Protect the Fruits of your Labor! Call an Intellectual Property Attorney Today!

U.S. businesses, inventors, and artists spend countless hours developing new products, devices, and works of art each year. In order to protect their creative endeavors, they apply for patents and copyrights. Unfortunately, not everyone respects these forms of intellectual property. Because it is much easier and cheaper to imitate than it is to invent, some companies and individuals willfully violate the laws that protect the rights of artists and inventors.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect visual and expressive arts. They cover everything from novels and plays to company slogans and logos. In addition to deterring plagiarism and theft, they also promote and encourage innovation. After all, when artists and inventors know their work will be protected, they are more likely to put in the insane hours its takes to come up with something original and new. The holders of copyrights are granted the exclusive rights to reproduce their own work and to receive financial remuneration for their labor. But they aren’t the only ones who benefit.

When playwright composes a brilliant new work, actors, directors, stagehands, etc. must be hired to bring it to life. That single act of creation can effect hundreds of workers and tens and thousands (or more) audience members. At the end of the day, creation has both cultural and economic benefits, which is why it should be protected at all costs. Consider, for a moment, how many people were directly affected by the creation of the personal computer!

Patents

When an invention has a specific function, like the light bulb, for instance, it must be protected by a patent. If it is not, anyone is free to copy the design and cash in on the ingenuity and hard work of another. There are three different kinds of patents in the U.S.: design patents, plant patents, and utility patents. If any of them are violated, the patent holder can file a lawsuit in state or federal court.

Trademarks

Nike, Gatorade, and McDonalds all invest beaucoup bucks to make sure their products, logos, and identifying marks are protected. If any other company or individual has the audacity to copy or reproduce anything theses global giants hold the rights to, they’d find themselves in a courtroom faster than they could say, “My bad!”

These three mechanisms help protect intellectual property in the United States. In most cases, a lawsuit will not be necessary. It is often enough to merely send a strongly-worded letter to a person or business that may have violated any of the aforementioned. However, if they do not respond in a timely matter, it may be necessary to contact an intellectual property atto
ey.

What do they do?

The laws that protect intellectual property rights are unambiguous and rather strict. A good intellectual property atto
ey should be able to tell you if you have a case within minutes of meeting you. However, it is often more difficult to determine what you are actually owned. Your intellectual property atto
ey must examine the federal and state licensing laws and calculate lost royalties. In most cases, the number is nothing more than an estimate. Not surprisingly, these cases often end with a settlement that is reached after weeks of tense negotiations.