North Carolina Intellectual Property Legal Questions

A design mark that is simply a version of the word mark is examined and in virtually the same manner as if you had not filed a desing at all.  the primary difference is that the stylized version of the word offers you less protection than if you sinmply file a trademark without claiming any of the stylized elements.  A standard character mark, where you do not claim any design elements, if registerted, provides you with the broadest possible protecting, effectively claiming all styles, fonts, colors, and versions of the words themselves.... Read More

You need to call around to intellectual property litigators in your area and see if one will meet with you for a free consultation to determine if they can help you with a matter. That practice is not uncommon. If you have no money, they will want a contingency fee arrangement and they need to believe that they are likely to win and the contingency percentage will likely exceed their regular hourly compensation (to account for the risk).   Good luck, Todd... Read More

When you disclose your invention to anyone without some form of protection or reasonable expectation of confidentiality in place, you put yourself at risk. Many angels are not willing to execute NDAs because they look at so many deals and they don't want to be sued by someone they turned down because they invested in someone with a similar idea. You have to look at your situation, the likelihood of the angels being supportive, and evaluate whether the risk is worth it. If you want additional protection and if you think your IP is novel, file a provisional patent application that at least discloses everything you intend to share with the angel investors. For the provisional to have value down the road, you will need to file the utility application, but as the US is now following first-to-file rules in the Patent Office, having something on file will give you a little extra protection moving forward. Good luck, Todd... Read More

The USPTO suggests that recipes are best protected as trade secrets. http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/independent/eye/201306/ADVICE.jsp. Trade secrets normally require confidentiality agreements between the secret-holder and the recipient. Your question does not suggest such an agreement existed, so I cannot think of a legal mechanism by which the chef can limit his partner from using the receipes. A different direction to consider, and this is outside my normal practice area, is business law. Specifically, partners are normally regarded as agents of each other with a fiduciary duty to each other. Business law in your area may see the chef from opening a new restaurant in the same market has his partner while leaving his partner behind and offering the same menu as his partner as a breach of fiduciary duty. For this aspect of your quesiton, I would speak to someone with more experience in business law. The chef might be better served by taking the opposite approach and buying out his partner. This approach would be more expensive than moving down the street, but the added cost may be appropriate for the added value of not having a competitor offering the same menu and not having to worry about legal complications while starting a new venture.... Read More

Dear Mr Freeman, You will need help with someone familiar with the precise standards and regulations which can make your website universally understood. The job will be look through your code and to make sure your codes and styles validate across the board. Many of these pertain to the"strict" standards set by the W3C Organization and pass a variety of validations for CSS and XHTML.It needs to be seen whether your site needs to be just checked for CSS, or XHTML, and as well as for accessibility. Sometimes you might need testing with many validators.While you can refer to the World Wide Web Consortium for further information, you need make sure that your interface meets the standards and also hosts a variety of web page validators. Having a validated site is not only legally required but also good online practice in making your website interface universally accessible. Our compliance team in London will need to look at your site in detail and then offer a quote for an opinion on your current status /problems etc. in validation.Please contact us at jm@joshandmak.com for further information and/or a quote.... Read More

It can be. One would have to view the totality of the two trademarks to evaluate the "likelihood of confusion". One would have to have a specific factual knowledge of the "market" in to which each operates. One would have to know the date of first use in commerce, which may in some circumstances be more important that the date of trademark registration.... Read More

The answer depends on the terms of the noncompete agreement and the state law that will apply. The law of noncompetition agreements varies from state to state, so what is true in one state will not be true necessarily in another state. Generally noncompete agreements will have a geographical limitation and a time limitation which must be reasonable. However, noncompete agreements can also protect confidential information which may not be subject to such limitations. For example, if the confidential information qualifies as a "trade secret," protection of the trade secret lasts as long as that information remains confidential. You should consult an attorney to discuss the allegations being made by the former employer.... Read More

You can file a supplementary registration to "correct" or to "amplify" information in a basic registration. A "correction" is appropriate if information in a basic registration was incorrect at the time that basic registration was made. Examples: the basic registration identified an incorrect author of the work, or the work was registered as published when publication had not actually taken place. "Amplification" falls into three general categories: (1) Additional information that could have been given but was omitted at the time of basic registration (Example: a co-author was omitted); (2) Changes in certain facts that have occurred since the basicregistration (Example: change of title); and (3) Explanations that clarify information given in the basicregistration (Example: statement of authorship in the version being registered was not sufficiently explicit on theoriginal application). You should file Form CA and a copy of the front and back of the certificate of theregistration being amended.... Read More

You could be liable for a claim of defamation/slander and infringement of the right of publicity of the individuals identifiable in the memoir. Assuming you plan on publishing the memoir in multiple states, you would need to check each state's law on the right of publicity, as these are not uniform throughout the United States. While truth is a defense to defamation/slander, you could still have to defend yourself which could be expensive. Truth however is not necessarily a defense to a person's right of publicity. ... Read More

Using a picture or image in your commercial product if you are not sure of the ownership of the copyright is risky. It can be difficult to clear copyright in images because often you can't locate or identify the owner of the copyright. A first place to look is at the copyright notice. If prepared correctly, it will have the name of the copyright owner and you can track them down to ask permission. That is often not the case, though. If there is no copyright notice and you use the image, you are infringing the copyright if it has been registered. Lack of a copyright notice might let you claim that are an "innocent infringer" but that doesn't completely relieve you of liability - or allow you to continue to use the image. To be safe, find a royalty free image or pay for a license to use an image. Make sure that the license allows you to use the image in the way you want in your book. Using the image in a way not consistent with the license is also infringement.... Read More

You need permission from each of these organizations to use their trademarks.  This information should not be considered legal advise for your specific circumstances and are offered only as general information on the topic of your question.  This should not be relied upon as legal advice and Sills Cummis and Gross does not represent you until you have signed a retainer letter from us.  Philip Braginsky Sills Cummis and Gross www.SillsCummis.com... Read More

Song titles are not copyrightable and are not subject to the law of trademark. Characters from a video game may be protected under the law of trademark. It is possible that the use of the names of the characters is permissible under trademark laws, if the use is a non-trademark use by you. This is a concept called "fair use" in a trademark sense. Without more information, it cannot be determined what rights the character creator may have and how you are using them.... Read More

Registering the name of a famous person as a domain name is a violation of the Anti-cybersquatting Act, 15 USC 1125(d), this includes Senators.  I suggest you speak to an attorney that specializes in this type of law for a specific answer to your legal question. Philip Braginsky, Sills Cummis and Gross http://www.sillscummis.com/attorney/attorney.asp?id=1051... Read More