The High Swartz trademark and copyright lawyers help clients select, register, maintain and enforce copyright and trademark protection. We also represent businesses and individuals accused of trademark or copyright infringement.
Understanding how to protect your intellectual property rights and how they affect your business is vital to your business success.
What is Intellectual Property?
It’s not uncommon that a new client reaches out for legal advice regarding a novel idea. The idea has the potential to make the client’s business profitable and stand-out amongst competitors. The positive vibes, however, end with the excitement of creating this potentially lucrative idea. The client, unsure how to proceed, then invariably asks some of the following questions:
- “I have this great idea, but I’m not quite sure what to do with it. What should I do next?”
- “Is it OK to share my idea with others?”
- “What legal rights does this idea provide to me?”
Before an Intellectual Property lawyer can advise the client on how to proceed with their novel idea, they needs to understand what, exactly, is the nature of the idea. New ideas clients conceive take many forms: some have conceived a new logo or image which will help their business become commercially successful; others have designed a new invention never before seen in the marketplace; others have created new meaningful artwork they want to display to the public.
These ideas, referred to as intellectual property (and often shortened to IP), can provide a vast range of rights to their creator. Such success, however, can be fleeting if the client does not know how to adequately protect their IP. Very often, though the new client knows they have created something new, they are not quite sure how to categorize the idea, or how to safeguard it. Before discussing how the client can protect the idea, it’s critical that the client (and his IP lawyer) identify what type of intellectual property has been created.
Intellectual property is chiefly classified into four types:
Each of these categories, or practice areas, has its own purpose and is regulated by distinct rules, statutes, and common law.
Knowing what form of intellectual property you’ve created is crucial in utilizing your new, useful, and potentially lucrative idea. An intellectual property lawyer can help you identify how to best classify your idea and navigate the next steps with registration and protection.
Trademark and Copyright Legal Services
Trademarks and copyright-protected works are important assets and often possess significant value. Our Intellectual Property Lawyers help clients:
- Select, register and maintain their U.S. trademarks and copyrights
- Avoid losing trademark or copyright protection through underuse in interstate commerce or by becoming generic (such as escalator and kerosene)
- Apply international treaties or other global trademark programs that may benefit trademarks
- Assert or defend their interests in trademark and copyright disputes
Trademark and Copyright Disputes
High Swartz intellectual property lawyers represent clients in trademark and copyright litigation, as well as those looking to stop unauthorized use of their trademarks or copyright-protected material. We apply our experience to protect our clients’ interests in litigation concerning:
- Website domain name disputes involving the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
- Trademark or copyright infringement or misappropriation
- Copyright or trademark counterfeiting
- Unfair competition
- Concurrent trademark or copyright registration
- Lanham Act violations
Protect your work. Talk with one of our copyright and Trademark attorneys from our IP law firm serving Bucks and Montgomery Counties today.
Intellectual Property Law Blog
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