employ, like Tesla’s giant tax package that was finalized last month. “Come here, we’ll give you tax breaks and you can hire our local people, thus improving our economy,” is the general idea, whether or not it actually works. What such incentives actually do, though, is create an excellent environment for creative innovation, such as the way Nevada has led drone testing across the country. Such incentives also bring some interesting cases across the desk of a Las Vegas patent attorney as innovators rush to register their new inventions, an experience this west-coast patent lawyer finds fascinating.
Whether it’s a wooden helmet lined with cork and termed “The Tree Piece Helmet,” a onesie gown for babies designed “to provide easy access for pediatric caregivers,” or – get this one – “The Wine Bra, a repurposed piece of intimate apparel that supports a wine glass instead of, well, everything else,” some interesting, quirky, and highly unique products are bound to come across the desk of a Las Vegas patent attorney, as they did the one’s in Oregon. But exactly how highly unique the products are is precisely what the Las Vegas patent attorney would help clients determine in their efforts to trademark and market their inventions.
Lots of patent law in the 21st century is geared toward technology lawsuits, like the ongoing battle between Apple and Samsung in their race to provide consumers with more or less the same functionality in phones and tablets, but want to be able to claim they’re the only one that does so. Because it’s such a scientifically-oriented area of law, it requires a background in a hard science, like an undergraduate degree in engineering or computer science, as a Las Vegas patent attorney could tell you. Patent law is also “the only area of law where you have to take two separate bar exams to practice,” making it a specialized and rigorous field.
But “it’s very inspiring,” at least, according to one patent lawyer who finds the work rewarding and fun. Lawyer Ian McMenemy, who practices in Nevada, could tell you that patent law is challenging, too. But it’s certainly worth the work, especially when you’re granted firsthand access to some pretty cool “clever and offbeat inventions” that hardworking individuals see as their individual legacy—something they can pass on to posterity.
It’s not just the work of a patent lawyer, though, the article in the Washington Times makes clear. Technical writers work closely with clients and attorneys to describe inventions as “exactingly vague,” which is apparently an exceptionally “delicate art.” In order for the clients to get the protection they need from a patent registration, “you have to divulge what the invention is, but not to the point where somebody could change a minute detail and have a new patent.”
As long as human are driven to create and produce in a society that affords them legal protection for their registered productions, patent attorneys will continue to have fun working with clients who generate ideas like wine bras. I mean, who doesn’t need one of those?