Intellectual Property Rights: To Protect and Not Infringe:

Welcome Back!

Our next topic is why it is important to protect your intellectual property rights.   Check out the top 2 reasons below:

1. Most importantly, a competing business may decide to use your intellectual property (names, logos, inventions, written works, etc.) as their own due to the fact your business has built goodwill or has developed a strong brand.  This scenario can result in lost customers, sales, and business.

2. Second, if you do not protect your intellectual property rights, your business can miss out on the opportunity to earn royalty income from licensing of your intellectual property.

In addition, it is important that you or your company are not committing some of the offenses above.  So before bringing intellectual property to the market, do a search (you can use Google as a preliminary search, but you should hire an attorney to do a search) to determine if another business or individual has competing rights against your intellectual property.  If you introduce intellectual property to the market that infringes on another's rights, your company's growth may be restricted or legal action can be taken against your company.

Next topic: How to protect your particular intellectual property

Intellectual Property Law 101

Hi Readers!

Glad you are back!  This post will explain what intellectual property is and will define each type of intellectual property.  If after reading this post, you have any further questions, please contact me at lgivens@phillipsgivenslaw.com.

1.  Intellectual Property are creations of the mind:  They include: inventions; literary or artistic works; symbols, names, and images used in commerce.

2. There are three basic intellectual property rights:  patents, trademarks, and copyrights.

3.  A patent is a property right granted by the US Government to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the US or importing the invention into the US.  For example, the formula created for Coca-Cola is an invention. Also if you create a new product this is an invention.

4. A trademark is an intellectual property right that protects words, names, symbols, sounds, or colors that distinguish goods and services from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of goods.  For Example:  The logo for Coca-Cola which appears in white cursive lettering is the trademark for Coca-Cola, the company.  When we see the logo for Coca-Cola we automatically associate it with Coke, the drink we consume.

5. A copyright is an intellectual property right that protects works of authorship such as writing, music, and works of art that have been tangibly expressed.  For Example: A blogger's original writing is a copyright.  Paintings are copyrights.  Music are copyrights.

So I pose this questions?  What type of intellectual property do you own?  In my next post, we will discuss the importance of protecting your intellectual property rights and taking the necessary steps to NOT infringe on someone's legitimate intellectual property.

This blog is for everyone!

Hello!

I started this blog to be an informational tool for people who need basic information about intellectual property law.  This include individuals, bloggers, small business owners, mid-sized business owners, etc.   But first things first.....Here is my Disclaimer:  The information provided in this post and on this blog does not constitute an offer of representation or create an attorney-client relationship with my firm, Phillips Givens LLC. The information contained on this blog is designed to apply to general situations and may not reflect current legal developments. You should not act or rely on any information on this blog without seeking the advice of a licensed attorney in your state regarding your specific situation. I assume no liability or responsibility for errors or omissions in the content of this blog.  I, Latoicha Givens, is the person who is solely responsible for the contents of this blog.  If after reading this blog, you feel compelled to contact me for further information or representation, please email me at lgivens@phillipsgivenslaw.com.  Whew! Now that we got that out of the way, lets get to the fun stuff.

What are the basics of intellectual property law?  Stay tuned to find out.....