Independently of the size of their business, owners must pay attention to the trademark basics. Many business owners dedicate efforts and money to branding, but without the trademark protection, others can steal the brand. Without careful research, your branding may be infringing on other’s property. Here are the Trademark Basics. Trademarks are identifiers of your company, product, or service. These identifiers can be a logo, a name, or a slogan. For example, when you buy…
Cities and other public entities can also protect trademarks and other intellectual properties for branding purposes.
Around 500 BCE the government in Sybaris, the ancient city of Magna Graecia, started granting a one-year patent to any citizen for any “new refinement in luxury.” The Greeks, contributors of so many advances in the arts, philosophy, science, and government were the first who thought about and implemented protection for creators, unsuspected initiators of the intellectual property field. This seemed appropriate for the city which was recognized by its refinement and hedonism, to the…
First things first. We always encourage everyone to be respectful and mindful of others’ intellectual property, which in this electronic media age can be tricky. Nowadays, people can easily step into copyright infringement territory, if they are not careful. Recently, it came to our attention the case of blogger being accused by certain law firms of copyright infringement. Some good intentioned bloggers may be tempted to download and post pictures that circulate in the internet…
Even those who are not trademark attorneys were calling out Oregon based Nike and Los Angeles-based company Undefeated for taking the United States Naval Academy crest and use it as a brand logo. As you can see here, many of the features of the two are the same. Nike and Undefeated just simply added the Undefeated simpler design at the center and changed the words and few other touches. Many at the Naval Academy and around Maryland…
