IP Practice Guide

What is a Patent? According to the United States Trademark and Patent Office (commonly referred to as the USPTO), a patent gives an inventor the right to “exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention or importing it into the United States. A plant patent gives you additional rights on the […]

What is a Trademark? According to the United States Trademark and Patent Office (commonly referred to as the USPTO), a trademark “can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services.” In essence, this is how customers recognize a company or brand in the marketplace and […]

What is a Copyright? According to the United States Copyright Office, copyright “is a type of intellectual property that protects original works of authorship as soon as an author fixes the work in a tangible form of expression.” Copyright law is statutorily governed by Chapter 17 of the United States Code. Copyright Practice  A significant […]

What is a license? Similar to a driver’s license, which the government grants an individual in exchange for money to use a motor vehicle, a license in intellectual property law is a grant to an individual, corporation, or other entity to use a product, method, or other protected intellectual property in exchange for a fee, […]

What is a Trade Secret? Trade secrets are intellectual property rights that flow from keeping information confidential. To qualify as a trade secret, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the information must be “commercially valuable because it is secret, be known only to a limited group of persons, and be subject to reasonable steps […]

What is the Right of Publicity?  According to the International Trademark Association, the right of publicity is “an intellectual property right that protects against the misappropriation of a person’s name, likeness, or other indicia of personal identity—such as nickname, pseudonym, voice, signature, likeness, or photograph—for commercial benefit.” Unlike other areas of intellectual property, right of […]

Intellectual property law is a dynamic and multifaceted field that offers practitioners a variety of career paths, each with its own unique characteristics and challenges. The daily life of an IP attorney can differ significantly depending on whether they choose to work in Big Law, a boutique firm, or as in-house counsel. These distinctions not […]