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TRADEMARK
REGISTRATION AND RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT
A trade (or service) mark can be a name,
slogan or design or a combination of those
elements that is used to identify the source
of goods (or in the case of a service mark,
services) and to distinguish that source
from any other source providing the same or
similar goods and services.
A combination of federal and state law
affords protection for certain type of trade
and service marks to prevent confusion by
consumers as to the source of the particular
goods or services.
If someone else uses such a mark in way that
will likely cause confusion, that other
person may be infringing upon that mark and
may be liable as a result.
Registration of a mark, particularly under
federal law, affords extra protection to the
owner of the mark. Unlike rights of patent
or copyright, which expire after a certain
time, trademarks can grow more valuable as
time passes and be protected indefinitely.
The rights of the trademark owner often
depend upon actions taken to protect the
mark. A person or business entity is
likely to expend time and money to have
consumers associate the mark with the
owner’s particular goods and services.
The Firm advises clients that are wish to
use to a name or mark to identify good
and services. The Firm performs searches to
try to determine if marks were previously
registered anywhere or being otherwise used.
If a trade or service mark is a candidate
for registration, the Firm performs the
necessary work to seek such registration and
then will assist its clients continue to
protect the valuable rights in trade or
service marks.
Patent prosecution, licensing, and
litigation
The Chapar Firm is a full service
patent protection firm. We
represent clients in all phases of a
patent lifecycle, including
prosecuting the patent with the
United States Patent and Trademark
Office, licensing the invention, and
representing parties in patent
litigation.
A client who has an invention may
choose to patent it. A patent gives
a client the right to prevent others
from using his or her invention.
To obtain this right, one must file
and pursue a non-provisional patent
application with the United States
Patent and Trademark Office in a
process called patent prosecution.
A patent application includes a
description of the invention that
explains to others how to implement
the invention and the claims. The
claims are the unique parts of the
invention that the inventor wishes
to protect.
A provisional patent application is
a less rigorous application. A
non-provisional application must be
filed within a year, but the
provisional application can be
useful in some cases to reserve a
“priority date” for whatever is
contained in the provisional
application
The Firm aids clients in deciding
what form of intellectual property
protection is appropriate. When
that is a patent, we prepare and
prosecute the patent application,
guiding clients through the
requirements of obtaining a patent.
With respect to issued patents, we
aid clients with licensing and
patent litigation.
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