Inventors often have dreams about new inventions that reflect their creativity and desire to solve a problem or help humanity. Some of these dreams simply fade away with time and are never applied in the real world, while others are made into an invention that is tangible and real. However, when applying for a patent,…
When people think of property, they think of something like real or personal property. However, intellectual property has legal rights even when it’s in an intangible form. The three main types of intellectual property are trademarks, patents, and copyrights. Each of these has different laws that protect different types of work. Our legal team at…
A trademark is a slogan, design, symbol, word, or combination of some of these to identify a party’s goods or services. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish it from someone else’s goods or services. It can be almost anything. One example is the golden arches of McDonald’s or the shape of the Coca-Cola…
A business or company may have a portfolio, or collection, of patents and intellectual property protections just as an individual may have a stock and mutual fund portfolio, or collection of financial assets. And believe it or not, that patent portfolio can be just as important in determining a company’s financial future. Patent portfolio management…
Intellectual property is any creation of the mind, whether an invention, a literary or artistic piece of work, a design, name or image, or symbol used in commerce. IP is protected by law with patents, trademarks, or copyrights. This allows people to earn financial benefits or recognition for what they create or invent. At the…
A copyright is a form of legal protection for your creative work that excludes others from using it without your consent. A copyright protects original works by an author, like a book or poem, a film, a piece of music or art, or even computer software or a type of architecture. It does not protect…
A trademark is a type of symbol, sign, word or phrase that is intended to represent a product or company. A trademark can be registered so that no one else may use the same symbol to represent some other product or company. A popular example of a trademark is the one for Apple Computers, which…
Companies both large and small, become and remain successful because of their creativity and the ideas they develop in order to capture the attention of the consumer or industry market. In an IP strategy session, leaders and members of the company come together to discuss how these ideas, which are intellectual property or IP, will…
When you have an invention for which you want to get a patent, you have to be sure that your patent truly protects you and has no legal loopholes. A patent agent is someone who has comprehensive understanding and knowledge of all the rules and regulations that apply to the patenting process. A patent agent…
A copyright is the legal right given to the creator of a literary, artistic, or musical work to exclusively publish, print, perform or record the work. Examples of works that can be copyrighted are literary works, music, computer code, film or drama, videos, paintings or drawings, sculptures, and architecture. Even a choreographed dance can be…