Through traditional advertising methods, you have already invested resources promoting your company and its brand names. There is an additional legal step you can take, however, to boost your brand’s value and your company’s prestige: register your brands with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C.

Many businesses, as a matter of course, file federal trademark applications each time they roll out a new product, logo, slogan or name. For example, in 2006 the number of trademark applications filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reached a record 354,775. (“Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2006 Other Accompanying Information,” U.S.P.T.O.).

If you run a business, you may already hold a treasure trove of trademarks eligible for federal trademark registration. The law defines a trademark as including “any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof” used by any person “to identify and distinguish his or her goods, including a unique product, from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of the goods, even if that source is unknown.” 15 U.S.C. §1127.

In lay terms, a trademark or service mark (similar to a trademark, but covering services instead of goods) is simply a business’ brand. Examples of trademarks include the words Chevrolet, Microsoft and Ben & Jerry’s. A mark may also be a slogan, such as American Express’ Don’t Leave Home Without It.. Logos — such as the Nike “swoosh” design — also qualify as a trademark. A mark can even be a distinctive sound (such as the roar of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle).

Below are the top 10 benefits of registering your trademark:

1. Nationwide Protection. How can you garner legal protection across the United States? In the U.S. you generally acquire rights by using the mark in commerce (e.g., sell products or services with the mark). However, these rights may be limited to those areas in which you were the FIRST to actually USE the mark and to those zones in which you would be expected to naturally expand. Therefore, if someone begins using “your” mark in a particular locality, they can claim that they own the mark (at least in that locality) and that you are the infringer. However, a federal registration is valuable because creates a legal presumption of ownership nationwide. Without a registration, your trademark rights may be limited to the geographic regions and goods/services in which you first used the trademark. More importantly, you can secure nationwide protection even before you actually use your mark. This is accomplished by filing an “intent to use” application. If the application is successful, you will have a priority date of the date of the application.

2. Company Asset. The registration becomes a valuable company asset. In fact, the single most valuable asset in the world is the COCA COLA registered trademark, estimated to be worth approximately $67 billion. (“The 100 Top Brands 2006,”Business Week and Interbrand Corp.).

3. Licensing.. The registration makes it easier to license your trademark – allowing you to receive royalties whenever your licensees use your brand.

4. Prestige. The registration gives you the right to use the registration symbol – adding prestige to your company and its products.

5. Immortality. Like a diamond, a registered mark can last forever so long as you continue to use it and renew it. Some of the oldest U.S. trademarks include “Samson” (first used in 1884 and registered in 1906) and the Bass bear symbol, a red triangle (first used in 1856 and registered in 1921). Thus, for a relatively small investment, you could own a registered trademark that could be literally immortal.

6. International Protection Potential. You can use your U.S. trademark registration to obtain trademark registrations in foreign countries.

7. Lawsuit Rights. The registration gives you the right to recover statutory damages against a trademark counterfeiter, which can be as much as $1 million per mark. Further, the registration creates a legal presumption that your mark is valid, that you are its owner, and you have the exclusive right to use the mark in commerce in connection with the goods or services specified in the certificate of registration.

8. Incontestability. After five years of continuous use in commerce, your mark can become “incontestable.” This means that the registration cannot be attacked because of prior use or descriptiveness. So, the sooner you register your trademark, the sooner you will enjoy this incontestable” status.

9. United States Customs Can Help. The registration gives U.S. Customs & Boarder Protection (“CBP”), a bureau of the Department of Homeland Security, the right to seize goods that infringe on your mark. Having Customs on your side can be a big help when you find that someone is importing products that infringe on your mark.

10. Certificate of Registration. After your mark is registered, you will receive an official Certificate of Registration. This impressive Certificate makes your “intangible” intellectual property more tangible. It also becomes helpful if you ever decide to sell your business because the certificate of registration shows that your business, in fact, owns the mark.

Applying for a federal registration does have some costs. It can be expensive, time-consuming, and the results are often uncertain. Therefore, it is advisable to obtain legal competent legal representation to help you make your decision.

Finally, this article is intended to present an overview and should not be construed as representing advice on specific, individual legal matters, but rather as general commentary on the subject discussed. The information may not apply to your specific situation. No attorney-client relationship is established by this article.

Alan I. Cyrlin, Esq. is a trademark attorney in Beverly Hills, California. To learn more, visit http://www.ecjlaw.com/bio/AlanCyrlin.asp

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_Cyrlin

Protecting the intellectual property aspects of your business is a worthwhile investment. However, it is difficult to know what form of intellectual property works for what facets of your business. Let’s take the time to break all that down.

Copyrights:

Copyrights can be obtained for things of an artistic nature. This includes, of course, poetry, films, sculptures, music, fiction, etc. But can also include things that may not necessarily seem “artistic” in the general sense of the word. Copyrights can also be obtained for advertising copy, games, software programs and blueprints, to name just a few.

To protect text as it appears on advertising copy, speeches, pamphlets, brochures, online works, reports, etc. a Literary Works application would be filed.

To protect pictorial or graphic items such as technical drawings, posters, labels, games, etc. a Visual Art Works application would be filed.

Only a few items that could be protected by copyright are noted here so if you have other items in mind, please check with the US Copyright Office.

Trademarks:

A “registered trademark”, or ®, refers to a name, slogan or logo that has been officially registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Registering a trademark is beneficial to a business because it publicly states that your trademark is registered with the USPTO and therefore, you have exclusive rights to that name within your industry.

Prior to investing your time, money & effort into a name, it is strongly advised that comprehensive research be conducted to ensure that the name you’re interested in is truly available.

This entails searching the pending & registered Federal and State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files. Then, if clear, you can decide if you would like to file for a Federal or a State trademark.

Shannon Moore is the General Manager for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at TradeMark Express or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shannon_Moore

Patent infringement is considered an infringement on a product, or a product enhancement that is patented to an existing inventor or company. For a period nearing twenty years, an inventor or company can hold exclusive rights to a patent, and anyone who markets or presents a product that can only reasonably used for the same purpose is guilty of patent infringement.

A trade secret is typically regarded as a company secret that makes the product different from any other, often this refers to an ingredient such as what makes Corn Pops taste like Corn Pops instead of Corn Crunchies.

A patent attorney may be called in to draw up contracts with employees to keep trade secrets safe, as well as prosecute any trade secret infringements once an employee has left a company. It is illegal for an employee or anyone else privy to trade secrets to open up their own company using the trade secrets they learned while working for another company.

A trademark is typically an emblem, logo design, or other distinguishable characteristic that is easily recognizable as a company’s trademark. A trademark can be the way a name is or brand id displayed, like Coca Cola’s emblem placed up the can or across the bottle.

Trade secrets, trademarks, and patents can all be subject to patent infringement laws, and while these laws are typically complicated enough to require a patent attorney to interpret them, the basis of these laws simply means that nobody is permitted to copy these things without permission.

When trade secrets or trademarks are copied, a patent attorney is usually contacted to assist the defrauded company in determining and prosecuting the offender, as the selling or theft of trade secrets or the copying of trademarks can sufficiently hurt the established company’s business.

Many companies rely on their trade secrets and trademarks to establish something special in the marketplace, and being defrauded means that the consumer is now likely to interpret the trademark or purchase the other brand, believing it is the same product.

Once a patent attorney is able to bring the case to court and expose the damage done, the consumer by then has already found either another product or may be leery of wasting money on a product that turns out to be less or even just different than what they expected.

A patent attorney can often be brought on board a project in order to help prevent the infringement of trade secrets and trademarks, and of course patents. This is routinely done in the development stage in order to prevent the company from wasting money and energy on a product or product enhancement that is already covered and protected under patent infringement laws, which includes trade secrets and trademarks.

Patent infringement covers all aspects of business practices that include things such as trademarks and trade secrets. Patent attorneys are able to keep up on the changing laws, which is often invaluable in the development of a new product.

No company wants to spend man hours and money in the development of a product or product enhancement that is like to find them on the receiving end of a patent attorney’s line of questioning. Considering the ample awards that are handed out for patent infringements, it makes financial sense to bring a patent attorney on board to justify the product development.

Naturally, patent infringement is taken very seriously in business law, and the penalties for either a patent infringement, trade secret violation, or a trademark infringement are quite severe. This is just one motivating factor in seeking assistance from a patent attorney before marketing a new product or product enhancement.

In today’s business world, an ounce of prevention is worth about 2.3 million dollars worth of cure. The vast majority of companies simply skip the guess work and retain a patent attorney from the start, and by doing so, thwart their chances of accidentally being guilty of patent infringement, trademark violations, or trade secret violations.

About the Author
Nick Johnson represents individuals or companies with cases involving patent infringement. Find more information at http://www.toppatentinfringementattorneys.com or http://www.toppatentinfringementlawyers.com . Call 1-888-311-5522 to receive a free case evaluation.

Author Profile: johnsonlawgroup

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The U.S. Copyright Office is responsible for holding onto the records of everything that has been copyrighted to help ensure that an individual’s artistic or intellectual property remains their own. However, it is not legally necessary to register a copyrighted material with the office.

It is sufficient to place the copyright icon in front of a copyright statement and is adequate protection for copyright laws. However, it is still more secure to register copyrighted material with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Copyright infringement is the theft of written, artistic, or intellectually produced material. Copyright infringement differs from patent infringement only in the actual material, which can make determining copyright infringement and patent infringement easier to detect.

In business, it is not so unheard of for advertisement media to be copied, thus becoming a copyright infringement. However, there is a difference between stealing the advertising media which creates the copyright infringement and stealing the icon or symbol used to create consumer recognition which is then a trademark violation.

Patented material, such as the product, is the only avenue which a patent infringement can occur. Why is this important? Because from conception to marketing, to advertising, all the way down to the jingle used in the television or radio campaign, stealing any part of the product, the advertising, the logo, the writing, the product enhancement, or any other related idea as it applies to any particular patented or copyrighted material can mean the end of a company.

These various rules can become confusing and even a little hard to wade through when there are numerous people working on any given project. Thus, enlisting the help of a Copyright attorney may be the only way to make sure all of the potential bases are covered.

Bearing in mind that all printed materials are typically copyrighted, even if they have failed to register with the copyright office, a copyright attorney can still effectively guide a copy writer from accidentally becoming guilty of copyright infringement.

In most cases, any large company or media of copyrighted materials that are likely to be used beyond basic small press use will be registered with the copyright office, as registering with the U.S.

Copyright Office is a failsafe against copyright infringement. Thus, if a small time writer claims against a big company an explicit use of copyrighted material, but the large company registered with the Office, the small time writer can hold no claim even if they copyrighted their own material, simply because the large company registered with the Office.

While a copyright attorney is likely required to determine the exact definition of the laws as they apply to any given case, the likelihood of being held accountable for a copyright infringement that was not registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, and they granted a copyright, there really is no case, regardless of how talented the copyright attorney may be.

The bottom line is still pretty basic, despite the variation in copyright infringement and patent infringement. Hiring a patent or otherwise known as copyright attorney from the beginning of any substantial project is the best protection against being accused of any type of copyright infringement.

Registering a copyright with the copyright office protects the copyrighted material against theft. All of these simple and basic steps should be taken by any company who intends to market a product, whether they anticipate being a small company of local distribution or a large company with global potential.

By registering copyrighted material with them and by hiring a copyright attorney to oversee the basic laws are covered, any company with a marketing plan will know they are protected under copyright infringement laws as well as patent infringement laws.

Without the assistance of a copyright attorney or patent attorney, a business is playing with the potential of an accidental copyright infringement or patent infringement. It is much safer to cover all the bases and protect the company and the brainchild behind the fabulous ideas that can launch a company into the land of happy returns.

About the Author
Nick Johnson represents individuals or companies with cases involving patent infringement. Find more information at http://www.toppatentinfringementattorneys.com or http://www.toppatentinfringementlawyers.com . Call 1-888-311-5522 to receive a free case evaluation.

Author Profile: johnsonlawgroup

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Simple thoughts held in a persons’ mind are not creative works. However, they make take the form of creative works when developed through writing, art, etc. There is also a form which inhibits creative editing or collecting of work which allows the creative organization of the facts to be copyrighted. This is called a compilation copyright. In some areas it has specific guidelines. In any case, knowing the laws of creativity is beneficial.

The purpose of these copyright laws is to offer the creator exclusive rights and control over who may copy their work or compose variations involving their work. These laws provide these creators with secure protection and initiate penalties for those who violate the creators rights. It also gives the creator the ability to sell or license their work.

Most often, copyright has to do with commerce. Commerce involves the social relations involved in trade or exchange of goods and services. To be enforced it’s logical that creative works should have some commercial value. Which means its not only suitable for a large market but gives quality to the particular market it’s associated with. As an example, brainstorming would not be significant to copyright protection and of course has little or no value to anyone other than the person it developed from. However, what is developed from the brainstorming may be seen by others as valuable.

Something as simple as your opinion can be seen as valuable if it is documented physically and in creative form. While copyright violations aren’t carried over into e-mail and forum postings caution is still needed in places such as USENET and others on the web. These places are huge and considered to be 100 percent publication.

Copyright continues seventy years after its creator is deceased. Copyright is a matter of common decency and respect. Taking something which doesn’t belong to you without permission is theft and considered punishable by law.

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