The Court Of Public Opinion

Intellectual Property is the product of your thinking that can be used for commercial value. In other words, you think of a song and write down the words ? you have the legal right to prevent others from copying or making a song based on your lyrics. This right you have can make you money if someone is willing to pay you for your song. Maybe your boss asked you to write a computer program. Who owns the work? You may have designed a new mouse trap and have the design on computer. Or you have created a distinctive logo for your company. But Intellectual Property goes deeper than songs or even copyrights. Let?s examine the four main areas of Intellectual Property law: Trade Secrets, Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents.

Trade Secrets
Trade secrets give the owner a competitive edge. If some information has value to competitors and they don?t know about it ? then it?s a trade secret. If the information was not kept reasonably safe (secret) then it?s not a trade secret. Trade secrets may be sold with the business or stolen from bad employees. Maybe a former employee didn?t sign a non-disclosure statement before going to work at the competition. Some also reverse engineer software to gain the source code. This highly protected source code for computers is their trade secret, giving them an advantage over the competition. The trick is you have to keep your trade secrets as such, secrets.

Copyrights
Copyrights protect all kinds of writing by singers, writers, programmers, artists, etc? These are the best known of all intellectual property. Registering with the US Copyright office can enhance the automatic protection. You must have your copyright material on paper, tape, or computer. Copyright protection applies to the ?literal expression.? It doesn?t protect the ?underlying? theme of the writing. It must have some creativity. You can?t copyright a simple list. You don?t actually have to have a copyright notice since March 1st, 1989. The recommended notice is ?copyright? year author?s name. For example, this article will have a copyright. Copyright 2005 Stuart Simpson. But it is not necessary.

Trademarks
Trademarks must be a unique name, design, symbol, logo, color, container, etc?that businesses use to distinguish their goods from others in the same market. You should have a strong name for a mark, as common words receive less protection. Like Stuart?s Cold Ice Cream Company. My name and the descriptive term (cold) are weak marks. But a distinctive name like Netflix, is a strong mark. Netflix is technically a ?service? mark. It falls into the same category as trademarks. Your trademark must be submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). But first, the mark must be put into use ?in commerce that Congress may regulate.? This means you have to sell across state lines or have a business that caters to interstate or international travelers. After you do this, you can file another form to show the mark is actually being used. The PTO checks for similar marks. You can?t use the circled R just yet. You can only use this if your logo or mark has been registered.

Patents
Patent law gives inventor of new and special invention the right to use this invention for a fixed period of time. The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) must find that the invention qualifies for patent protection. Your invention has to be new and novel, not obvious. What do you do with a patent? Normally, the inventors get a license agreement with a company to produce the product for a period of time. In exchange, the company pays the inventor royalties for each item sold.

Intellectual property goes further in depth on each of these items. I wanted to give you a brief description to help broaden your knowledge base when writing, creating or inventing. If your work falls into one of the above categories, do more research. I will be writing on each specific area in the future.

2005 Copyright Stuart Simpson

http://www.patent-review.com But do I really have to say copyright?

After you have decided that incorporating is beneficial for your business, some people consider incorporating in states outside of their home state. Most notably, Nevada has been promoted by many ?incorporating services? as having incredible benefits as opposed to the client?s home state. Other states such as Delaware and more recently Wyoming have also received consideration for incorporating. In some cases, depending on the facts of your business, there are some benefits in forming an out-of-the-home-state corporation in states such as Nevada. However, in the majority of cases the benefits of forming a Nevada corporation is simply a myth and will often be more expensive and troublesome than filing in the company?s home state.

Law of the Land: Foreign Entities

This may be a surprise to many, typically, corporations will be governed under California law despite being incorporated in Nevada. Let?s assume you do file a Nevada, yet you operate all of your business in California. Under this scenario, you are deemed to be a ?pseudo foreign? corporation. If the corporation is a pseudo foreign corporation, California law in many areas will supersede the law of the state where the company was incorporated in. (See California Corporation Code ?2115(b)). Therefore, for companies entirely based in California and doing business in California, practically all of the claimed benefits of incorporating in Nevada are out the window. It should be noted that if a Nevada corporation operating in California fails to qualify as foreign corporation, it may be subject to a number of sanctions. (See California Corporation Code ??2203, 2258, 2259).

Nevada v. California

The benefits typically touted by a Nevada corporation are the following: lower costs; tax savings; and greater privacy. But is any of it true? Below we will discuss some of these issues.

Expense: Contrary to what many people believe, it is more expensive to file in Nevada than in California. Here are some of the additional expenses: the initial filing fee is more; the Statement of Information is much more; you will be required to file a Statement and Designation of Foreign Corporation in California; and you will be required to hire a Nevada Agent for Service of Process each year. For large clients, the additional cost (of approximately $500 more) is not a big consideration, but for smaller businesses every dollar counts.

Taxes: The tax ramifications is usually one of the most important reasons for deciding whether to incorporate and where. Nevada?s secretary of state website says that Nevada has none of the following: (1) corporate income tax; (2) taxes on corporate shares; (3) franchise tax; and (4) no personal income tax. So how does this actually play out? The bottom line is if you are doing business anywhere other than Nevada, you will still be required to pay taxes in the state where you are conducting business. So if you are operating and generating business in Nevada, this can be a huge benefit, otherwise if you are generating money in California, you are required to pay California?s taxes. Furthermore, any income earned by a Nevada business and paid out to a resident of another state will be subjected to the taxation of that state. Therefore, the income passed on to the shareholders of an S-Corporation in Nevada will be taxed at both the federal level and in the state where the shareholder lives (this also applies to other pass-through entities such as LLCs).

Thus, as indicated in the paragraph above, you will not be able to legally gain the Nevada tax benefits if you form a Nevada pass-through entity such as a S-corporation or LLC. However, a Nevada C-corporation can avoid the state taxes (remember that a C-corporation is subjected to double taxation at the federal level). The way a Nevada C-corporation operating in California could be structured to minimize its taxes is as follows: As a C-corporation, your company will be stuck with double taxation at the federal level. Rather than withdrawing the profits from the corporation, keeping the profits within the Nevada C-corporation will allow it to grow free of any state taxes.

Limited Liability Protection: Whether your company has greater limited liability protection in Nevada versus other states is debatable. Many believe that Nevada state precedence makes piercing the corporate veil much more difficult. Whether this is true will depend on the facts of your case and how good your lawyer is, since the test for piercing the corporate veil in both states are substantially similar (both California and Nevada require a showing that a substantial injustice or perpetuation of a fraud occurred). However, in regards to directors and officer liability, Nevada law provides that directors and officers are not liable for any damages resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty unless the breach involved intentional misconduct, fraud, or a knowing violation of the law. (See Nevada Rev. Stat. ?78.138(7)).

Jurisdiction: This can be good or bad for your company. If you are operating in California but are a Nevada corporation, the question is which state law takes precedence? As indicated above, in most circumstances, your corporation will be deemed a pseudo foreign corporation and thus be subjected to California?s laws. So if you are sued, the lawsuit would likely occur in the California. However, if the plaintiff attempts to pierce the corporate veil, the lawsuit may occur in Nevada, thus the plaintiff would have to face additional expenses to travel to Nevada to try the case. Likewise, you as the defendant would be required to go to Nevada as well. However, if you enter into contracts with others, your contract can include ?choice of law jurisdiction? provisions, which require that the contract falls under the laws of Nevada. Similarly, ?choice of forum? provisions in your contracts will require your case to be heard in Nevada.

Privacy: Nevada is generally more restrictive than most states in sharing information about its corporations with other states and the government. As such, many celebrities and high profile individuals seeking anonymity often end up incorporating in Nevada. However, both California and Nevada do not require its stockholders to be listed in public records. Further, Nevada does not share information with the IRS unlike California. But if a Nevada corporation conducts business as a pseudo foreign corporation in California, it would be required to disclose the information to the IRS.

? 2006 Michael N. Cohen, Esq.

This article is not intended as a substitute for legal or tax advice. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. You should consult with an attorney familiar with the issues and the laws.

Michael N. Cohen, Esq. is a business and intellectual property attorney and is the principal of the Law Office of Michael N. Cohen, P.C., located in Beverly Hills, California. For more information, go to http://www.patentlawip.com or contact Mr. Cohen at 310-288-4500.

Intellectual property, although intangible, is still ownable and your intellectual property rights should be protected. Modern business, especially since the rise of the internet has seen a rise in the creation of intellectual property. However the internet makes it even easier for someone to steal your ideas and work. An intellectual property lawyer who is trained to help reclaim patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret rights can help protect your intellectual property.

Types of intellectual property include patents, trademarks and trade dress, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Patents

A patent is granted by the government allowing a (usually) 20 year monopoly on an invention previously ?not generally known.? Patents are intended to encourage investment in research and development. If you create a new useful process for doing something, a machine, manufacture, or even an improvement on something already in existence, you can patent your invention and prohibit others from ?making, using, offering for sale, or selling?or importing? the invention in the U.S. Your right to patent your invention is a constitutional right (Article I, section 8). Patents are subdivided into three groups: design, utility, and plant. Design patents protect innovations in the appearance (although not the structure or function) of an item. Utility patents are for wholly new inventions including machines, industrial processes, compositions of matter, and articles of manufacture. Plant patents cover innovations in plant-life, such as new species of plant created from the reproduction of cuttings and grafts of existing plants.

Patent lawyers will research previously granted patents for you to see if a similar product has already been patented or whether you should apply for a patent for your invention. A patent attorney will also tell you if your idea is not patentable because it is a law of nature, a physical phenomena, or abstract. You should find a specialized patent or intellectual property attorney because in order to prosecute a client?s patent application, he or she must be registered with the U.S. patent office. A patent lawyer will also have to have passed a science and engineering exam to better understand and serve clients.

Trademarks

Trademarks are granted for words, names, symbols, or devices which separate and distinguish businesses and services. These include arbitrary names such as Kodak, suggestive names such as Caterpillar (tractors), descriptive names which indicated the business? products or services, and generic names which are descriptive. Generic and some descriptive names cannot be protected, so a trademark or intellectual property lawyer should be consulted to see if your name qualifies for trademark rights. You can also file an intent-to-use application to reserve a name that will later be trademarked. (This is especially important with the expansion of business on the internet.)

Trademark lawyers can also be sought to make sure that your new business isn?t using a registered mark. The consequences for using a registered mark, even though you may have put money and advertising into promoting your business, include being sued for infringement.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect the individual?s expression of an idea, but do not protect the idea itself (see patent). Copyrights are intended to promote scientific progress. You can copyright your writing, performance (music, dance), art, sound, compilations. You cannot copyright ideas or uncompiled facts, words, or phrases (these could be registered as trademarks, though, so consult an intellectual property lawyer). If you come up with an idea or invention while working for a company, it is able to be patented or trademarked by the company you work for, but copyrightable work belongs to you, the employee, not the company employing you. However, there are loopholes, and an intellectual property lawyer will help you both with the process of getting your expression copyrighted but will also save you trouble and time in getting over road blocks.

If you are a company, you need an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in copyrights because especially with internet businesses, you will need to make sure that contractually your web site design can be copyrighted to your company and will not belong to the employee or independent contractor who created it. This also applies to software.

Trade Secrets

It is important to protect your business? trade secrets so they will not be misappropriated. Whereas patents have a limited time of coverage and after 20 years are released, trade secrets are always protected. To qualify as a trade secret, it must have independent economic value to the company. For example, the recipe for Coca-Cola is a trade secret, not a patent, and therefore will never be released because without maintaining the secrecy of the recipe, the business would not be able to compete by offering an individual product.

Contact an experienced Intellectual Property Lawyer today.

Find an Intellectual Property Lawyer associated with a major Intellectual Property Law Firm today at huge settlements

Photographers often follow certain legal practices to protect themselves, but cannot be sure that they will work when challenged. One such example is using a model release to obtain a models permission to use photographs taken of him or her in specific ways. The good news is that the standard model release was recently put to the test, and it passed with flying colors.

In 2002, Russian tennis player, Anastasia Myskina, who then was 20 years old, posed for photographs by Mark Seliger. Seliger first photographed Myskina for the Gentleman’s Quarterly’s 2002 Sports issue and then photographed her topless. Myskina had signed a model release that said she consented to the use of her name and the pictures by the magazine and by others it may authorize, for editorial purposes.

After winning the French Open in 2004, a Russian newspaper published the topless photos. Myskina filed an $8 million lawsuit against the publisher, Conde Nast Publications Inc., Gentleman’s Quarterly and Seliger alleging emotional distress and economic injury.

The New York judge who presided over the case held that Myskina’s rights were not violated despite her insistence that she did not understand the signed model release and was not fluent in English at the time. Instead, the Judge stated that, absent allegations of fraud, duress or some other wrongdoing, Myskina’s claimed misunderstanding of the release’s terms does not excuse her from being bound on the contract. Nor can she avoid her obligations under the release because of her purported failure to read its contents.

Even though the photographer allegedly told Myskina that the topless photos were for himself, the Judge found that the oral agreement contradicted the plain language of the written agreement and was not admissible. The Judge then dismissed the case.

As a photographer, it is important to protect yourself as much as possible. Fortunately, the model release is one way that has been proven to be effective.

Take my advice; get professional help. PhotoAttorney

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright All Rights Reserved

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True Story:

A photographer recently settled for $275,000 with the Dallas Cowboys after the Cowboys used one of his pictures on clothing and other merchandise without permission. But after the settlement was reached, the Cowboys barred the photographer from ever working in Texas Stadium where the Cowboys play.

The photographer had given a digital file of a photograph to the Cowboys who considered it for use on season tickets. The Cowboys then bought only 250 copies to resell as prints to the public. Later, the Cowboys used the same image on clothing and other items, without getting permission from the photographer for the additional usage. The photographer had not registered his photo with the U.S. Copyright Office.

When the photographer discovered the infringements and inquired about it, the Cowboys offered him $1,000 in merchandise gift certificates. After trying to negotiate a settlement on his own for about a year, he hired a lawyer. Three years later, a settlement was reached.

Morals of the story:

-Many infringements come from uses beyond that agreed to. The infringements can come from uses on different products, for longer terms, in extra forms such as print or electronic, in other locations, etc.

-Watch your clients use of your work closely.

-Register your images with the U.S. Copyright Office before you give, or within three months of giving, them to a client.

-Even if you havent registered your photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office, you are entitled to actual damages from infringements. They can be hard to prove, but sometimes they can add up to substantial sums.

-While you may be a good negotiator, it can help to have a lawyer to give weight to your position.

-If you have to sue a client, you probably wont get work from that client again.

-Legal matters can take time; be patient for your rewards.

Take my advice; get professional help.

PhotoAttorney

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright All Rights Reserved PhotoAttorney

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Intellectual property, although intangible, is still ownable and your intellectual property rights should be protected. Modern business, especially since the rise of the internet has seen a rise in the creation of intellectual property. However the internet makes it even easier for someone to steal your ideas and work. An intellectual property lawyer who is trained to help reclaim patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret rights can help protect your intellectual property.

Types of intellectual property include patents, trademarks and trade dress, copyrights, and trade secrets.

Patents

A patent is granted by the government allowing a (usually) 20 year monopoly on an invention previously not generally known. Patents are intended to encourage investment in research and development. If you create a new useful process for doing something, a machine, manufacture, or even an improvement on something already in existence, you can patent your invention and prohibit others from making, using, offering for sale, or sellingor importing the invention in the U.S. Your right to patent your invention is a constitutional right (Article I, section 8). Patents are subdivided into three groups: design, utility, and plant. Design patents protect innovations in the appearance (although not the structure or function) of an item. Utility patents are for wholly new inventions including machines, industrial processes, compositions of matter, and articles of manufacture. Plant patents cover innovations in plant-life, such as new species of plant created from the reproduction of cuttings and grafts of existing plants.

Patent lawyers will research previously granted patents for you to see if a similar product has already been patented or whether you should apply for a patent for your invention. A patent attorney will also tell you if your idea is not patentable because it is a law of nature, a physical phenomena, or abstract. You should find a specialized patent or intellectual property attorney because in order to prosecute a clients patent application, he or she must be registered with the U.S. patent office. A patent lawyer will also have to have passed a science and engineering exam to better understand and serve clients.

Trademarks

Trademarks are granted for words, names, symbols, or devices which separate and distinguish businesses and services. These include arbitrary names such as Kodak, suggestive names such as Caterpillar (tractors), descriptive names which indicated the business products or services, and generic names which are descriptive. Generic and some descriptive names cannot be protected, so a trademark or intellectual property lawyer should be consulted to see if your name qualifies for trademark rights. You can also file an intent-to-use application to reserve a name that will later be trademarked. (This is especially important with the expansion of business on the internet.)

Trademark lawyers can also be sought to make sure that your new business isnt using a registered mark. The consequences for using a registered mark, even though you may have put money and advertising into promoting your business, include being sued for infringement.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect the individuals expression of an idea, but do not protect the idea itself (see patent). Copyrights are intended to promote scientific progress. You can copyright your writing, performance (music, dance), art, sound, compilations. You cannot copyright ideas or uncompiled facts, words, or phrases (these could be registered as trademarks, though, so consult an intellectual property lawyer). If you come up with an idea or invention while working for a company, it is able to be patented or trademarked by the company you work for, but copyrightable work belongs to you, the employee, not the company employing you. However, there are loopholes, and an intellectual property lawyer will help you both with the process of getting your expression copyrighted but will also save you trouble and time in getting over road blocks.

If you are a company, you need an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in copyrights because especially with internet businesses, you will need to make sure that contractually your web site design can be copyrighted to your company and will not belong to the employee or independent contractor who created it. This also applies to software.

Trade Secrets

It is important to protect your business trade secrets so they will not be misappropriated. Whereas patents have a limited time of coverage and after 20 years are released, trade secrets are always protected. To qualify as a trade secret, it must have independent economic value to the company. For example, the recipe for Coca-Cola is a trade secret, not a patent, and therefore will never be released because without maintaining the secrecy of the recipe, the business would not be able to compete by offering an individual product.

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Theres no doubt that its easier to register your photographs before you publish them. But if you didn’t get it done then, it’s better late than never to register your published images. The good news is that its more convenient and cheaper than ever to register your photographs after they have been published.

Pursuant to a recent change in copyright law, you now can register a group of published images on one form. The only requirements are that the photos must have been published in the same year, made by the same photographer and have the same copyright claimant. This should fit the profile of most photographers and their work.

Another beneficial change in the law is that group registration of published images currently requires only one deposit or copy of the image. Previously, you had to submit two of the actual published copies. Now you can register your published images on one form, with only one deposit, one application and one filing fee, as long as they meet the above requirements.

Specific instructions on how to prepare your registration forms for published photographs are available from the Picture Archive Council of America at http://www.pacaoffice.org/copyright.html in The Importance of Copyright Registration

You no longer have an excuse. Go to the dentist, change the oil in your car, and register your images, both unpublished and published. Its better late than never.

Take my advice; get professional help.

PhotoAttorney

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright All Rights Reserved

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In general, if property is visible and can be photographed from a public place, you dont need a property release to use the image in any manner. This exclusion to copyright law includes buildings located on the property, but not statues or other items that may have separate copyrights. There also are restrictions on some governmental property for security purposes, such as federal seals and insignia, and military or nuclear installations. But if the statue or copyrighted item has minimal presence in your image, your photo still may fall under the exclusion. Otherwise, you must get permission to use the image for commercial purposes.

Nevertheless, some companies have tried to prevent the use both commercially and editorially of photographs of their buildings or objects via trademark protection or contract law. Examples include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the lone Cypress tree at Pebble Beach, CA, and the Hollywood sign. While these attempts have been unsuccessful, they can be expensive to litigate. Is it worth it to you to spend thousands of dollars to test this issue? Thats a choice youll have to make.

If you want to avoid this battle, though, check the list of properties and objects collected by the Picture Archive Council of America that have been reported by its members to be allegedly protected. http://www.stockindustry.org/resources/specialreleases.html

On the other hand, photographers should protect their rights, too. Dont be intimidated from photographing what is within your legal rights. Check with an attorney to fully understand and exercise your privileges.

Take my advice; get professional help.

PhotoAttorney

Copyright 2005 Carolyn E. Wright All Rights Reserved

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Turnitin.com is undeniably an effective deterrent to plagiarism, but it is the very issue of copyright infringement that has people questioning the legality of the site. What many people don’t understand is that works do not need to be registered to be copyrighted. Every literary work that is saved to a tangible medium (this includes paper, computer disk, etc.) is protected by federal copyright laws. Thus, the works submitted to Turnitin.com are copyrighted and the authors hold complete rights to the works.

What the Turnitin.com system does, however, is it stores the submitted paper on their servers. This is done without the student’s permission. Turnitin.com is operating under the pretense that teachers will force their students to submit to Turnitin.com. Thus, student papers are stored in iParadigm’s (the company that runs Turnitin.com) database. This in itself is a blatant violation of the 1976 Federal Copyright Act. Turnitin.com is duplicating copyrighted material without the consent of the student. The student is forced to submit to the site, so submissions are not considered voluntary. In addition, the site does not ask for permission to store the paper, instead, it is done automatically.

iParadigm and their team of lawyers admit in their legal page that the archiving of papers is treading on shaky legal ground. They affirm, however, that their services constitute fair use by grounds that their service does not limit the marketability of the paper. The claim that their service doesn’t limit the marketability of a paper is false. If one were to sell a term-paper that was already in the Turnitin.com database, the paper would be of little use to a potential student buyer because any similarities from the student’s paper would be red flagged. The very addition of a paper to the Turnitin.com database severely limits the feasible marketability of the paper. That is, the archiving of one’s paper eliminates other students with the same assignment as potential buyers of the paper.

Another strikingly illegal aspect of the Turnitin.com service is the fact that many teachers submit student works without the student’s permission. Turnitin.com is operating under the pretense that this is occurring. When a student gives a teacher a paper for grading the assumption is that evaluative rights are given to the teacher. In no way is the teacher entitled to submit the paper to be copied to the iParadigm servers. iParadigm is breaking copyright laws by duplicating a paper without the copyright holder’s consent.

In effect, the paper (but not the copyright) becomes property of Turnitin.com. Turnitin.com is clearly making a profit off the papers that students submit. Without the database of some 60,000 student-submitted papers, the Turnitin.com service would not be as effective. Every paper submitted makes the service more effective and the company therefore yields greater profits. Schools that use the service have to pay large amounts of money in the thousands to ten thousands of dollars range. It is clear that the company is profiting off of students’ copyrighted hard-work. Interestingly enough, the very place that the Turnitin.com service originally started now has grave doubts over the legality of the Turnitin.com service.

Turnitin.com founder John Barrie was a graduate student at UC Berkeley when he started developing the software that the site runs on. Currently, UC Berkeley does not subscribe to Turnitin.com because they feel the site may be infringing upon student’s copyrights.

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Intellectual Property is the product of your thinking that can be used for commercial value. In other words, you think of a song and write down the words you have the legal right to prevent others from copying or making a song based on your lyrics. This right you have can make you money if someone is willing to pay you for your song. Maybe your boss asked you to write a computer program. Who owns the work? You may have designed a new mouse trap and have the design on computer. Or you have created a distinctive logo for your company. But Intellectual Property goes deeper than songs or even copyrights. Lets examine the four main areas of Intellectual Property law: Trade Secrets, Copyrights, Trademarks and Patents.

Trade Secrets
Trade secrets give the owner a competitive edge. If some information has value to competitors and they dont know about it then its a trade secret. If the information was not kept reasonably safe (secret) then its not a trade secret. Trade secrets may be sold with the business or stolen from bad employees. Maybe a former employee didnt sign a non-disclosure statement before going to work at the competition. Some also reverse engineer software to gain the source code. This highly protected source code for computers is their trade secret, giving them an advantage over the competition. The trick is you have to keep your trade secrets as such, secrets.

Copyrights
Copyrights protect all kinds of writing by singers, writers, programmers, artists, etc These are the best known of all intellectual property. Registering with the US Copyright office can enhance the automatic protection. You must have your copyright material on paper, tape, or computer. Copyright protection applies to the literal expression. It doesnt protect the underlying theme of the writing. It must have some creativity. You cant copyright a simple list. You dont actually have to have a copyright notice since March 1st, 1989. The recommended notice is copyright year authors name. For example, this article will have a copyright. Copyright 2005 Stuart Simpson. But it is not necessary.

Trademarks
Trademarks must be a unique name, design, symbol, logo, color, container, etcthat businesses use to distinguish their goods from others in the same market. You should have a strong name for a mark, as common words receive less protection. Like Stuarts Cold Ice Cream Company. My name and the descriptive term (cold) are weak marks. But a distinctive name like Netflix, is a strong mark. Netflix is technically a service mark. It falls into the same category as trademarks. Your trademark must be submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). But first, the mark must be put into use in commerce that Congress may regulate. This means you have to sell across state lines or have a business that caters to interstate or international travelers. After you do this, you can file another form to show the mark is actually being used. The PTO checks for similar marks. You cant use the circled R just yet. You can only use this if your logo or mark has been registered.

Patents
Patent law gives inventor of new and special invention the right to use this invention for a fixed period of time. The US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) must find that the invention qualifies for patent protection. Your invention has to be new and novel, not obvious. What do you do with a patent? Normally, the inventors get a license agreement with a company to produce the product for a period of time. In exchange, the company pays the inventor royalties for each item sold.

Intellectual property goes further in depth on each of these items. I wanted to give you a brief description to help broaden your knowledge base when writing, creating or inventing. If your work falls into one of the above categories, do more research. I will be writing on each specific area in the future.

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