Warren Trademark Attorneys & Lawyers

Copyrights, trademarks, patents, and licenses are each a different form of intellectual property (IP) rights protection recognized by U.S. law. The distinctions among them can be subtle and often the same product or service may involve more than one of these IP rights. How can you tell them apart when deciding how to protect your company’s assets? Here’s how.

Copyrights

Copyright protects the rights of “authors” in their original creative works. Copyrightable works include artistic creations, like novels, paintings, films, and songs, but also business-related works like software code, website designs, architectural drawings, marketing reports, and product manuals.

The author of a copyrighted work has the exclusive right to:

• Reproduce (prin

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What Is a Collective Mark?

A collective mark is a trademark used by the members of a collective to indicate membership in the group or to identify and distinguish the products and services of members from those of the non-members. The mark may be a word, symbol, or group of words. Collective entities can register and get protection for collective marks under the Lanham Act.

Collectives may be associations, cooperatives, organizations and unions, or public institutions. Only members of the organization that registered a collective mark can use it. Even if it's the members of the collective that use the mark, the collective holds the mark rights.

Producers of traditional regional products often use collective marks to promote the products and help market them internationall

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Updated November 4, 2020:

What Is Trademark Permission?

Trademark permission allows a company or individual to legally use a trademark held by another person or business. Getting trademark permission from a trademark holder can help your company increase sales, generate brand awareness, and increase positive customer associations with your product or service. But if done illegally, using someone else's trademark puts you at serious risk for legal trouble.

Trademark permission, also called licensing, exists to allow others to use a trademark, a word or mark that exclusively identifies one person or company as the source of a product or service. When granting proper permission, the trademark owner can take advantage of other benefits as well. Perhaps these benefits come in the form of profits for every item sold under the trademark permi

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Updated November 26, 2020:

What Is the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board?

The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board is the administrative arm of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) responsible for resolving a variety of legal issues surrounding a trademark's approval or continuing registration. This tribunal is referred to colloquially as the Board or by the acronym TTAB.

• Trademark opposition proceedings: Business owners who think a potential new trademark could damage their business can file an opposition proceeding within the proper timeframe. This is a type of inter partes proceeding. Only a person w

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Updated June 22, 2020:

What Does it Cost to Trademark a Logo?

The cost to trademark a logo with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is $275–$660 as of June 2020, plus legal fees. You can register a trademark with your state for $50-$150, but federal registration offers a great deal more legal protection.

The USPTO offers four different forms, each with different pricing. If you file online using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), you can choose from three options. File a regular TEAS for $400 or a TEAS RF for $275. You can file a TEAS Plus for $225 if you meet certain terms, such as fitting neatly into one of the standard business groups. Which form you can use will depend on your business and your log

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