Nonitage

Are all attorneys sexual predators? No, in fact not all of them are. There are Lawyers out there that do not sexually terrorize young children. Recently a Long Island New York attorney was caught and captures like several other attorneys have been previously. He was Queens based lawyer at age 46, name was Thomas Sheehan; it appears this gentleman if you wish to call him that, was using the web to lure young girls to meet with him. He tried to seduce many, but ended up seducing two fourteen year old girls who were undercover cops.

The cops were from different departments, one was from New York City Police Department and another was from Nassau County. Both investigators had be corresponding with Sheehan posing as 14-year old girls. Sheehan arranged to meet with them on the Internet to have sex.

He sent them photos of himself naked to the detectives and he is being charged with that too, as well as attempting to commit a criminal sexual act. Of course he got out on bail and is roaming the street along with many other attorneys out there, still practicing law by day.

Lawyers and Attorneys do so much for America as they help uphold the laws. Apparently this attorney wanted to hold up a young girls dress as well? Perhaps we need to work harder on getting these sorts of people off the street and where they belong; in a new gated community with armed guards and roommates like Bubba? Think on it.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

After two hours or so at the poker table, I had seen my stack fluctuate hugely in both directions. I’d taken a few risks, made some big hands, and after a lot of work, I had built up a decent profit.

I had come into the casino with a specific game plan in mind, and according to that plan, it was time to go. Instead of leaving, however, I decided to stay and give it another hand or two. I lost two small hands, and I was down a bit from what I wanted to go home with, so I started playing way more aggressively, doubling, even tripling my bets, and making bad hits and standing against by better judgment.

It didn’t take long for me to lose my hard-earned winnings and then to dip into the bankroll that I’d brought in, and I sat out a few hands, wondering what went wrong. I had done this before-I’d played smart poker all night, and right before I left, I’d start playing dumb and watch my money fly away.

As I got back into the game and slowly worked my way back into the positive, it hit me-poker fatigue! It was late, I had been sitting there for hours, and I was dog tired, and being tired affects your decision making. Before you know it, you’ll be splitting tens when the dealer’s showing nine or finding other ways to make your stack dwindle.

Next time you’re in the middle of a marathon session of poker, pay attention to how you feel. If bad ideas are starting to look like fun risks, it’s time to step away for a bit, rest up, get a bite to eat, and come back rested and ready to make some money.

Legislation

The Indian law of patents is enshrined in the Patents Act, 1970. The Act seeks to provide for legal protection for inventions. The rights granted under the Act, are operative in the whole of india.

What is a Patent

A Patent is an exclusive monopoly granted by the Government to an inventor over his invention for a limited period of time. It provides an enforceable legal right to prevent others from exploiting an invention. Invention as defined under the Act to mean a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application.

Rights conferred by registration

Patents represents one of the powerful intellectual property right. The registration of a patent confers on the patentee the exclusive right to use, manufacture or sell his invention for the term of the patent. It means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patentee’s consent. The patent rights can usually be enforced in a court of law.

Who Can Apply For A Patent

An inventor or any other person/company assigned by the inventor can apply and obtain the patent over the invention. A patent is obtained by the inventor or his assignee by filing an application with the appropriate office of the patent office in stipulated forms and fees as required by the Act.

Patent Search

It is prudent to conduct searches as early as possible to avoid spending time and money re-inventing a known matter. A patent is not granted to an invention if it is already available with the public either in the form of published literature or common knowledge.

Patentable Inventions

To be patentable, an invention must, in general, satisfy certain criteria. The invention must be of industrial applicability, must be new and must show an inventive step which could not be deduced by a person reasonably skilled in the field. Above all, its subject matter must be accepted as “patentable” under law. As for example, Inventions which are frivolous or claim anything contrary to well established natural laws are not patentable. There are also other specific categories of inventions which are declared as non-patentable.

Patent Specification

The process of patenting typically involves conducting prior art searches to distinguish the invention and develop a description that illustrates the best method of working the invention. The description of the invention is called specification. Depending upon the sufficiency of the descrption a specification may be either provisional and complete Specification.

Provisional and Complete Specification

A provisional specification is often the first application filed in respect of an invention, and usually contains only a brief description of the invention. It need not contain claims. Compared with the provisional, the complete specification contains the full description of the invention, and the best method of making the invention work. The complete specification comprises a title, field of invention, the background of the invention, the description of the related art, drawbacks of the prior art, the summary of the invention, the brief description of the figures, the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, claims and abstract. Complete specification must be filed within 12 months from the date of filing of the provisional specification.

Claims are the most important component in the patent specification as it is the legal operative part which define and determine the legal protection sought for. The extent of patent protection for an invention shall be determined by the terms of the claims. The description and the appended drawings may be used to interpret the claims.

Filing and Prosecuting Patent Applications

The procedure for the grant of a patent starts with filing of the patent application along with the presribed fees at the appropriate office* of the patent office followed by filing of request for examination in the prescribed format (present time limit within 36 months), after the publication of the application. Presently, application for patent is not open to open to public for 18 months from the date of filing or date of priority, though the applicant can request for early publication. The applications are examined substantively and a first examination report stating the objections is communicated to the applicant. Application may be amended in order to meet the objections. Normally all the objections must be met within 12 months from the date of first examination report. If the applicant does not comply with the objection, the application will be abandoned. Upon complying the requirements the application is published in the Official Journal. At that time, opposition can be filed on limited grounds, but hearing is not mandatory. Patent will be granted if the application is found to be in order. Then, the application and other related documents will be open for public inspection. Thereafter, at any time after the grant but before the expiry of a period of one year from the date of publication opposition on substantive grounds is available. The whole process typically takes at least two years.

Duration of a Patent

The term for patents is 20 years from the date of filing of the application for the patent. It is the responsibility of the patentee to maintain an issued patent by paying the annuities until the patent expires. After 20 years term the invention claimed in the patent falls into the public domain.

Restoration

Restoration of a patent that lapses due to non-payment of renewal fees can be made within one year of lapse. However, certain limitations will be imposed on the rights of the patentee when the patent is restored.

Remedies For Infringement

It is the sole responsibility of the patentee to see that his patent is not being infringed. It is the patentee’s duty to file a suit of infringement against the infringer. The reliefs which may be usually awarded in such a suit are -

i. Injunctons whether interim or final.
ii. Damages or account of profits.

International Patent Protection

There is no international or world patent. An inventor has to file an application in each country, where he seeks to protect his invention. However, there are regional and/or International treaties to facilitate the procedure to seek protection like Patent co-operation Treaty (PCT) or European Patent Convention (EPC).

P.M. George Kutty, Attorney at Law of http://www.pmgip.com

In the case Saggar v Ministry of Defence [2005], it was held that an overseas based employee of a British business, who was a UK resident when recruited or at any time during the course of the employee’s employment, is entitled to bring a discrimination claim in the UK. The claim can be brought even if the employee did no further work in Britain after the move overseas.

After 16 years at a Ministry of Defence base in Britain, Lieutenant Colonel Surinder Nath Saggar was permanently stationed in Cyprus from 1998 and was still there when he made a claim for race discrimination.

The Employment Tribunal decided that Lieutenant Saggar worked wholly outside Britain and could not file a race discrimination claim in Britain. He appealed against this decision to the Employment Appeals Tribunal (”EAT”).

The EAT dismissed the appeal and held that:-

▪ In order for Lieutenant Saggar’s claim to succeed, the EAT would have to look at the whole of his employment from 1982 onwards, and that would be “absurd”;

▪ The EAT was bound by the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of Carver v Saudi Arabian Airlines [1999] where for the purposes of establishing whether or not a tribunal has jurisdiction to hear a claim, it is necessary to consider whether, at the time of the alleged discrimination, the claimant was wholly or mainly working in Great Britain;

▪ Accordingly, at the time of the alleged discrimination, Lieutenant Saggar worked wholly in Cyprus.

The case went to the Court of Appeal and it was decided that: -

▪ The relevant period for determining whether a claimant worked wholly or mainly outside Great Britain is the whole period of employment;

▪ This approach was supported by the wording in s 8(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976; and

▪ This decision applied equally to all employees even though a person serving in the Armed Forces is not an employee as there is no contract of service.

The matter was remitted to a different tribunal to determine the issue of jurisdiction in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s judgment.

Comment: This is a significant decision in favour of employees. This means that in many cases where employees are posted abroad they are entitled to bring employment claims in the UK. In practice, as well as complying with the rules of the country where employees are working, it would be sensible for employers to apply English employment law standards as well.
Please contact us for more information: enquiries@rtcoopers.com

© RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances.

Full service commercial law firm based in the City of London specialising in Employment Law, Employment Lawyers, Dismissals, Redundancies, Suspensions, Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures, Workplace Disuptes, Wrongful Dismissals, Breach of Contract, Business Secrets/Confidential Information, Contract Disputes, Drafting and Advising on Compromise Agreements,
Drafting and Advising on Employment Contracts or Terms of Employment, Drafting and Advising on Staff Handbook and other Policy Documents, Employment Tribunal Claims, Employment Termination, Employee Benefits and Incentives, Equal Pay Disputes, Restructuring and Re-organisations, Senior Executive Appointments and Service Agreements, Sex Discrimination,
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Orientation Issues, TUPE Transfers

If you have an employment question, please contact Rosanna at enquiries@rtcoopers.com. We have a number of employment legal uodates on our website at: http://www.rtcoopers.com/practice_employment.php

A mobile notary public is, in essence, a notary willing to travel to the location of the client, in order to fulfill his or her duties. These typically entail the witnessing of sensitive documents, overseeing their signing, identifying participants and administering oaths when necessary.

A mobile notary public makes the process of notarizing documents a great deal easier for individuals or corporations to procure. Most often, mobile notaries are part of a centralized association known as the U.S. Mobile Notary Association. Here, a prospective client can contact them and seek out an individual available for traveling to his or her location.

When a company becomes a member of the U.S. Mobile Notary Association, they are qualified to display the Certified Mobile Notary Public (CMNP) designation. Often, other companies will attempt to emulate this designation with other, similar-sounding names, but the CMNP is the official designation for a licensed mobile notary.

For those seeking a mobile notary public in the State of Florida, the Florida Mobile Notary Association and Services, Inc. offers a centralized location to finding willing and able Florida notaries.

Among the services offered by the Florida Mobile Notary Association are:

• Witnessing of legal documents
• Administering of oaths
• Remote document signings/loan closings
• Fingerprinting services
• Solemnized weddings (Florida is among the few states to offer this service from its certified notaries)

Hiring a CMNP is essential for companies looking for services such as loan signing or notarized documents outside of regular business hours or locations. A CMNP will travel to the client’s office or home on their schedule, and is trained to handle many types of documents including real estate, corporate, personal, custody, trusts and power of attorney.

It is important to remember that a mobile notary is not licensed to practice law, prepare documents or provide any legal counsel. Their role is primarily that of an impartial witness to the signing of various documents and legal forms.

To becoming a mobile notary public, one must follow several steps:

• Fill out an application, providing your name, address and other contact info. You will also answer questions regarding age, residency and any previous Notary commissions held. Application procedures vary from state to state. For more information regarding the application process, you can visit the National Notary Association website at http://www.nationalnotary.org.

• Applicants are next required to pay a fee to the commissioning authority.
• Applicants must then typically take an oath of office, which may be incorporated into the application or filed with a county clerk.
• Once an individual is commissioned as a Notary in his or her state, they are eligible to join a licensed mobile notary association in their state. Typically a small monthly fee is required to retain membership.

Notary Public Info provides detailed information about how to become a notary public, plus notary public classes, supplies, services locations, and more. Notary Public Info is the sister site of Paralegals Web.

Distinctiveness in trademarks provides that any sign or any combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings, shall be capable of constituting a trademark. These may include, in particular, personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements and combinations of colors as well as any combination of such signs. Andrew Inglis, Olswang defines the distinctiveness in these words,

“…Distinctiveness in relation to trade marks refers to the capacity of the mark to distinguish the goods or services of its proprietor from the goods and services of others. The more distinctive a mark, the more likely it will be that broad rights attach to it…”

Capable of distinguishing The capacity to distinguish goods or services is fundamental to the concept of a trade mark. Invented words and devices are generally capable of performing that function but there are some that are not either because thy are devoid of distinctive character, they consist of signs or indications that designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose and so on of the goods or services concerned or because they have become customary in the current language or bona fide and established practices of the trade. However, even some of those marks of that kind can in time acquire distinctiveness through sales and advertising. The level of distinctiveness required for a distinguishing guise is higher than for a ordinary mark, therefore, there are fewer of them.

Acquiring distinctiveness To acquire distinctiveness in trademark, the applicant’ trademarks must not devoid of any distinctive as mentioned in the clause (b) of the subsection (1) of section 14 of Trade Marks Ordinance, 2001 is related with absolute grounds for refusal of registration, “…trade marks which are devoid of any distinctive character;…” Trade Marks which are devoid of any Distinctive Character in British Sugar Plc v James Robertson’s and Sons Ltd Jacob J suggested that a trade mark that is devoid of any distinctive character is the sort which cannot do the job of distinguishing without first educating the public that it is a trade mark. In this context, the Court of First Instance

observed in Baby-Dry1, that the distinctive character of a sign must be assessed in relation to the goods or services in respect of which registration is claimed. The subsection 1 of section 15 of trademark Ordinance 2001 has laid down considerations for any tribunal to decide on distinctive character of trademarks, “… A trade mark may be limited wholly or in part to one or more specified colours, and any such limitation shall be taken into consideration by any tribunal having to decide on the distinctive character of the trade mark…” The section 17 of Trade Mark Ordinance, 2001 provides that a trademark is a detrimental to the distinctive character shall not be registered. The Section 84(2) reading with section 2 of THIRD SCHEDULE of trade Mark Ordinance 2001 deals with use of a domain name shall be taken as source identifier if it is used on Internet to distinguish goods or services of one undertaking from the other provided that use of a domain name as a mere distinctive reference. A mark, which is inherently not distinctive Exception to clause (b), (c) or (d) of Section 14 of trademarks Ordinance 2001

“… provided that a trade mark shall not be refused registration by virtue of clause (b), (c) or (d) if, before the date of application for registration, it has, in fact, acquired a distinctive character as a result of the use made of it or is a well known trade mark…”

The Inherent distinctiveness of all the trademarks resulted in part from its statutory right. A mark not distinctive (e.g. descriptive) may acquire distinctiveness through use.

The distinctiveness of Trade Marks as a series The clause (c) of subsection 3 of section 20 of trade Mark Ordinance, 2001 other matter of a non-distinctive character added as part of trade mark series, if any, shall not affect the identity and distinctiveness of the trade marks, provided non-distinctive character which does not substantially affect the identity of the trade mark.

The affect of lose of distinctiveness The subsection 2 of section 73 of trade Mark Ordinance, 2001 for the purposes of the registration of a Trade Mark may be revoked, if use of a trade mark shall include use in a form differing in elements which do not alter the distinctive character of the mark in the form in which it was registered.

A new interpretation of the distinctiveness of a Trade Mark Many national authorities that symbol comprising two non-distinctive words were non-distinctive and ineligible for registration. The BABY-DRY 1 judgment seemed to change this interpretation.

It was the view that an assessment of distinctiveness must consider whether the word combination in question is understood in ordinary-language use as a normal way to refer to the goods in question or represents their essential characteristics in common parlance.

Conclusion A trade mark shall not be registered unless it contains or consists of at distinctiveness, the name of a company, individual, or firm, represented in a special or particular manner; one or more invented distinctive words; one or more words having no direct reference to the distinct character or quality of the goods, and not being according to its ordinary signification, a geographical name or surname or the name of a sect, caste or tribe in Pakistan; any other distinctive mark, provided that a name, signature, or any word, other than such as fall within the descriptions in the above clauses, shall not be registered except upon evidence of its distinctiveness.

The writer is an advocate of High Court and practicing immigration and corporate laws in Pakistan since September 2001. He is a self employed and pioneer in research on electronic commerce taxation in Pakistan. His articles were published widely in the critical areas of cyber crimes, electronic commerce, e-taxation and various other topics. He wrote LL.M thesis on titled “Legislation of electronic commerce taxation in Pakistan” in which he provided comprehensive legal proposals for statutory reconstruction of tax laws for purpose of imposition of taxation on e-business in Pakistan. Currently he is conducting is research on topic ‘Electronic commerce taxation: emerging legal issues of digital evidence’.

Author can be contacted by adil.waseem@lawyer.com.