Trademark Litigation
Trademark protection and litigation is put in place in order to ensure that consumers don’t confuse the sources of their purchased goods. Trademarks are typically registered with a trademark office, which protects them under the law. In some cases, even unregistered trademarks are protected. Trademark infringement occurs when someone uses a trademark or a similar trademark without being given the rights to the trademark by the owner. Requirements to Win a Trademark Case The plaintiff must prove that they own the trademark and that the trademark is protected under the law. The plaintiff must prove that the defendant is utilizing the trademark...
Enforcing Your Trademark Rights
Prevent trademark infringement of your business name or product name. As the owner of a trademark, when you can stop others from using your trademark, or a confusingly similar one, depends on such factors as: Whether the trademark is being used on competing goods or services (goods or services compete if the sale of one is likely to affect the sale of the other) Whether consumers would likely be confused by the dual use of the trademark, and Whether the trademark is being used in the same part of the country or is being used on related goods (goods that...
Attorney Tips to Get an International PCT Patent Application to Increase the Value of Your Invention
If you´ve got a great invention, the last thing you want is for someone to patent it first! Inventing and innovation is the first step to cornering the market in a given industry. The first person to patent an idea or invention wins. Every inventor is probably aware of the infamous patent war between Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Grey. Both men had an invention for transmitting speech: Bell beat Grey to the patent punch and as a result, the world knows just one telephone inventor. Today we live in a global market. Inventors have worldwide competition in the race to...
Ten Tips for Songwriters: Credits, Copyrights, and Coauthors
Songwriters are often ill-equipped to handle the many business and legal issues that arise in their work. Here are ten tips to make your songwriting a success. You may have written an outstanding song with a fabulous melody, great lyrics, and memorable hooks. Yet your work doesn't stop there. Songwriting raises many legal issues such as: who gets the credit for a song, how are royalties split, can you claim tax deductions for home studios, and should you register a copyright. Here are ten tips to help manage the legal and business side of your songwriting. 1. Figure Out Songwriting Credits,...
How to Protect Your Invention When Pitching It
If you're trying to license your invention, protect it by filing a provisional patent application or using a nondisclosure agreement. If you've developed a potentially marketable invention, you are faced with a dilemma. To make money from the invention, you must generally license the rights to it to another business, often a manufacturer or distributor. But in pitching the invention to potential licensees, you run the risk of disclosing so much information that the invention might be stolen or no longer protected by law. So how can you shop your invention around without jeopardizing your rights? To protect yourself you can...
Software and Application Development Agreements: Protect Your Copyright
Get your software development agreement in writing and include these important terms. A written software development agreement is key to getting the product you want (if you are the client), getting paid (if you are the developer), preventing disputes, and providing ways to solve problems if they develop. And, if the parties end up in court, it establishes their respective legal duties. You don't need a lawyer to draft a software development contract — you can do it yourself. This article doesn't cover all possible nuances of software contracts, but it does provide an overview of some of the most important...
How to Trademark – Selecting a Trademark
How to trademark? This is a question that many people consider when considering some of the legal aspects of securing their intellectual property. You have developed a new product and you want to select a trademark under which you would sell the product. A trademark is a brand or name which identifies the source or origin of goods or services and usually is associated with good will which already exists or is expected to be developed when the trademark is used with the product or service. Trademarks are generally divided into various tiers of distinctiveness: (a) arbitrary, (b) suggestive, or (c)...
Trademark Rev 2 Landscape
If you have a new product or service, you'll probably want to give it a name. This name is called a trademark for a product and a service mark for a service. From a legal point of view trademarks and service marks are treated the same. A Trademark is used so that consumers identify your products and services with your company. For example, the word Nike or logo Nike Swoosh or the slogan "Just Do It" all make a consumer trust the producer or service because of Nike's reputation for high quality products. We normally pay more for goods from...
