The concept intellectual property is a huge part of our modern economy. The protections provided by intellectual property laws help businesses promote themselves, protect their products and identities, and monetize their works. Unsurprisingly, these laws can be quite complex. Our intellectual property services will help you protect your work and your business now and in the future.
St. Louis Intellectual Property Attorney
Expert Intellectual Property Attorney Protecting St. Louis and Chesterfield Businesses
What is a Trademark?
We’re all familiar with the brand names and logos that are seemingly everywhere. They help businesses identify themselves to customers and build their reputation. Trademarks protect these unique identifiers to ensure that businesses can use them to promote themselves to customers. These identifiers can take the form of text (a name or slogan), images (a logo), or audio (a jingle or even a distinctive voice)—as long as the work is unique and distinctly identifies the brand.
What is a Copyright?
At first glance, a copyright can seem similar to a trademark, so it’s understandable that people frequently get them confused. While both can apply to written, visual, or audio works, trademarks cover works related to brand identity, while copyrights cover the products themselves. For example, a popular movie’s promotional tagline might be trademarked, while the movie itself would be protected by a copyright.
What is a Patent?
Patents apply to new inventions that are new, useful, and non-obvious. These inventions can be products or processes, and, once approved, a patented prevents anyone from duplicating your work through reverse engineering. Patents are even enforceable internationally!
Another option for protecting a product or process are trade secret protections. While not as far-reaching in their protections as patents, trade secret protections mitigate some of the downsides of patents. For example, while patents must enter the public domain after 20 years, trade secret protections can persist indefinitely. Similarly, if your patent is rejected, the information you submitted automatically enters the public domain. With trade secret protections, your information will not be made public because you do not have to submit it for third-party approval.
Wallach & Associates, P.C., helps St. Louis and Chesterfield businesses and individuals succeed in the modern economy by providing intellectual property attorney services. Whether you are looking to file a trademark, copyright, or patent, negotiate a licensing deal, or protect your right to publicity, we have the experience and expertise to get you the best results.