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Intellectual Property

In the modern American economy, customers associate the Apple trademark sive search prior to investing significant
information is king, and almost all com- with certain sought-after qualities, such amounts of capital in signs, brochures,

petitive advantage arises from ideas and as stylish yet functional design. Apple has and web design. Whereas anyone can

knowledge. hence, it is imperative to any labored for many years and spent millions indicate a trademark with “TM” after it,
small business to protect its intellectual of marketing dollars to establish that as- only trademarks registered federally are

property (IP): those creations of the mind sociation in the mind of its customers.
entitled to have a circled “R” after them.
such as trademarks, inventions, or works These trademarks must be renewed

of authorship to which the law in ap- If your business builds similar goodwill every five years.

propriate circumstances can grant owners with your customers, you, too, will want
exclusive rights.
to have exclusive rights to the name and Copyrights and Patents—In addition to

reputation you have established. While securing a trademark, many businesses
Cityview asked local attorney Robert state trademark registration is available may also have intellectual property in the

Pitts—co-founder of the Knoxville-
through the Secretary of State’s office, area of copyrights or patents it should
based Pitts & lake—who specializes in many businesses are better suited to seek legally protect. one difference between

intellectual-property issues and has been federal Registration of their trademark copyrights and patents versus trademarks

recognized numerous times by Cityview, through the united States Patent and is that the former are both covered exclu-
Mid South Lawyers, and Business Tennes- Trademark office.
sively by federal law, so you will not file

see magazines as one of the best lawyers anything with the State of Tennessee.
in the area, what he considers to be the It will cost you $325 or more, depending

most common IP challenges that confront on the options you select, to secure an ex- Two examples of what your business

entrepreneurs and start-ups. his answer? clusive trademark with the united States might copyright are a catchy jingle for a
Trademarks. Entrepreneurs and start- Patent office. An exclusive trademark radio commercial or instructions you have

ups are well advised to seek advice from
belongs only to you, and gives the owner written for using your product or describ-
a trademark attorney to help with what of the trademark the right to prevent oth- ing how to perform a business function. In

can be both a costly area of the law and an ers from using the same or a confusingly other words, it need not be a great work of

area in which a mistake can leave a fledg- similar trademark to offer similar goods literature or an artistic masterpiece to be
ling business vulnerable to litigation.
and services.
eligible for copyright.

Trademarks—Every small business While you can search whether a given Patents, in contrast, protect new inven-

needs to register a trademark—a word, trademark is already registered at the tions, improvements on existing inven-
slogan, or symbol that identifies the patent office Web site (www.uspto.gov), tions, and new or improved processes or

source or origin of goods and/or services it is a better practice to have a trade- methods. Many small businesses will not

the business provides. “Whether they mark attorney do a more comprehen-
have this form of intellectual property.
are aware of it or not,” says Pitts, “a small

business has a trademark, so it is the
universal intellectual-property issue a

small-business owner has to deal with. In

order to limit the possibility of conflict,
I recommend highly that you conduct a

search for conflicting marks before adopt-
ing a trademark or business name.”

for a major firm or brand, its trademark
can be one of its most valuable assets,

represented on its balance sheet by the
concept of goodwill. Apple, for example,

draws a premium price on its notebook
computers and smart phones because