Birmingham Non-Profit Attorneys & Lawyers

Updated June 23, 2020:

Intellectual Property Protection

Intellectual Property Protection is protection for inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, and images created by the mind. Learn how you can protect your intellectual property by using: Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Copyrights.

Intellectual Property Protection Explained

Entrepreneurs and business owners need to understand the basics of intellectual property (IP) law to best protect their hard-earned creations and ideas from unfair competition. Intellectual property includes distinctive items that you have created and ones that give you an economic benefit.

Seek professional experience from an

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What Is Unfair Competition?

Unfair competition occurs when another company uses wrong or deceptive business practices to gain a competitive advantage. The major category of unfair competition relates to intentional confusion of customers as to where the product came from, while the secondary category relates to unfair trade practices. Some of the most common forms of unfair competition include:

• Bait-and-switch selling technique, such as substituting a lower-cost product from a different brand for a more expensive, higher-quality product.  
• False advertising or making false claims about a product to promote it.
• Misappropriation or use of confidential information, such as stealing a competitor's special formulation or other trade secrets.
• Trade dress violation, or copying the physical appearance of a product an

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Updated October 27, 2020:

What Is Trademark Licensing?

Trademark licensing is the process by which a registered trademark owner, called a licensor or proprietor, allows another party, called a licensee, to make and distribute specific products or services under the licensor's trademark agreement. Trademark licensing is a type of merchandise agreement.

The licensor receives a certain amount of money or royalties, a percentage of all sales, in exchange for sharing the trademark. This compensation is also called consideration. Fashion and consumer products concerned with sports and entertainment are often sold under a trademark licensing agreement.

The licensee usually creates a trademark licensing agreement, but a licensor can also

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What Are Cumulative Dividends?

If a dividend is sharing company profits to shareholders, then a cumulative dividend is a distribution made to the holders of special "preferred" shares regularly. It is unrelated to company profits.

Regular or "noncumulative" dividends are voluntary. This means the Board of Directors has the option of awarding them. This usually depends on how the company has performed each year.

However, paying cumulative dividends is mandatory. If the company can't pay out a cumulative dividend in any given fiscal year, the amount for that year is carried forward. It must always be paid out before any payments to common shareholders.

Not all "preferred shares" have the right to receive cumulative dividends. Some cumulative preferred shares carry limitations. For example, the company may only have to pay cumulative

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Updated October 5,2020: 

What is a DMCA Notice?

A DMCA notice informs a company, web host, search engine, or internet service provider that they are hosting or linking to material that infringes on a copyright. The party that receives the notice should take down the material in question as soon as possible. If the site owner doesn't comply, the ISP can forcibly remove the content.

You can send out a DMCA notice, not just for infringing material, but also for any indices, references, or pointers that lead to infringing material.

DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A DMCA notice is also known as a DMCA takedown notice or a DMCA request. The DMCA covers any

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