Ideate

Identifying a businesses’ core intellectual property (IP) is not always as easy. Each type of intellectual property (IP) has its own quirks that can sometimes have surprising consequences for determining ownership. This article discusses common problems with copyright ownership and offers tips and solutions for avoiding copyright ownership problems in the future.

Traditionally, product or brand-placement within a TV series or movie—think Spielberg’s E.T. and Reese’s Piecescandies—requires a license or agreement with the brand to avoid legal issues arising out of trademark. But that’s not always the case. As Pepperdine and Duke have learned in recent months, the intersection of the 1st Amendment with the Lanham Act is a completely different matter.

Six steps to better brand protection: avoid trademark scams, protect products from knockoffs, consider “Brand Gating” for online sales with Amazon’s platform, police the market to monitor your trademark, create enforcement policies for intellectual property, and take social media infringement and dilution seriously.

Protecting a logo with a copyright registration in addition to trademark registration provides the owner with several advantages including two separate causes of action, enhanced statutory damages, greater chance of recovering attorney’s fees, an easier burden of proof to prevail, and potential to recover two separate statutory damage awards. Read for a discussion of logo and copyright law.

As the proverbial curse provides, “May you live in interesting times.”  We now live in such interesting times.  Import tariffs, which have not been something that many suppliers or customers have focused on, may be an increasing part of our lives.  With the significant increase in import tariffs, the contracts that govern relationships between suppliers and customers will become ever important. 

Logos can be independently protected by copyright and trademark law. Read this article for a discussion of the benefits of and the strategies for dual protection of trademark and copyright registration for logos as well as some thoughts on the nature of copyrights and logos.

Read for a discussion of international patent law on a country-by-country and regional basis. This article includes an analysis of patent requirements in various countries and provides insights on commonalities and differences between countries. Navigate the complexities of international patent law.