Tennessee Patents Legal Questions

My experience is that most state trademark registrations and Federal trademark registrations have the same cost and requirements. Thus, it rarely makes sense to register a trademark for one state when you can have a trademark in 50 for the same cost. The USPTO has an explanation at www.uspto.gov. You need a fee, the name of the owner, how long the mark has been in use, evidence of the trademark in use, and identification and class of the goods/services for which the mark is used. The USPTO fee is somewhere around $375. If you go through an attorney, you should expect to pay about $800-$1000. If you just want a Tennessee registration, information should be available through the Tennessee Secretary of State's website. Same basic requirements, just a different address for submission. Good luck, Todd... Read More

You need to carefully evaluate the market presence of both companies in the US, especially any cross border advertizing by the Canadian company, e.g., advertizing on a broadcast in Windsor, Canada that is received in Detroit, Michigan. If, as you suspect, there is no contact with the US by either company, you should seek to register the trademark in the US Patent and Trademark Office.  However, be aware that, since you are selling a competing product and are aware of these companies, if you use the name in your website domain name, either one or both can seek to have the domain name taken away from you. The best course of action is to adopt a "clean" name that is not in use by a competitor or similar to such a name. ... Read More

Hi Theresa, 'Idea' is a bit vague. If you approach Disney with the idea that they sell toys featuring characters from their animated movie, I think you'd agree that you don't have any right to stop them. Similarly, they put their characters on a wide enough array of merchandise, that you'd need to be fairly creative to suggest something they haven't thought of or tried. The law reflects this. You do not get an intellectual property right simply for disclosing an idea to someone for commercializing their property. It would be helpful if, before you approach Disney (if you can approach Disney), you protect your idea with a patent application or copyright (if the idea is eligible for either). Another possibility (although Disney wouldn't do it) is executing a contract with Disney that indicated they agreed not to use your idea without fair compensation to you before you disclose it. An alternative is to become a licensee. Check out www.disneyconsumerproducts.com. As a Disney Consumer Products licensee, you could exploit your idea on your own and pay a royalty to Disney. Good luck, Todd... Read More

Drafting a patent application yourself is generally a very bad idea, unless you happen to be a patent lawyer. Patent law is very complex and you have to meet all the requirements of the law at the time you file the application for you to have a valid patent issue from that application. That includes a nonprovisional application that claims priority to a provisional patent application. I am a registered patent attorney and I generally find that it is less expensive to start from scratch than to "revise" an application drafted by a non-patent lawyer. Good luck in finding a registered patent attorney or agent who is willing to do this. ... Read More