Many companies, however, don’t consider IP protection until they need it.”. Here are the most common areas where most companies have some form of IP protection. When a company sells goods or services under a brand name that is not generic or merely descriptive, some state common law rights may arise. Tags: IP Basics MORE >>

A common misconception by many entrepreneurs is that they should use a name that describes their products or services. Some use generic names because they want to generate more website traffic from key word searches. generic name is the common name for the goods or services. MORE >>

Trademarks and service marks are essentially brand names.  In contrast, a trade name is a name that identifies a business. Confusingly, sometimes the same name may be a trade name, a trademark and a service mark. key issue is whether the public understands whether the name is a common name or a brand name. MORE >>

January is a great time of year to take stock of your IP protection strategy. If so, you should reevaluate whether: you have taken proper steps to protect your new brand name with trademark and service mark registrations; you own the IP rights to the new core technology; you may be able to file for patent or copyright protection; and. MORE >>

After doing IP litigation for over a decade and spending thousands of hours conducting evidence discovery, people never cease to amaze me. If you think that you and your employees may be creating valuable IP, it is well worth the effort to require good idea and invention record keeping — from the start. Permanent ink for writing. MORE >>