Holy Smokes, Batman – the Batmobile is Protected Under Copyright Law
The Batmobile is a protectable character under copyright law according to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. As a result, Bruce Wayne should become wealthier from all the royalties. The Court found that the Batmobile is "sufficiently delineated" to be recognizable by...
Protecting Trade Secrets Is Key To Business Survival
Trade secrets are invaluable to a business, but once they lose their protection, they cease being secrets. Moreover, placed in the wrong hands, they can serve as the fuel your competition needs to succeed. What are Trade Secrets? They include customer lists and...
Why Obtaining Federal Registration Over A “Descriptive” Trademark is With Celebrating!
In business, there are a couple of true "No-Nos". First, one should never ignore the federal or state tax collector -- they have collection powers that seemingly have no end. Second, don't select a name for your product or service that merely describes your product or...
Bikram Yoga ‘s Attempt To Own “The Sequence” Is a DownDog!
For all you Yogi's, you can get go DownDog without fear of a cease and desist letter from Bikram Founder, Bikram Choudbury. It seems the the man who created "The Sequence", a specifically orchestrated 26 pose flow in a 105 degree heat, bent backwards to stop other...
What’s In A Name: Business, Domain and Trademarks
When starting up a new business, it's important to do an expansive search to see whether the business name you seek is also available as a corporate name within your state, as a domain name (URL website), and as trademark in the industry or "classification of...
Selecting A Name For Your Business to Trademark
One of the fun parts of starting a business is deciding on its name. But what's in a name is more than what meets the eye of the consumer. That's especially true if you seek to protect your name with a US or international trademark. As a result, selecting the name...
Non-Profit Organizations — Purpose, Practice and Profit
In a market-based economy, focused on bottom-line and profit, the Non-Profit Organization plays a pivotal role. This is partly because for-profit corporations are separate entities with a legal duty to make money for their shareholder, who want the maximum return on...
Trade Secrets, Trademarks and Service Marks — What’s the Big Difference?
In the business world, what's in a name can be more valuable than the product or service being offered. Customer awareness of the brand, and confidence in the quality of the product or service equate to the value of the good will, which in turn, determines to a great...
Performance Royalties For Traditional Radio Play Still In Political Quagmire
Despite being a technological world leader, the U.S. continues to lag behind its UK and Euro counterparts when it comes to fairly compensating its artists and, as a result, American artists lose millions of dollars in revenues from royalties in the U.S. and abroad. As...
FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE STARTING A BUSINESS
So you wanna be an Entrepreneur? You have a great idea and so do all your friends and family. Before you quit the day job, ask yourself six questions: 1) Is this your passion? Aside from visions of greenbacks popping from each pocket, is this product or service or...
INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACT/ECONOMIC RELATIONS
A fine line continues to exist between free market solicitation of clients and being sued for Tortious Interference with Contract or Economic Relations. Whereas one might reap you profits the other threatens to to take them away …and much more. State laws are spilt...
Starting an Online Funding Campaign: Compliance Issues
If you are contemplating on raising equity based-funding for your new business product or service, there are certain compliance requirements. However, thanks to the Crowdsource Act of 2012 (Title III of the 2012 Jobs Act), there are significantly less reporting...