A Business Asset
Trademarks are important
business assets and should be treated with the care due something so valuable.
Businesses rely on their trademarks to identify their products or services and
distinguish them from those of competitors. A trademark can be a word, symbol,
logo or design or any combination of these.
Searching
Before adopting a trademark
and/or service mark, it is recommended that a search be conducted for
conflicting marks. Our office has the ability to search databases containing
the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for active marks from 1884
to the present and records provided by the Secretary of State of each state in
the U.S. for such conflicting marks. We can also access a directory of over 8.4
million businesses and professionals throughout the United States utilizing the
Dun & Bradstreet Electronic Business Directory.
Searching Analysis
Most trademark searches
done by other searching firms provide nothing more than a printout of dozens of
hits from a standard word search. The real value in our trademark searches is
the analysis and opinions of registerability we provide. We sort it all out and
emphasize what's really important in determining whether a word trademark or
service mark is registerable.
Our office recommends
searching to determine the availability of trademarks and service marks before
adopting and using your chosen mark. Considerable expense can be saved when you
consider the costs involved in promoting your goods and/or services only to
learn that using your mark may infringe the rights of others. If you wish for
our office to have your trademark federally searched,
contact us today.
Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of
"original works of authorship" including literary works, dramatic works,
musical works, including accompanying works, pantomimes and choreographic
works, pictoral, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other
audiovisual works, sound recordings and architectural works. Computer software
has also become important copyright-protected works.
Copyright protection for
work originally created on or after January 1, 1978 automatically attaches from
the moment of creation and ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's
life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. These important
rights should be registered with the Register of Copyrights as soon as
practical to preserve all rights and remedies should infringement
occur.
Contact us today if you wish for our office to register your copyright. |