Los Angeles Copyright Attorneys & Lawyers

What does a Trademark Cost?

A trademark costs $400 for electronic trademark applications and $600 for paper filings, both per-class of goods or services selected registering for a federal trademark through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Should You Register for a Trademark?

A trademark user can build rights for a mark by frequently using the mark in commerce. If the user relies on just common-law rights for their trademark, they won't have to pay fees to formalize rights for it. However, there are some risks. Someone else may may obtain the trademark. If a trademark user has obtained the right to use the mark in a certain geographic location, you will lose the right to use your trademark in that area. Or the trademark holder may accidentally infringe upon a mark that is

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What Does Trademarking Goods and Services Involve?

To protect the intellectual property of your brand in relation to the goods and services you provide, it is important to obtain a trademark or service mark. Trademarking your brand in association with your goods and services gives you exclusive rights to the use of your name and logo in conjunction with these goods and services. This can include words, names, symbols, and designs or a combination of these things that identify your brand.

Obtaining a trademark is relatively simple with a few critical steps:

• Select your trademark or service mark: Create your brand name and image. Your mark should be able to be registered and protected. It should be specific and unique enough to identify the source of the goods and services. It should also be distinguishable from the marks of other providers of si

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What Is Intellectual Property Law?

Intellectual property law (IP) protects the rights of any person or business who creates artistic work. Artistic work can include music, literature, plays, discoveries, inventions, words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Intellectual property law aims to encourage new technologies, artistic expression, and inventions that all promote economic growth.

Types of Intellectual Property Law

Just like the legal system protects people's physical property rights, it aims to protect people's mental labor, which we call intellectual property. There are several different types of intellectual property.

Copyrights

Copyrights protect any type of expressive art, such as writings, music, motion pictures, architecture, and other original intellectual and artistic expressions. A copyright gives the owner exclusive rights to reproduce their own work, publicly display it, perform it, and create derivat

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What Are Fanciful Trademarks?

Fanciful trademarks are made-up terms invented for the single purpose of functioning as a trademark. They can be either neologisms (words that don't mean anything in the English language) or archaic words that are out of common usage.

A fanciful trademark is distinctive and only has a meaning when used in relation to a specific product. For this reason, fanciful marks are the strongest type of trademarks.

Famous examples of fanciful trademarks include Exxon, Kodak, Pepsi, Clorox, and Xerox.

Understanding the Strength of Trademarks

A term is considered a trademark and receives protection only when it's distinctive. The public needs to able to distinguish the mark associated with your product from the goods of your competitors. The more distinctive a trademark is, the stronger it is.
A mark can fall into five cate

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What Is Software Forensics?

Software forensics is a branch of science that investigates computer software text codes and binary codes in cases involving patent infringement or theft. Software forensics can be used to support evidence for legal disputes over intellectual property, patents, and trademarks.

Digital forensics and computer forensics are both tools used to recover computer files. Digital forensics tries to find files that are the same, and software forensics examiners focus on function.

Software forensics is especially important in patent and trade cases. In these cases, someone might have copied another person's code, but rewritten that code in a way to hide the theft. A digital forensic examiner may not have the tools or capabilities to prove a crime occurred.

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