ATLANTA TRADEMARK ATTORNEY

You worked hard to develop your brand and establish a solid reputation. By using a combination of licensing agreements, contractual restrictions, and federal trademark registrations, an Atlanta trademark lawyer from our office can help ensure its integrity for as long as you are in business.

Your business’s intellectual property must be protected because it has real value that directly affects your success. An Atlanta trademark lawyer from Shepherd Law can provide you with valuable protection for your ideas and technology so that the lifeblood of your business remains safe from those who may try to profit from your good name.

Our Atlanta trademark attorneys have extensive experience protecting and securing intellectual property including business names, service marks, copyrights, trade secrets, and trademarks. These important protections are indispensable to employment contracts, services agreements, software development, and IT for small to medium sized businesses that understand the value of their intellectual property.

Contact us today for more information and take some time to browse our website to learn about other ways our Atlanta trademark attorneys can protect your business interests.

  • It is vital that you protect your business brand with help from a qualified lawyer.
  • Prevent someone from profiting off of, or damaging, your business identity.
  • Companies with trademarked intellectual property have more value than those who do not.
  • We cater to small business owners and privately held businesses.
  • Your company’s name is recognition – We will make sure it is protected.

Your company’s intellectual property must be protected from those who may seek to profit from it. Losing your trade secrets to a competitor, or having your business name stolen by someone seeking to profit from your hard work, is a frustration that can be avoided with help from our team of Atlanta trademark lawyers.

We proudly cater to Atlanta small business owners with anywhere from 5 to 350 employees, and offer extensive valuable legal services designed to help you remain profitable and encourage growth. If you would like more information about protecting your intellectual property or business name, contact our law office and speak one-on-one with an experienced Atlanta trademark attorney.

BUSINESS NAME

Growing your business means earning the trust of your customers, a feat that takes much time and hard work. Eventually, your business name becomes synonymous with honesty, integrity, and quality, which makes the business earn greater profits while increasing its overall value.

Sadly, there are countless unscrupulous people who seek to profit off of the good names of successful businesses. Not only does this mean losing business to competition, it also causes customer confusion that could severely damage your reputation.

A business name is not valuable on its own. The real value of the name comes from the business itself, the people who work there, and the resources used to promote them. Trademarks are certainly used to protect the business name, but trademarks may also protect individual products. Some businesses develop and trademark multiple names depending on the nature of their product or service.

Filing for a federal trademark protection is the most effective way to protect a company’s name and its brands. If you plan on operating only within the state of Georgia, a state trademark may be adequate for your needs, but a federal trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has multiple benefits over a state trademark.

First, a federal trademark acts as “constructive notice” to all other potential users of the name throughout the country. Second, a federal trademark allows you to seek damages from anyone who infringes on the trademark. In fact, the trademark, itself, acts as evidence in court that the business’s name was exclusively yours.

Once a trademark is granted, it lasts forever (so long as it is properly maintained), which is an important distinction from copyrights. Copyrights have a limited lifespan. Additionally, not every business name can be trademarked. To get more information on this subject, contact an Atlanta trademark lawyer from our law office.

PROTECTING TRADE SECRETS WITH HELP FROM AN ATLANTA TRADEMARK ATTORNEY

The success of many small and large businesses hinges on protecting a trade secret. If your business is making and selling a particular spaghetti sauce, it is vital that you prevent a competitor from getting their hands on it. Much like protecting your business name with a trademark, you can protect trade secrets as a tangible asset with help from one of our Atlanta trademark lawyers.

While you can legally protect a trade secret, you and your employees also have a responsibility to maintain its fidelity. Legal protections will not help you if you are careless with the information or lack the security needed to prevent easy theft. If you are conducting business overseas, please keep in mind that some countries do not recognize trade secret protections based in the United States.

Your trademark lawyer will help you identify exactly what it is you are seeking to protect. Anything that gives your business a competitive edge may qualify for protection, so it could be a part of some larger product, a set of ingredients, or some proprietary process, among other examples. Your attorney will urge you to label all documents containing trade secret information as “confidential” and limit who can see them.

If you store information on a server or computer, your Atlanta lawyer will also urge you to limit access and beef up your security protocols. It is hard to believe, but countless businesses lose intellectual property due to stolen or lost laptops. Your lawyer will likely urge you to avoid putting sensitive materials on portable machines, or at the very least, ensure the information is encrypted and password protected.

If you have questions concerning the protection of trade secrets, contact one of our Atlanta trademark lawyers and get the facts.

PROTECTING YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WITH COPYRIGHTS

Copyrights are different than trademarks, as they allow those that create original work to protect them from those that would attempt to copy them for profit. Authors, artists, and businesses may seek copyrights. It is common for businesses to copyright proprietary software to prevent it from being copied and used for anything other than its intended purpose.

Copyrights, like trademarks, are intellectual property, so the idea is to protect them from being used without permission. While trademarks are used to protect brands or business names, copyrights seek to protect more tangible items. If you would like to pursue a copyright for your intellectual property, contact one of our Atlanta trademark attorneys for assistance.

EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS THAT PROTECT YOUR IP

Questions concerning the ownership of intellectual property between business owners and employees sometimes arise, so it is important to fully understand the law and develop comprehensive contracts that protect the integrity of your IP.

One scenario that often plays out is when an employee is terminated or leaves a job, and then goes to work for a competitor. Without legal protections from a qualified Atlanta lawyer, intellectual property could be lost when the employee makes this move. An employment contract mitigates this risk by opening the door to litigation to compensate for the loss in revenue.

This underscores the importance of ensuring that intellectual property is defined and protected by trademark. Our Atlanta trademark lawyers can help you ensure that your intellectual property is protected, and then craft an employment contract meant to enforce confidentiality.

One of our Atlanta attorneys can help you address the confidentiality of your intellectual property, proprietary technology, or work product to reduce the risk of unintentional or intentional public disclosure. If your intellectual property is disclosed publicly, you may lose the ability to patent it or lose your competitive edge, as other businesses are made aware of your market strategies or tech.

For this reason, it is vital that employment contracts extend far beyond the terms of employment. These nondisclosure agreements are binding in court and are your best way to secure the integrity of your IP. It is also important for your lawyer to craft an agreement that meets the requirements of both federal law and state law. Without this protection, former employees may be able to contest the agreement based on the argument that there was a lack of consideration.

Our team of lawyers have extensive experience crafting all sorts of employment contracts designed to protect a business from the loss of intellectual property. If you have questions about trademarks, employment contracts, or anything related to the security of your intellectual property, talk to one of our Atlanta trademark attorneys today.

TRADEMARK REGISTRATION

Your trademark registration lawyer will help you identify exactly what you’re attempting to protect. This may be any of the following:

  • Something that affords you a competitive edge
  • A single part of a larger product
  • A list of ingredients
  • A proprietary process used to manufacture a product

There are many other circumstances that may warrant trademark protection. Once the trademark is granted, it’s important to label any documentation that includes trade secrets as “confidential.” It also makes sense to limit the number of people who have access to these documents. If you store any of this information on a computer or your cell phone, you should reinforce your security protocols and limit access to only the most trusted personnel.

Every year, numerous businesses lose valuable proprietary information and data sue to carelessness or stolen computers. Your lawyer will urge you to avoid putting any sensitive information onto portable electronic devices, and always ensure that important data is encrypted and password protected.

How copyrights protect intellectual property

Trademarks and copyrights have different uses. Copyrights make it possible for people and businesses who create original work to protect them from being copied by another person or entity for profit. It’s common for artists, authors, and businesses to seek copyrights. They are also commonly used by software developers to prevent their work from being copied and used for anything other than its intended purpose.

Copyrights are like trademarks in that they are used to protect intellectual property. Trademarks are used to protect business names and brands while copyrights protect property that is more tangible. If you would like more information regarding copyrights, contact our trademark registration lawyer.

Protect your intellectual property with a carefully crafted employment contract

If you have any questions concerning employment contracts, contact one of our Atlanta trademark registration lawyers for more information.

Disputes sometimes arise between employees and their employers concerning the ownership of intellectual property. To protect the integrity of your intellectual property, it’s important to craft highly specific contracts based on the law.

It’s common to encounter scenarios where an employee is terminated from their job who then starts working for a competitor. Without legal protections firmly in place, your intellectual property could quickly fall into the hands of another business owner. A carefully constructed employment contract allows the original employer to seek litigation in an effort to obtain monetary compensation for the revenue loss. This reinforces the notion that intellectual property should be protected by a registered trademark. Our Atlanta trademark registration attorney can first help you protect your intellectual property, and then craft an employment contract that enforces confidentiality through the prospect of litigation. We can also help you protect the confidentiality of any work product or proprietary technology from the risk of public disclosure.

Without these legal protections, you run the risk of losing your competitive edge, or the ability to patent your product.

Employment contracts should focus on far more than terms of employment. By adding a nondisclosure agreement to this document, the integrity of your intellectual property is protected, and the contract can be enforced in a court of law. Both federal and state law must be recognized when crafting employment contracts, otherwise former employees may be able to contest the validity of the agreement based on a “lack of consideration.”

Our law office has extensive experience creating employment contracts that protect business owners from losing their most valuable asset – intellectual property.

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Shepherd’s Law is ready to help you achieve your business goals

When you first contact our law office for assistance, we make it a priority to fully understand the nature of your business. The goal is to represent your needs more efficiently by helping you figure out the best ways to protect your intellectual property. Our Atlanta trademark registration lawyers offer affordable representation to entrepreneurs and small business owners all over the State of Georgia.

If you’re a business owner, or you’re starting up a new business, we can help you address the following legal needs:

  • Trademark registration
  • Crafting employment contracts
  • Business litigation and employment law
  • Business formation
  • Corporate counsel
  • Acquisitions and mergers
  • Business contracts

Protecting the fidelity of intellectual property is more difficult than ever in this digital age, but we can help you take the first step toward reliable legal security. Everything from tangible products to inspired ideas can be secured from theft by using trademarks, copyrights, and contracts, and many other legal tools. Make sure you fully understand your options with help from our Atlanta legal team.

Contact a trademark attorney and protect information that is integral to your success

Registering a trademark is a sometimes complicated process that requires a lot of forethought. If you would like to learn more about this process, contact Shepherd Law today. Whether you’re starting a new business, scaling an existing business, or reinforcing your footing to sell your business, protecting intellectual property should be one of your highest priorities.Some of the most important reasons to ensure the integrity of your intellectual property include:

  • To use it as collateral for financing
  • To attract investors
  • To protect it from being stolen by your competition
  • To sell the licensing for profit
  • To establish a competitive advantage in your industry

Your Atlanta trademark registration lawyer will help you handle all of the details, while looking for potential issues that could impede your trademark registration. Your attorney can also help you ascertain whether your trademark will be accepted.

Take steps to protect your intellectual property before it’s too late. Contact an experienced trademark lawyer in Atlanta who has the tools and qualifications to ensure that nobody benefits from stealing your intellectual property.