EP#112: Bruce Hamby and Owning Your Product

• Bruce Hamby
  • Attorney with the Hamby Law Firm
  • The Hamby Law Firm focuses on patents, intellectual property, trademarks and business law
  • Has been an attorney in the Houston region for over 15 years
• Own your Brand
  • One of first things to consider when bringing a product to market
  • What is the difference between a trademark and a copyright?
  • Register trademarks in U.S. and Internationally
  • Name is important as tt denotes source and ensures that your name is legitimate and authentic
  • Don’t just protect your brand, protect your ideas
  • United States Patent and Trademark Offices (USPTO)
  • International filings
• Own your Technology
  • Patents
  • Establish ownership
  • Making sure it’s a quality patent to give you the most protection
  • Open Source? Licensing
  • Owning Your Tech in Other Countries
  • China and your intellectual property
• Establish Freedom to Operate
  • Crucial step that shouldn’t be overlooked - listen to the reasons why
  • Reading/evaluating patents
  • How to conduct IP searches and evaluate if you infringe on a patent
  • Should you even look at other patents?
  • Is it illegal to try to patent something that you know is not original?

Meet with Bruce Hamby next week at the MacroFab Hardware Meetup!