Brand Protection And Trademark Prosecution Actions In San Francisco, CA
The trademark prosecution process technically begins as soon as you submit an application for a service mark or a trademark registration. It is very important to determine which type of trademark application you require; a use-based application or an intent-to-use application. If you file a use-based application, your trademark or service mark must already be being used in commerce, as defined by the Trademark Act. Submitting the wrong type of application for your trademark could come back to haunt you in the future. A registered trademark (or service mark) can actually be canceled by the litigation process, if the wrong application type was initially filed. You should be advised by a San Francisco, CA intellectual property attorney before you consider submitting any type of trademark or service mark registration application.
Copyright Registration and Intellectual Property Licensing Concerns in San Francisco
The author of an original work automatically retains certain rights to that work. These rights include the reproduction of the work, distribution, preparing derivative works, publicly displaying the work, public performance, and transmitting sound recordings digitally.
If someone infringes upon an author’s rights, the author may sue the party for copyright infringement and ask the court to enforce their rights. If you are a musician and a TV studio uses your song on an episode of its show without your permission, you can sue. If another sculptor has added onto one of your existing sculptures, you can sue, since this new sculpture would actually be considered a derivative work, which you have rights to.
A law called the first sale doctrine states that any consumer who buys a copy of an original work of art is permitted to dispose of that copy by selling it to another individual. They can also display it and still avoid violating the rights of the artist and copyright owner. However, this doctrine does not in any way protect a person who makes a copy of the work without permission and distributes it, unless those copies happen to fall under what is called fair use. A student writing a book report, for example, is allowed to quote from the book in order to analyze it. The school newspaper can then print and distribute copies of that book report, all under the fair use doctrine. A private consumer, however, who makes copies of an entire novel after buying it and then sells those copies, has certainly infringed upon the book’s author’s copyright. These matters can become quite complex and difficult and always require the advice of an intellectual property attorney in San Francisco, CA for a good outcome.
Intellectual property attorney in San Francisco, CA Advises on Technology and Software Licensing
Technology and software licensing centers around certain types of contractual arrangements where the owner of intellectual property sells that property to a licensee. They will be compensated for their intellectual property according to what is negotiated in the contract, in advance, by the two parties. This could include a one-time lump-sum royalty or continuing royalty payments based on production. Some contracts could even require both payment types. American companies may decide to license their technology to foreign companies overseas for international commerce. You should take the step of seeking legal guidance from an intellectual property attorney in San Francisco, CA to examine your company’s liability in a licensing agreement.
Using a technology or software licensing agreement could allow your company to enter a foreign market with fewer risks than buying an overseas manufacturing facility or creating a foreign joint company would entail. Licensing can also serve as a way to bypass some of the barriers when it comes to exporting products. Licensing can be the best option for small companies that would like to gain international commerce experience. Technology licensing is also a way for American companies to access new foreign technology. Grant-back clauses can be utilized as a way to award the rights to upgraded technology to the licensee who developed it. Any potential disputes that appear over a licensing issue in San Francisco, CA should be presented to an experienced intellectual property litigation attorney.
Privacy Law and Protecting Your Data in San Francisco, CA
Privacy laws were developed by the U.S. Department for Health, Education, and Welfare. They include specific, proposed principles for the universal privacy and protection of the data that companies collect about consumers and citizens. First, there must always be a stated purpose for any data that is collected. The information a company collects from a person is not to be shared with other businesses or individuals unless it has been legally authorized or the person has given their explicit permission. All records that are maintained on individuals must remain accurate. This means that the individuals must be allowed to access and review it to ensure its accuracy.
Once the data on a certain individual is no longer needed for its stated purpose, it should no longer be stored. The transmission of personal data to a potentially unprotected location is absolutely not permitted. There are certain types of data that are considered to be sensitive and these types cannot be collected. Privacy law issues are no joke to people whose data might be compromised and they are also quite serious to the businesses who could receive very severe penalties for any non-compliance. The professional guidance of an intellectual property attorney is well worth the cost for any business that collects data in San Francisco, CA.
What is Cyber Law?
Internet law, also known as cyber law, is the growing body of laws and regulations that have been created out of necessity to govern the use of the internet. Cyber law applies principles from many legal areas and uses them to regulate the creation of websites, the actions of internet service providers, the use of trademarks on websites, disputes regarding domain names, and how websites are linked to one another.
Intellectual Property Litigation in San Francisco, CA
When a dispute happens, it can suddenly escalate to expensive litigation without the help of a reputable intellectual property attorney in San Francisco, CA.
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