While software developers have one set of issues, the big question for software users is whether or not you can use the software without liability.
Software used by businesses tends to fall into one of three categories, with the key difference being who created the software. These three potential...
Last week I explained that domain names are a type of intellectual property in that they direct users to your digital territory. With the rise of social media, handles have become the newest version of digital territory.
Just as domain names exist within multiple top-level domain names such as...
Many people talk about copyright trolls. A copyright troll is a company that sends demand letters to people who are using items such as pictures, music, graphics and related items.
At the end of the day, a copyright troll owns the rights to one or more works of art...
As with any brand, the answer is “it depends.”
I do know that my friends the McDonalds cannot start a restaurant named “McDonalds.” A certain clown might knock at their door.
The same is true for any last name—you need to make sure that the name you...
A url or internet domain name is the equivalent of an address on the internet. This communication tool helps you gain digital territory. Since so much commerce takes place on the Internet, having desirable domain names is key to driving traffic to your business.
There was once a time...
Our next stop on the trip through the many intangible assets a company owns is DBA. DBA stands for “doing business as.” This is a filing a company makes to close the gap between the name the company listed with the Secretary of State and the name the company calls itself in...
Like many things in life, the answer to this question is “it depends.”
Registering a patent is necessary if you want to enforce your rights in that patent. Registering a trademark or copyright enhances your rights. However, that doesn’t mean you should always register every piece of intellectual property...
Last month Taco Bell filed a petition to cancel a registration for Taco Tuesday. This registration, which has been in force for over 30 years, in theory provides an exclusive right to use the term Taco Tuesday in connection with selling a good or a service.
Taco Bell thinks that...
Copyrights are a type of intellectual property that covers expressive works. While most people associate copyrights with the arts, copyrights also cover items ranging from content on websites and social media to software code.
Copyrights are owned by the author, that is, the person who creates the “expressive work”...
Trademarks are the type of intellectual property that covers brands. While a “trademark” and a “brand” are technically different things, trademark is as close as the law gets to describing a brand.
A company gains rights in a trademark simply by using any commercial symbol to identify the company’s...
