Posts by Feras Mousilli

Value Created Through Patenting Mobile AppsReceiving a patent secures for the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the patented invention. Patenting a mobile a...

FinCEN has kindly extended some filing deadlines for BOI reports, as detailed on their website. Reporting companies created or registered prior to January 1, 2024, have until January 13, 2025, to file their initial benef...

Lloyd & Mousilli, a leading law firm specializing in intellectual property, technology and business law, is set to host a webinar titled "Don't Get Tricked: Unmasking the Most Common Trademark Scams," in collaboration wi...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEHouston, TX - July 24, 2024 - Numerous patent service providers may seem appealing at first glance if thorough due diligence is not performed. A quick search for "file patent application" will produc...

Lloyd & Mousilli, Attorneys & Counselors at Lawinfo@lloydmousilli.comFor Immediate ReleaseHouston, TX - June 9, 2024 - There are countless trademark service providers available and seemingly attractive if further due dil...

What steps should you take next?Your initial priority should be promptly retaining experienced legal counsel. Although there are procedural avenues available to challenge the default judgment, demonstrating to the court ...

Intellectual property rights showcase a startup’s value, ability to dominate the market, and stand strong in times of adversity. Specifically, with trademarks and patents, startups are 10 times more likely to secure fund...

Submission Requirements for the Standard Copyright ProcessThe U.S. Copyright Office requires submission of (1) a properly completed application (2) a nonrefundable filing fee and (3) a nonrefundable deposit. Requisites o...

Scammers Posing as Government Agencies and PersonnelTrademark scammers often use official-sounding names and government data to trick you into believing they are affiliated with the United States Patent and Trademark Off...

Why Conduct Trademark Searches?The journey of getting a trademark registration for your brand seems straightforward—think of a name, design a unique logo or phrase, file a trademark application, and voila, your brand is ...

For immediate releaseHouston, Texas - March 3, 2024- Lloyd & Mousilli has been ranked in Chambers USA Regional Spotlight Guide and recognized as a leading small to medium-sized law firm offering a credible alternative to...

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998The federal government implemented the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (“DMCA”) to protect those that use copyrighted material in a digital format. This provides signi...

‍What is Injunctive Relief?Injunctive Relief is a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act that has been requested in a petition to the court for an injunction. Usually, injunctive relief is granted only after a h...

Think About Equity from the StartWhen incorporating a start-up company, founders are typically concerned with growing their company and bringing in capital to execute their vision. To properly set the company up for grow...

What is a Trademark?‍While driving down the road, you might recognize that a McDonald’s is approaching your line of sight by identifying the infamous “golden arches” at the forefront of your dashboard. With this iconic s...

Geoffrey the Giraffe is casting an ominous shadow over one Texas family.Last summer, almost immediately following the news that Toys “R” Us and Macy’s were teaming up to relaunch the iconic toy store in the U.S., The Toy...

Established in 2015 and founded by two young, creative entrepreneurs, Instafuel is an innovativecompany that delivers fuel directly to customer vehicles, eliminating the need for consumers tospend time at gas stations. W...

Reasons Why Tech Startups Incorporate in Delaware:Establishing a US Presence. Some international ventures and non US residents prefer a Delaware Corporation to establish a US presence and have access to US resources, inc...

The copyright duration in the US depends on a number of things. One must consider whether the work is published or not. If published, the next question is if it was published first in the US or abroad. Copyrights can be ...

As soon as you’re ready to materialize your idea and take the next steps in forming a team, building the idea or developing the application, entering into contracts, seeking investor funding, issuing stock options to you...

Incorporating a business is the process of forming of a new entity that is recognized as a separate “person” under the law. At the very early stages of your business, you will need to decide which entity is the best fit ...

Other nuances, which we’ve covered about Delaware that you should know about are the Delaware Franchise Taxes and Annual Reports. We describe the steps required with forming and maintaining your company in the startup ch...

IntroductionPeople often compare the founder and investor relationship to a marriage- both parties have high expectations going in and expect it to last forever (or, admittedly less romantic, at least a long-ish term). T...

Trademarking is a critical step for businesses seeking to establish their brand identity and protect their intellectual property rights. This article walks you through all the steps involved in the USPTO trademark proces...

What is a service mark?A trademark is essentially a brand name. It’s a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that distinguishes the source of goods of one party from another. A service mark is any word, name, symbol, devic...

We will discuss the different types of objects that can be protected, with specific examples, and highlight the contrasts between trademarks and copyrightsTrademarkOne of the essential functions of a trademark is to allo...

The 2017 program includes: Ron Palmeri is a famous entrepreneur and investor. He founded Layer, winner of TechCrunch Disprupt 2013. Previously, he was at Grand Central before the acquisition by Google. David Hornik of ...

The valuable time that you invested in coming up with just the right creative name and developing the branding and marketing around that company name is impossible to measure. After creating signage, letterhead, and adve...

When a business is organized or expands ownership ranks, the owners need to consider what will be done when the relationship has run its course and it becomes necessary or desirable for the company and/or the owners rema...

BackgroundThere are a variety of circumstances that could lead your business towards the decision to terminate your Texas LLC. For the purposes of this article, we are referring to a voluntary termination.Step 1: Ensure ...

In a unanimous decision, the justices held that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which handles all patent appeals, has been using the wrong standard to decide where a patent lawsuit can be brought. Today'...

Often our clients will ask about how they can meet the requirements for a "specimen" in their application to register a service mark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), since it's usually easier to ...

For those corporate attorneys that are still waiting for this social media “fad” to fade out, the statistics can no longer be ignored- two thirds of the global internet population visit social media sites. In fact, visit...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a lower-cost first patent filing in the United States than traditional...

BackgroundCompanies of all structures andsizes often find themselves desiring to conduct business under a name that isdifferent from the legal name that the business entity was formed with. Thevariance could be as slight...

Naturally, this type of message is quite alarming, and the perceived immediacy of the time constraints may not afford recipients the time to thoroughly review the details. Some business owners, seeing this message and wa...

There are three different types of patent applications that can be filed. Please select from the three options to learn more.1. Provisional Patent2. Design Patent3. Utility PatentPROVISIONAL PATENTSecuring a Provisional ...

ProcessOutlineThe general timing for each step in theapplication is provided in the outline below. In case of urgent needs,expedited processing is available as required.The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) offers...

OverviewStarting a business, opening a business bank account, and filing taxes are just of few of the tasks that require setting up an Employer Identification Number (Tax ID). How do you obtan an EIN? The process is fair...

Definition A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, the term of a patent is 20 years from the filing date of ...

Previously, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that in August 2019, the trademark filing fees would be increasing. Due to the pandemic, they had to delay rolling it out.Just recently, the new...

Founders have been known to set up LLCs at the earliest stages of their ventures for obvious reasons, including:  LLCs tend to have flexible management structures and are often easier to maintain. Unlike corporations, LL...

This is the essential first step prior to purchasing your Delaware Post Incorporation Documents and issuing stock to founders in your company.Incorporating in Delaware is the overwhelming popular choice for anyone who is...

Get 'er DoneThis allocation is so critical and pressing that teams often push themselves to make a decision very early on, with very little information. In fact, a 2016 study, T. & N. Wasserman, The First Deal: The Divis...

It’s quite common, and even expected, for apps and online services to collect some type of personal information from users, ranging from names and emails to log and device information. Users have some expectations of pri...

Congratulations on registering your new business! Or if you're still contemplating forming your business, and just trying to better understand the steps required for having a bank account under the company name, you're i...

How is Delaware’s franchise tax calculated?The franchise tax is calculated using either the Authorized Shares Method (in which case the minimum tax is $75 or the Assumed Par Value Capital method (in which case the minimu...

Our corporate and transactional practice helps you generate the necessary corporate and founder formation documents and provides you with a detailed guide for how to use them. (Read the process of incorporating in Delawa...

Every time you’ve installed a piece of commercial software, you’ve invariably been presented with what must have appeared to be legal gibberish- a seeming difficult to read, needlessly long, solid block of text that was ...

What Is Protected Under U.S. Copyright Law? A Copyright is a form of protection for original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Copyright covers both published and unpublished works. In short, ...

Whenever you are seeking to incorporate in Delaware, one of the first questions that you must address after selecting your entity type, you must determine how many shares your company should authorize upon formation.Ther...

Can I Form an LLC in Any State? Exploring Your OptionsCan you form an LLC in a state you don't live in? The answer is yes. Companies have flexibility when choosing where to establish their domicile. An LLC formed out-of-...

E-commerce has fundamentally transformed the retail marketplace and has changed the way consumers shop. Fast and inexpensive shipping, the convenience of being able to shop at any time of day from anywhere, and the abili...

JAN 1: San Francisco companies with 20+ employees: Post Paid Parental Leave Ordinance (PPLO) and Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) posters and begin compliance.JAN 31: Send 1099 ‘s to Contractors. Send W2 ‘s to Emplo...

For more on this topic of Delaware corporations, you can read our article, Why do Startups Incorporate in Delaware. One popular reason for international startups to form a Delaware corporation with accelerated growth is ...

The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), formally known as Assembly Bill Law 375, is officially in effect. The law is broad in scope, and imposes many new obligations on companies that collect “personal information”...

Most business owners’ heart sink when they stumble upon a competitor shamelessly copying their hard work. Understandably so, in a culture where attention is scarce the likelihood of confusion in the market when scrolling...

Prior to selecting the state of incorporation, entrepreneurs should take into account factors such as the size of their business, the market for their product or service, the jurisdiction, business licenses required, and...

Prejudice occurs when you gain an advantage over the other party during the litigation process such that removing the case to arbitration would cause the other party to suffer a disadvantage.However, it is hard to demons...

Scale of Diffusion Within AI-Related Patent Applications The AI algorithm’s findings confirmed the general hypothesis that inventors across various technological fields are increasingly filing AI-related patent applicati...

Started by two young entrepreneurs in Houston, Texas, Instafuel is a mobile-fueling startup that delivers gas directly to customer vehicles, thereby eliminating the need for customers to spend time at gas stations. Insta...

Registered AgentWhat does a Registered Agent Do?The Registered Agent is a business or individual that the company must designate to accept service of process documents, in case of a lawsuit, on behalf of the company. The...

“The Rusty Krab is a parody restaurant concept inspired by SpongeBob giving it a new comedic purpose within the context of a restaurant. While Intellectual property law is complex, it is not a “secret formula.” Per U.S. ...