Have you ever entertained registering a domain name containing your personal name, maybe to market your trade or hobby or to post personal information for your family and friends, only to find that someone else has snatched up the name? Hey, that’s your name! Can you get it back?
Art imitates life, or so they say, but when does art imitating life as captured in a photo become copyright infringement? I was a college newspaper editor when Kurt Cobain died. (This dates me, I know!) To commemorate Cobain, we published a pencil-sketch our staff artist modeled after a photo from one of Cobain’s albums. Had I been lawyer-Amy back then rather than journalism-student Amy, I might have warned, “Not so fast.”
You might be one of the many who recently lost a job. And you might be one of the many who’s turned lemons into a lemonade stand and parlayed unemployment into that new business you’ve always dreamed of launching.
As a writer of songs and books, I, too, have had that frustrating experience of coming up with what I think is the most brilliant, original idea in the world, only to find my idea mimicked in my local bookstore or on my car radio.
I was recently introduced to the world of design-based business owners when I wrote an article on copyright tips for the popular design blog Design*Sponge. What a nice bunch of folks — the comments were so kind that I’ve considered feigning artistic talent to join their circle. In response to my conservative lawyerly advice to “get a license or don’t copy!,” at least one designer asked: But what about Creative Commons licenses? “People share ideas, sometimes even to the extent of showing how they make their craft. This sharing enriches all of us. I always come back to where would Bob Dylan and all of the great folk singers be if they had not shared and built on one another’s work.”
Not so fast. Before you can get trademark protection in the next great catchphrase or symbol, you need to use it as a trademark. Just having a great idea in a vacuum doesn’t allow you to claim it as your own. To use a word, phrase or logo as a trademark, you need to use it “in commerce” in connection with a particular product or service
If you’re like most of our clients, you have a great idea but may be a little confused on where to begin. We’re here to guide you! Click the link below to let us know how we can help.
