Secondly, recognize that what your company generates is probably protectable in many different ways.

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First, the legal issue: What is really protectable under the patent?

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Other fictional characters may not be immediately protectable under trademark law since they are not inherently distinctive and have not yet developed secondary meaning.

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If the research is indeed protectable, the school then decides whether to simply license the discovery or try to launch a full-fledged start-up based on it.

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Believing that newspapers were still, as they always had been, protectable products with moats around their geographic markets, Tribune paid handsomely to buy several papers, including the Los Angeles Times.

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It thus becomes protectable and thus protected.

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For example, the brand name and logo hang tag and distinctive pocket stitching on a pair of jeans could be registered as protectable trademarks, and the unique shape of a dress could be registered as protectable trade dress.

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"If the situation stays as now, all improvements on an original compound are not protectable and such drugs would probably not be rolled out in India, " Paul Herrling, former Novartis's head of research and development, told the Financial Times.

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