Ignite Alabama - Sparking Innovation & Entrepreneurship In Alabama

George Kobler, an attorney in Huntsville, Alabama who practices in the area of intellectual property, is the guest on episode 16 of the Ignite Alabama podcast. IP law encompasses patents, which is the focus of today’s conversation, as well as copyright law, trademarks, and proprietary information that falls within the realm of trade secrets. In this conversation George explains the difference between copyrights, trademarks, patents and other forms of intellectual property. Our focus is on patent law. To determine whether something might be eligible for patent protection, the first question is whether it pertains to eligible subject matter. George explains, basically, what this means. If yes, then the next question is whether the invention is both novel and non-obvious. We walk through several hypothetical examples. We also talk about situations involving co-inventors, modifications to someone else's design, inventions and discoveries made in the course of employment or using employer's resources outside of th