Before you can get a patent, the first step to perform is a patent search worldwide to find out if your idea is already patented by others. Obviously, it’s just a waste of time and money looking forward for your patent application only to find out that your idea is not original and has been patented by other people.

Keep in mind that a patent search should be carried out by a skilled and experienced patent researcher who performs thorough search worldwide with the use of specialized tools and techniques like patent cross referencing and classification code systems. The researcher utilizes worldwide and secured databases, which can’t be accessed by an individual inventor like you.

After the patent search is complete and no idea has ever existed, the next step on how to protectyour ideas with a patent is for you to submit an application to the patent office. You may be asked to make some minor developments or changes in your idea. This may include asking you to adapt and include other idea to yours so it does not conflict with other patents or just to further improve the original features of your idea.

You can file the patent application personally or you can ask a professional patent agent to do this on your behalf. Because it is an important document, it’s best if you get the services of a professional patent lawyer. It’s good to know that there are rights that you can exercise and steps that you can carry out on how to protect your ideas with a patent. For more information on how to complete your application, visit us today at tips for patent application.

To file a copyright, follow these simple steps:

1. Gather detailed contact information on all contributors to the work of authorship (Citizenship, Residence, Year of Birth). Be sure to include all persons related to the copyright- writers, inventors, copy writers, marketing persons, and anyone else related to the project.

2. Find a patent attorney. A simple online search can accomplish this.

NOTE: Be sure to interview 5-10 attorneys and get a feel for the one who fits your personality. You will be spending a lot of time together, so it’s very important you get along well.

3. Schedule a meeting with him/her (or teleconference).

4. Provide three copies of your work with a Copyright notice such as “© Year, Name or Business name. All rights reserved.”

5. Provide the year the work of authorship was created.

6. Provide the date of First Publication/Sold/Offered for Sale: MM/DD/YYYY & Country of publication.

7. Determine who the owner of the work is and whether all authors, one author, or an entity is to be the owner or assignees. The entity or single author options may require an assignment agreement. Provide the full legal name and contact information of any assignees.

Agenda for meeting with your intellectual property attorney:

1. Provide an overview of your work of authorship and the names of any contributors to the work of authorship.

2. Review the work of authorship.

3. Review any assignment issues.

4. Assign tasks and dates of completion.

5. Decide whether you are proceeding with an engagement agreement with your patent attorney.

For the most part, band logos can be considered an original and creative form of art – assuming the logo is more than just the name of the band without an artistic element. As such, they can be protected under Copyright Law as a Visual/Artistic work.

Just to ensure this is clear, the artwork for the logo can be protected under copyright law, but not the name of the band itself. This is because copyright law does not protect names, slogans, or catch-phrases. If you were looking to protect against other bands using your actual name vs. the artwork, this would fall under Trade-Mark Law.

In order to protect your band logo under copyright law, all you have to do is put your logo in a tangible form (on paper, on CD, on a hard drive, on the back of a candy wrapper, etc.). Once it’s in this fixed form, the creator owns the exclusive rights to produce or reproduce the art.

Although you automatically own the copyright to the logo artwork the moment it is put in a fixed form, it’s best to have taken further steps to prove to the courts that the work was originally yours should someone (perhaps another band) steal your logo or a big portion of it

In General, the best option for added protection is through a reputable copyright registry. For ultimate protection, one should register their logo as soon as it has been completed, before showing others.

There are a number of options for copyright registries. You could register through the Government, through associations, or through online registries. When doing your research, ensure you know all the costs involved, whether there are membership or renewal fees, and whether they provide you with a time-stamped registration certificate.

As a side note, do not rely on the ever-popular “Poor Man’s Copyright Method” (i.e. sending yourself your work through mail) because it is highly unlikely to hold in a court of law should someone infringe on your logo design.

Regardless of which method you choose to protect your band’s logo, remember to register it before you show it to third parties. Good Luck!

A patent is a set of ownership rights given by a state to investors so that they have the exclusive rights to make, use and sell their own invention. Patents are given so as to prevent others from making, selling or importing the same invention.

The inventor is called the patentee and he also has to comply with other laws and regulations to use his own invention. He can only market or sell his product under regulatory approval. If his product or design is an improvement of a product that is already there in the market he has to first get license from the owner of the earlier broader patent covering the same type of product. The owner of the improved product can also have the right to exclude the patent owner from using the improvement.

Patentee’s Rights:

Now the patentee can have the right to exclude others from copying, using, selling or importing his patent product for a term of 20 years. A patent is in fact a kind of agreement between the inventor and the government where the state guards the right of the inventor from others from using or selling his invention as long as he makes the details of his invention public. This also like in any other case the property right may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, or simply given away.
How to get a patent?

To obtain a patent you must first provide a complete description of your invention in writing. This is provided with the ‘patent specification’ along with the figures showing how the invention is made and how it operates. At the end of the specification you must put forward your claims that points out specifically what you regard as your invention. This is a description unlike the body of the specification, designed to provide the public with notice of precisely what you as the patent owner has a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling. It basically defines what a patent covers or what it does not cover. There may be numerous claims for a single patent, each of which is regarded as a distinct invention. For a patent to be granted, the patent application must meet the requirements of the national law related to patentability.

Patents are enforced through civil lawsuits. A patent owner can seek monetary compensation if an accused infringer breaks any of the patents law and practices even one of the claims of the patent. He can prohibit the accused from engaging in future acts of infringement. But if the accused infringer challenges the validity of the patent owner then the court may declare the patent invalid. The grounds on which a patent can be found invalid are set out in the relevant patent legislation and vary between countries.

Trademark protection
For the name, logo, or graphic that identifies and distinguishes your line from others. You can and should use TM next to or in close proximity to your mark upon initial use. TM simply means that you claim a common law right to the mark, which by virtue of your use you have a right to claim.

Use of ® is strictly prohibited until your application is completely approved and your mark is registered at the United States Trademark Office. In fact, improper use of ® is illegal and can be punishable by law. In addition, improper use can adversely affect trademark rights and registerability of a mark.

NOTE: The trademark must be used consistently to identify the clothing line verses some short phrase, slogan and/or graphic printed on a garment or T-shirt for the purpose of making a statement. First step is to identify your mark, its goods or service description, and learn common mistakes in selecting a mark, see Trademark Information and Trademark Goods Services Description. Second step is to perform a Trademark Search, see Trademark Search Instructions on How to Perform a Search as part of the Inventor Start Kit.

Copyright
If you have a drawing or a pattern showing the design of your garment or a photograph of garment these can be the basis of a copyright application. As a reminder, you should always include a copyright notice on all copies of your work (garment design), fixed on paper or in an electronic form, such as © 200_ Full Name/Company Name. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Note: If multiple authors are contributing to a work (garment) and a single person or entity desires to own the collective work then the parties must transfer their rights to the single person or entity via an assignment/work-made-for-hire agreement; otherwise, each contributor is owed a ratable share of the profits realized from use, license or sale of the work.

Design Patent
If your garment design is a new and non-obvious garment design (article of manufacture) it may qualify for protection under a design patent.

Behold, the patent process. Working backwards, the term patent pending means that your rights begin from the day you place your patent application in the mail. And from that date forward, any competitor who makes, uses, or sells a competing product which infringes the claims of your patent will be liable to you for either: the amount of profit he makes, the amount of money you lose, a reasonable licensing fee the judge deems fair, and other factors. This holds true, amazingly, even despite the fact that an Examiner at the USPTO has even laid eyes on your patent application. This remains true even though your patent has not been granted. So now you ask: how?

Damages for patent infringement are retroactive back to the filing date of the original patent application. However, this is all contingent upon one small detail: your patent application must be approved. As a result, you cannot file a lawsuit against anyone until you have an official patent in hand. If your patent application is rejected, it is snake eyes.

As such, you should know that the term patent pending does not mean that you have instant rights from the time you file your patent application. At best, you have prospective rights in the event that your application is granted. And if your application is granted, your rights are retroactive to the filing date, and any infringement in the time between the issuance of your patent and the filing date is prospectively within your reach.

Moreover, a patent is a property right that gives the patent holder the right, for a limited time, to exclude others from making, using, offering to sell, selling, or importing into the United States the claimed invention in exchange for a full disclosure of the invention. In simplified terms, a patent is a way of protecting an invention (any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof).

Therefore, without a patent, anyone can legally make, use, sell or import your invention.

Note: Ideas are not patentable, but rather the knowledge of how to make and/or use the idea is patentable.

To be patentable the law specifies three primary patentability requirements wherein the subject matter of the invention must be:
• Useful – To have utility as in an invention must be capable of some beneficial use.
• Novel – The invention must be new (different from the prior art) and an invention is not new if it has been described in a printed publication, known or used by others, or has been in public use or for sale. If an invention is not new, then the invention is not patentable (i.e., anticipated by the prior art).
• Non-obvious If the differences between the invention sought to be patented and the prior art (what is known) would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art then the invention is obvious and not patentable.

Example: Obvious non-patentable subject matter includes the substitution of one color for another, or changes in size or obvious changes or improvements over the prior art.

A patent ensures that your unique products and ideas are yours alone. There are certain products or ideas that are beneficial to the entire human race and therefore, a permanent patent is not granted. In these cases, a limited time period patent is granted. This way the inventor can have as much monetary benefit as possible before the product or idea becomes public domain. These limited time period patents make sure that the interests of the population and the interests of the inventor are both protected.

Patent laws are in place because it is not possible for the government to support the research to develop all kinds of products and ideas. By protecting the rights of the inventor, the government can be sure that people will continue to think of new and unique ideas to share with the world.

Patents grant the rights to these inventors to profit from the products and ideas that they created. Many times an inventor will look to corporate giants to help fund their research. Otherwise, there may not be enough monetary resources available to develop the ideas.

Products and ideas should not simply be improvements upon or repackaging of products and ideas that already exist. They need to be the original and unique creations of the inventor. Obviously, there are a few exceptions to this rule, however, generally, this is what the patent office looks for.

In order to prove that you have a unique and original product or idea, you must document every part of the creation process. This is essential if you want to obtain the rights to your creation. The more you can document, the better chance you have of being granted a patent. After all, it would be a shame if all of your hard work and ideas were refused a patent because you did not keep good documentation during the creative process. You must also make sure that a similar product does not already have a patent. The patent office is not going to grant a patent for different variations of the same product. This process can be time consuming and frustrating to the inventor, however, it is necessary to protect your invention.

Copyright Attorneys

Copyright attorneys might focus on a specific type of copyright law, so it is important to find one that has considerable experience in the issues that impact you most. Some of the attorneys might practice copyright law for music, while others might focus on books, articles, and other types of writing. There are many different types of copyrights that protect the intellectual rights of those who own materials, so it is often best to talk to several attorneys to help you choose one that can give you the services that are best for you.

Patent Attorneys

Getting a patent for your idea or product is an important way to protect yourself from intellectual property theft. If you have tried to patent an idea or product on your own, though, then you have probably discovered how overwhelming and complex it can be. The paperwork alone is often incredibly specific and expects those filling them out to understand patent law. Obviously, most laymen will have a hard time appealing to the patent office without the help of a skilled attorney.

Like copyright, there are many different types of patent law issues. Some of the patent attorneys in your area might have a background in aerodynamics that can help you or your company get a patent on new aircraft products. Others might have backgrounds in chemistry, mechanics, or other subjects that helps them understand the patenting process for that specific type of product and idea. If you can find a patent lawyer who fully understands and appreciates your plans and ideas, then you might have found one that can help you.

Choosing Reliable Copyright and Patent Attorneys

Talking to copyright and patent lawyers can tell you a lot about how much experience they have, but you always have to consider the possibility that they are blowing their accomplishments and abilities out of proportion. If you do not know much about legal issues, then you might not be able to determine the differences between effective attorneys and those that just want to make more money off unsuspecting people in need.

One good way to determine if copyright and patent attorneys are reliable is to ask them for references. Even a small list of references can be a powerful tool because it gives you access to the opinions of those who have already used the attorney’s services. If anyone should know how effective the attorneys are, it is those who have already hired them.

Finding Affordable Copyright and Patent Attorneys

Not all attorneys have the same skill level. Nor do they all charge the same price. You will want to get price quotes from the attorneys to help you determine which ones are affordable for your family or company. Balancing the costs with the available services will help you choose one that is right for you.

Take Action. Be proactive in implementing an Intellectual Property Strategy and identifying new innovations. Do not limit activities to current products and services – look for unmet needs in related markets and develop innovative ideas in those areas as well. These developments in related markets provide opportunities for product expansion as well as licensing to generate additional revenue. Also, look for ways to extend existing products or services by identifying future needs of the marketplace. Evaluate current trends in your market and brainstorm on how to meet future customer needs as those trends evolve.

Evaluate. Review all innovations to determine how they can support the company’s current and future goals. When a new innovation is identified, quickly perform an initial analysis to identify any potential deadlines regarding protection of that innovation. Certain types of intellectual property protection have strict filing deadlines and other requirements to preserve your rights.

Existing Assets. Evaluate your existing IP assets to determine whether they are consistent with your current business plan. As your company’s business objectives change, look for new ways to leverage your existing IP assets – through licensing, marketing and so forth. Take steps to ensure that all of your company’s existing innovations are identified and, if appropriate, properly protected. It may be difficult, or impossible, to fully leverage an IP asset if it is not protected.

Review your business goals today and begin developing an Intellectual Property Strategy that supports and enhances those goals.