Online Form and Instructions
Intellectual property is a very specialized area
of law. The three types of intellectual property are: Patent Law,
Trademark Law and Copyright Law. Patents and trademarks are handled
by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Copyright Law
is governed through the Library of Congress.
If you have a trademark or service mark that you
wish to protect, then I would be happy to assist you in obtaining
that federal protection for that mark. The first step in obtaining
a trademark or service mark is to do a search of the USPTO records
to determine if your inquiry has already been established. The
USPTO is an agency of first come first serve. The first person
to establish their mark on the USPTO registry is entitled to use
it for an indefinite period of time as long as the mark is renewed
on a regular basis and is regularly used in trade or commerce.
Trademarks are such things as the golden arches at McDonalds or
the Colonel's face at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Service marks are identical to trademarks except
they are for companies that operate in service industries, such
as Jiffy Lube or AOL. Additionally, trade dress is also a protected
issue by the USPTO. Trade dress is the type of layout a particular
establishment may have. For instance, if I put a blindfold on
you and brought you into a Target Store, when the blindfold came
off inside the store, would you recognize what store you were
in? Of course you would, because of the red colors and the layout
of the store. If WalMart tried to lay their stores out in a similar
color scheme, they certainly would be sued for trade dress infringement.
All of these things can be discussed with you during your consultation.
My office is within 15 minutes of the USPTO and I am very experienced
in conducting the searches and then ultimately prosecuting your
trademark application regardless of where you may live. I have
clients across the nation who I have successfully obtained trademark
status for and I look forward to assisting you with your project.
Copyrights are protections of literal works, such
as books, music or Internet web sites. Generally a copyright lasts
for the life of the author plus 70 years. If you have a book,
publication, musical computation, or Internet web site that you
wish to protect from the unauthorized copying by a third party,
then I invite you to fill out the response form and contact me
as soon as possible. Like trademark law, I can handle
your copyright application regardless of where you live. Please
fill the questionnaire (link below) out and allow me to start
working on your behalf.
Litigation may also arise out of the protections
of trademarks or copyrights. You may be the current owner of a
trademark or copyright and someone is infringing (using) your
work for their own gain without your permission. Or alternatively,
someone may have a mark that you believe is generic or not commonly
used in commerce. In those instances, an action can be filed in
federal court to either stop someone from using your work or to
try to divest someone of their previously registered protections.
I will be happy to discuss these issues with you and determine
if Washington, DC or Northern Virginia is the appropriate jurisdiction
to bring such an action. If it is not, I will refer you to an
attorney in your area appropriate for such an action.
Patents are federal protections against inventions.
Inventions can be mechanical, chemical or intellectual. Such things
as pharmaceuticals or software or things more common such as automobile
components may require protections with a patent. A patent has
a short duration, usually 20 years. However, during the 20 years,
no other company may copy or duplicate your invention without
your express license. If you have a patent inquiry, I will refer
you to a colleague of mine who is licensed as a patent attorney
for further information.
CLICK
TO BEGIN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, TRADEMARKS & COPYRIGHT
QUESTIONNAIRE OR
Click
HERE to fill out the "General Response Form" and
I will contact you about your case.
INSTRUCTIONS:
This form spans 1 page, required
fields are marked with an (R).
At the end of the form you will have the opportunity to review
and edit all of the information you provided on the form.
While working on the form, you may go back to previous pages by
using the back button at the bottom of the form, however answers
on the page you are currently working on when you click the back
button will NOT be saved and you
will need to re-enter the information, therefore I highly recommend
that you complete the entire form, then review and edit your answers.
You may NOT stop part way through
the form and come back to it later as your information will NOT
be saved for you. Should you click any links on the form
page, the linked page will open in a new window. Simply
close that window to return to the form where you left off.
Clicking a link from the form will not cause your information
to be deleted.
You will have
the opportunity to schedule an appointment with me for a real-time
Internet chat or phone call to discuss your case after you have
completed the form.
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