Copyrights
We prepare and file copyright applications with the Library of Congress. This application is filed along with a copy of your original creative work – literary, dramatic, musical or artistic. Copyrights protect creators of books, musical recordings, paintings or sculptures, clothing or jewelry designs, computer codes, brochures or web pages. The copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work or to display the copyrighted work publicly.

Licensing Agreements
Many clients capitalize on their intellectual property through licensing their rights to another entity or acquiring rights from others. Because every license agreement is different, we will evaluate and draft an agreement based on your specific goals. We can even help seek out parties that would be interested in your ideas and negotiate terms based on your individual situation.

Trade Secrets
A trade secret is any confidential business information (a formula, pattern, program, technique or process) that is economically valuable to your business and is not generally known or readily ascertainable by other persons who could obtain economic value from its disclosure. Your trade secrets are protected under state law against theft by others, as long as efforts are made to keep the trade secret a “secret”.

Trade secrets are different from other forms of intellectual property. There is no application to file for protection, they require no disclosure and have no time limitations, as long as they are kept secret. We can help you develop a company-wide security plan to ensure all employees or associates treat your restricted information properly. A security plan will require continuous effort to establish and maintain the confidentiality of your trade secrets, which will be necessary if there is to be a defense by lawsuit against an infringer.

Unfair Competition Issues
Unfair competition refers to a deceptive or otherwise wrongful act which causes economic injury to a person or business. An example would be the improper use of someone else’s intellectual property, possibly in an effort to confuse consumers as to the source of a product. This could be accomplished through trademark infringement, false advertising, “bait and switch” selling tactics, theft of trade secrets or false representation of products or services.