Protect Your Patent or Trademark with the Help of a Patent and Trademark Attorney
When you work with DLC Law, you will be working with a Registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This distinction gives you the confidence that you have chosen an attorney who is particularly specialized in your legal needs. Read on to learn the basics about patent and trademark law, then contact us at (626) 285-8815 for a consultation.
Legal help with patents
Processes, techniques, devices, and other inventions are all protected by patents. They grant the creator a monopoly over the patented object, allowing him or her to prevent anyone from utilizing, producing, or selling the innovation. In the case of utility patents, the patent protection monopoly lasts for a statutory duration of 20 years. This time frame strikes a compromise between allowing the owner to profit from the investment in creating the invention and allowing other inventors or creators to capitalize on outdated patents that have lost their statutory protection.
If you’re looking for a patent attorney, we can help, thanks to our experience and expertise with patent registration, patent infringement, and patent litigation.
Patent law
The first stage in obtaining patent protection is to identify whether or not your idea is patentable, as well as which category it belongs to. For an invention to be patentable, it must meet a number of regulatory and legislative conditions.
It must be, in particular:
- A procedure, equipment, manufactured item, or composition
- New or novel, useful, and not self-evident
In order for an innovation to be patented, each of these conditions must be satisfied. In order to fulfill the “novelty” criterion, a patent application must be submitted within one year of the invention becoming accessible for public consumption in the United States. Regardless, we advise filing a patent application as soon as possible and before any public publication. A patent might cover a wholly new invention or a significant improvement or modification to an existing one.
To be considered “useful,” the innovation must perform a specific purpose, such as fixing a real-world problem. Finally, for an invention to be considered “non-obvious,” it must be something that a reasonably skilled person in the relevant area would not deem apparent.
Trademark law
Trademarks are a type of intellectual property (IP) that allows you to identify and differentiate your products and services from those of others on the market. Words, phrases, symbols, and logos are all examples of trademarks.
A trademark helps a company to distinguish itself and prevents unfair competition. It’s crucial to remember that trademark infringement harms more than simply the trademark owner. In these instances, consumers are also harmed. People who anticipate a particular degree of quality from their purchases may be confused by trademark violation.
Trademark essentials
Many individuals are unaware that even if a trademark isn’t registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office, it is protected as intellectual property (USPTO). You are granted some rights under federal and state law just by utilizing a distinctive phrase, logo, or another kind of trademark. Of course, this does not negate the need to engage a trademark attorney to file a trademark application.
Trademark search
A trademark search is the initial stage in obtaining a trademark. In fact, it’s possible that this is the most crucial stage in establishing trademark rights. If you start using a trademark that you don’t own, you risk facing trademark infringement lawsuits and even having to rename your whole firm. Being compelled to alter your company name, especially if you’ve been in business for a long time, may be upsetting.
We strongly suggest that you hire a trademark attorney to do your trademark search.
Registering a trademark
While the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the national body in charge of trademark protection, trademarks can also be filed at the state level. This may be your best option if you are certain that you will never do business outside of your home state and that your activities will never have an influence on interstate commerce.
However, when you make this decision, make sure you understand that you will not have national protection, which will likely significantly limit your rights in the future. You should only forego the advantages of national trademark registration if it is part of a good business plan. Almost often, federal protection is the best option.
At DLC Law we can help you with trademark registration, trademark infringement, and trademark litigation. Call us now at (626) 285-8815 for a consultation.