Resources: Intellectual Property

As a direct result of the pandemic, face-to-face communication among groups and with strangers has been virtually suspended.  People and businesses alike have come to rely on Zoom as a viable, safe alternative to in person meetings.  The general pubic may or may not know that “Zoom” is a trademark owned by Zoom Video Communications,Read More

Selecting the wrong trademark for your business can be a big and costly mistake.  For example, last January, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the federal court of appeals decision that struck down a longstanding federal statute prohibiting registration of any trademark consisting of, or comprising immoral or scandalous matter. At issue was a mark thatRead More

It is without dispute that customer lists can be of considerable value to a company. To maximize protection and value for these valuable assets, the prudent business owner should consider trade secret protection against misappropriation statutes under applicable state or federal law.  Courts generally recognize that customer lists are not automatically entitled to trade secretRead More

If you own a business, you have undoubtedly entered into contracts with others for various purposes. However, you may not be aware of or fully appreciate their legal implications on your company’s valuable intellectual property assets, such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. These “intangible property” rights and interests may be of considerable valueRead More

On December 20, 2018, Pres. Trump signed into law the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (the “2018 Farm Bill”). The new law provides important agricultural and nutritional policy extensions for five years.  The most interesting changes involve the cannabis plant, and its potentially significant impact on the application for and registration of trademarks used inRead More

The term Intellectual Property is a specialized area of law that has been defined in numerous ways.  In essence, the term refers to a creative work that is manifested in a tangible form which is subject to protection by law. These “intangible interests” can be the most valuable business assets of a company which canRead More

If you decide to trademark your company’s name, logo, slogan, or all of the above, one of the first questions you need to ask yourself is whether you’d like to register your mark just in Maine or on the national level. One of the benefits of registering just in Maine is that registration is lessRead More

That is the question.  Many business and service providers operate for years without considering whether they should trademark elements of their business.  The most common way people think of (and see) trademarks are through logos (think: New England Patriots or Apple Computers).* However, a company can also trademark a slogan it commonly uses, like, “Employment Wisdom on theRead More