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Patent Explained

Pharmaceutical Patents and Generic Drugs: From the Hatch-Waxman Act to the TRIPS Agreement

Introduction: Why Pharmaceutical Patents Are Unlike Any OtherDeveloping a single new drug takes an average of 10 to 15 y...
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How Nintendo’s D-Pad Patent (US 4,687,200) Dominated the Game Industry for 20 Years: A Complete Claim Analysis

Every time you tap a D-pad — on a Nintendo Switch, a PlayStation controller, o​r a TV remote — you’re interacting with a...
Patent Explained

How Spotify Pays Artists: Copyright, Neighboring Rights, and the Royalty System Explained

Every time you stream a song on Spotify, a financial transaction takes place in the background — but the mechanics of th...
IP News

USPTO’s March 2026 Design Patent Guidance: AR, VR, Holograms, and Projections Are Now Protectable

On March 13, 2026, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published what is arguably the most significant update ...
Patent Explained

How Drug Patents Work — and Why Generic Medicines Are So Much Cheaper

A new drug reaches a patient's hands after an average of 10 to 15 years and billions of dollars in research and developm...
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Post-it Notes: How Weak Adhesive Built a Billion-Dollar Empire of Stickiness

Post-it Notes: How Weak Adhesive Built a Billion-Dollar Empire of StickinessThe most transformative adhesive technology ...
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Dyson’s Cyclone Patent: How 5,127 Prototypes Built an Intellectual Property Empire

Dyson's Cyclone Patent: How 5,127 Prototypes Built an Intellectual Property EmpireIn the autumn of 1979, James Dyson, a ...
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The Golden Arches: How McDonald’s Turned Architecture into a Global Trademark

The Golden Arches are among the most recognized commercial symbols worldwide. In 1952, architect Richard Dorner designed...
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The $35 Logo That Became the World’s Most Recognized Trademark

In 1971, a graphic design student named Carolyn Davidson was paid $35 to create a logo for a startup shoe company. The r...
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The Kikkoman Bottle: How One Soy Sauce Dispenser Earned MoMA and a Trademark

There's a bottle most people recognize without being able to name it: the small Kikkoman soy sauce dispenser. Octagonal ...