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• Servicemarks
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• Applications
• Rights
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• Non-Disclosure Agreements

• Protect a word, phrase, name, symbol, design, or combination.
EXAMPLES OF TRADEMARK FOR BUSINESSES
TARGET, MCDONALD’S,
• They are used to identify and distinguish a product from others, such as in the use of trademarking a band logo or church name or service.
• Servicemarks are similar but they distinguish the source of a service instead of a physical product.
• For example, a band’s name would be a servicemark, distinguishing between providers of entertainment services.
• The term “trademark” is often used to describe both kinds of marks, i.e. both trademarks and servicemarks.
• If you claim the rights to a trademark, and have not yet registered your mark with the
United State Patent and Trademark Office, you may use the
™ symbol.
• After registering your mark with the USPTO, you are entitled to use the ® symbol.

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A good trademark will distinguish you from the competition and help you stand out in a crowd. A poor trademark will entangle you in legal disputes and blunt your marketing efforts. Selecting a good trademark is as simple as following these simple guidelines.
1. Avoid trademarks that cannot be registered.
There is no point investing in a trademark that you can’t register. Registering the mark protects it from competitors, ensures your ownership rights in the mark and makes it easier to enforce your rights against copy cats. As you will read below, certain types of words are inherently difficult to register and should be avoided.
2. Avoid purely descriptive words.
Words which describe the nature or quality of the goods or services sold with the mark are not permitted to be registered. Hence, the mark “Cold Beer” for use with malt beverages cannot be registered because it describes the actual product being sold. If registered, it would prevent anyone from using the terms Cold and
Beer to describe their malt beverage.

3. Avoid surnames.
Surnames usually cannot be registered as trademarks. The mark “Wilson Power
Boats”, for instance, is a poor choice for a trademark because the word Wilson is a surname (and the rest of the mark is descriptive).
4. Avoid confusing trademarks.
A trademark which is confusingly similar to a registered trademark cannot be registered. Hence, the mark “Sun-Screen” cannot be registered if the trademark
“Sun Screen” has already been registered for a similar type of product.
5. Avoid generic words.
The goal is to select a trademark which is as unique and distinctive as possible; therefore, avoid generic words. Examples of generic terms include “green, superior,
Canadian, American, deluxe, gold, premium” and a plethora of others. These words are generic and if you incorporate them into your trademark, you ensure that you blend into the crowd, not stand out in front of it.
A search of the US Trademarks Database and/or the Canadian
Trademarks Database is a good idea.

6. Avoid TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) and numbers.
IBM, CTV, and ATT are distinctive trademarks because their respective owners poured tens of millions of dollars into making the marks famous. Even a poor trademark can be made famous if you throw enough money at it. But acronyms are intrinsically difficult to remember, while words, especially colorful words, are easily remembered. Hence “ELS Software Solutions” is not as memorable as “Volcanic Silicon.”
Likewise, avoid using numbers in a trademark as they tend to be less memorable. Furthermore, there are a limited number of unused acronyms available, so there is an excellent chance that your TLA will be confused with someone else’s.
7. Do use invented words.
Invented words are words which do not exist in any language, apart from your trademark. Examples include Spandex, Exxon, Kodak, Viagra, and several other famous trademarks. Invented words are a good choice for use as trademarks because they are not descriptive and they tend to be quite distinctive.
You can create an invented word by simply combining parts of other words. For example, Microsoft is a combination of “Micro computer” and “software.”
8. Try animal or plant names.
Animal and plant names tend to be quite memorable and, if used appropriately, can convey a good image while still being distinctive. Apple Computers, Tiger Direct and Ford Mustang are good examples.
9. Finally, make sure that the first word in your trademark is as distinctive as possible.
It is often necessary to add descriptive words to the trademark in order to convey what is being sold or marketed in association with the mark. If generic words must be included then it is doubly important to ensure that the first word of the mark is as distinctive and unique as possible.

A copyright protects works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, such as a musical composition, novel, or sound recording in a CD.
• Copyrights pertain only to the following works:
• literary works;
• musical works, including any accompanying words;
• dramatic works, including any accompanying music;
• pantomimes and choreographic works;
• pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;
• motion pictures and other audiovisual works;
• sound recordings; and
• architectural works - (etc. floor plans)

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Copyright owners have the exclusive right to :
Reproduce the work: Only copyright owners can make copies of their work in any variety of formats.
Prepare derivative works: Examples of derivative works include an arrangement of a song, language translation, or screenplay for a film based on a novel.
Distribute copies: A work is distributed when it is made available to the public.
Perform the work publicly: Whether it is a song, a dance, or a staged reading, only the copyright owner may perform the work in public. For music, this includes public performance, whether in a concert venue, radio and TV broadcast, and digital audio transmission, or streaming.
Display the work publicly : Art displays, sculptures, song lyrics, and the individual images of a motion picture all constitute a public display.
Perform a digital sound recording . A digital recorded work is performed or played and transmitted digitally, as on internet radio.
• Copyright owners also have the exclusive right to license or allow third parties to use their copyrights in the ways outlined above.
• Copyright notices appear as: © Date of First Publication, Copyright Owner Name

• Trade secrets are information that companies keep secret to give them an advantage over their competitors.
• A great example is the formula for Coca-Cola.
• Trade secrets are not protected by intellectual property law the same way that trademarks or patents are.
• Protection for trade secrets is done by non-disclosure agreement , stating the information must be kept confidential.
• Companies often use non-disclosure agreements (NDA) to keep their trade secrets safe.
• It is very common for Employees often have to sign an NDA.

If you do all or even just some of what has been presented to you today, you can greatly minimize your legal and thus financial risks.
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