Copyright, Trademark, & Trade Secret Protection Services

We advise clients about protecting their intellectual property through:

• Copyright
• Trademark
• Trade Secret Law

Our advice includes intellectual property protection both at the inception of the business, and when marketing or distributing strategic IP assets through licensing and other transactions. In addition to providing legal guidance regarding IP protection, we work with our Intellectual Property Co-Counsel with respect to:

• Federal Copyright Registration Service
• Federal Trademark Registration
• State Trademark Registration
• Copyright and Trademark Disputes and Infringement Actions, including: Sending Cease-and-Desist Letters
• Responding to Cease-and-Desist Letters

Our Copyright, Trademark, & Trade Secret Protection legal team has experience with:

• Book Deals and Publishing Agreements
• Co-Author Agreements
• Royalty-Sharing Arrangements

Our intellectual property attorneys helps clients identify when they have trade secret information and develop procedures and contracts enabling them to keep it secret. The law of trade secrets is increasingly complex and those who employ others in their business need to be aware of ways to protect trade secrets from subsequent disclosure following employment.

Hidden IP Issues in Various Contracts

Many corporate legal documents will have ‘hidden’ Intellectual Property issues tucked away into the corners of an agreement. For example, consider the following language from an Independent Sales Representative (ISR) Agreement:

1. Trademarks. The ISR shall have the right hereunder to represent that it is “an Authorized ISR” or “an Authorized Independent Sales Representative” of the Company or its Products, and to use the Trademarks in all advertisements and other activities conducted by the ISR to promote the sale of the Products. Any other use by the ISR of the Trademarks must be in a form and format approved by the Company in advance of such usage. ISR shall not, pursuant to this Agreement or otherwise, have or acquire any right, title or interest in or to the Trademarks. The ISR shall represent, market, and bill for sales of, the Products only under the Trademarks, and not any other trademark or logo.
2. Other Intellectual Property Rights. The ISR shall refrain from copying, reverse engineering, disassembling, decompiling, translating, or modifying the Products, or granting any other person or entity the right to do so. Further, the ISR shall refrain from infringing on any copyright, utility patent, or other intellectual property rights of the Company. The ISR shall not tamper with or otherwise adulterate the Products; nor shall the ISR repackage the Products and sell them under a different label. The remedy at law for breach of this provision being inadequate, the ISR understands, acknowledges and agrees that the Company shall be entitled, in addition to such other remedies it may have, to temporary and permanent injunctive relief for any breach or threatened breach of this provision without proof of any actual damages that have been or may be caused to the Company by such breach.
3. Notification of Infringement. The ISR shall promptly notify the Company of: (1) any claims, allegations, or notification that its marketing, licensing, support, or service of the Products may or will infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person or entity; and (2) any determination, discovery, or notification that any person or entity is or may be infringing the intellectual property rights of the Company.
4. Defense of Claims. The ISR shall not take any legal action relating to the protection or defense of any intellectual property rights pertaining to the Products without the prior written approval of the Company. If notified promptly in writing of and given sole control of the defense and all related negotiations and settlements, and full authority, information and assistance for such defense, then the Company may in its sole discretion, but is not required to, defend the ISR against any claim based on an allegation that a Product supplied hereunder infringes any intellectual property rights. In such case, the Company shall pay any resulting costs, damages, and attorney fees finally awarded by a court with respect to any such claims, but will not be responsible for any compromise made without the Company’s consent. If the Products are held to be infringing and their use enjoined, the Company may, at its election and expense, either (1) obtain for the ISR the right to continue selling the Products, (2) replace the Products with non-infringing Products, or (3) refund the purchase price paid, upon return of the Products to the Company.
5. No Liability for Altered Products. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, the Company shall not be liable to the ISR for any claim arising from or based upon the combination, operation, or use of any Product with equipment, data, or programming not supplied by the Company, or arising from any alteration or modification of Products.

Such language must be carefully drafted (or, if prepared by opposing counsel, reviewed) for hidden IP issues, by an attorney skilled in trademark and other intellectual property law.