Tips On Consistency For Trademark Owners
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Feb 25, 2021 in Intellectual Property
Consistency in the use of a trademark is extremely important to building a strong brand in commerce. It helps consumers immediately identify your business, products, and services. It creates the impression of a professional, well-organized, trustworthy company. In short, it is absolutely something you want to do. But how exactly do you do it? Consistency Starts with the Creation and Registration of the Trademark Itself When you develop a trademark – either on your own […]
Continue ReadingOffer Presentations for Your Business? Protect Your Original Materials
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Feb 18, 2021 in Copyrights
Are you providing workshops, seminars, and training sessions as part of your business? Do you use your own original manuals, books, videos and presentation materials? If you are using your own original materials, you should protect them from potential infringers – unscrupulous people who take your materials, copy them and redistribute them in their name. Sadly, there are infringers everywhere making money off the hard work of others. Some of the steps you can take […]
Continue ReadingA Valuable Task: Trademark Clearance Searches
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Feb 11, 2021 in Intellectual Property
One of the first questions I ask a new trademark client is “Did you conduct a trademark clearance search?” Sometimes the client will say they searched on Google and found no one using the mark on the internet. Other clients will tell me they went onto the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) trademark database and searched for the word mark they want to use. Unfortunately, these types of searches alone are not enough. […]
Continue ReadingWhat Exactly Does “Failure to Function as a Trademark” Mean?
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Feb 4, 2021 in Intellectual Property
“Failure to function as a trademark” is one of the reasons the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may refuse to register an applicant’s proposed trademark. What does it mean? How can this happen? Quite simply, not all words, designs, or symbols used by business owners in commerce to sell goods or services function as trademarks — regardless of the trademark applicant’s intent. A word, design, or symbol does not function as a trademark […]
Continue ReadingWhat Songwriters Can Do to Take Advantage of the New Blanket License for Mechanical Royalties
Crystal Broughan, Intellectual Property Attorney Jan 21, 2021 in Copyrights
As songwriters know only too well, a significant portion of music these days is shared online, either by people downloading it directly or streaming it through various services. Unfortunately, up until this year, how royalties through these services work has been complicated at best. That all changed on January 1st though, thanks to the Music Modernization Act (MMA). As part of the act, a new blanket license for mechanical royalties was created, as was a […]
Continue ReadingCopyright Owners Seeking Less than $30,000 in Damages Can Now Skip Federal Court
Marks Gray Jan 14, 2021 in Copyrights
Are you the owner of a copyright that has been violated? Are you seeking damages that are less than $30,000? Good news is here! You may have heard that in December of last year, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (CASE Act) as part of their COVID relief bill. The CASE Act allows for the creation of a separate copyright infringement tribunal system for small claims cases. In other words, […]
Continue Reading