Intellectual Property
Trademark, copyright, and patent for creative businesses.
Intellectual Property Strategies
Intellectual property protection extends beyond registration. IP portfolios require strategic management—from initial clearance searches and application prosecution through enforcement, licensing, portfolio maintenance, and transaction documentation.
As IP attorneys specializing in creative industries, we register trademarks, copyrights, and design patents for artists, designers, galleries, and creative brands. We also handle post-registration management: renewal and maintenance filings, assignment documentation, licensing negotiations, infringement analysis and enforcement, fair use evaluations, and portfolio audits. For creative businesses, IP assets function as business infrastructure for licensing revenue, acquisition value, and competitive protection."
Our IP services include:
Trademark
Search and evaluation
Trademark registration
Maintenance, renewal, cancellation
Assignment and change in ownership
Infringement and enforcement
Portfolio management
Counseling on trademark issues
Copyright
Copyright registration
Licensing and assignment
Fair use evaluations
Infringement and enforcement
Portfolio management
Counseling on creative collaborations and disputes
Patent
Patent searches
Patent applications
Infringement analysis
Infringement and enforcement
Prosecutions
Licensing agreements
Portfolio management
Trademarks protect brand identifiers—words, logos, sounds, colors, or distinctive symbols. Federal registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides nationwide protection and creates legal presumptions that strengthen enforcement.
Our trademark practice includes clearance searches to identify conflicts with existing marks, application preparation and prosecution, responding to office actions, and post-registration maintenance filings. Beyond registration, trademark counsel includes enforcement strategy, licensing agreements, assignment documentation, and infringement response. Trademark rights require consistent commercial use and active enforcement to prevent dilution, genericide, or abandonment.
Trademark
Copyright
Copyright protects creative works—visual art, sculpture, film, photography, computer code, written works, choreography, sound recordings. Copyright ownership in collaborative works or works-for-hire arrangements requires documentation to establish rights and avoid disputes.
Federal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is required to file infringement lawsuits and claim statutory damages. The registration process varies by work type (visual art, literary work, sound recording, audiovisual work) and requires specific technical classifications that affect the scope of protection.
Our copyright practice includes registration strategy, fair use analysis for appropriation or sampling, licensing and assignment agreements, infringement assessment and enforcement, cease-and-desist correspondence, and ownership determinations in collaborative or commissioned works. Copyright issues frequently arise in gallery consignments, commissioned works, and digital reproduction rights.
Patent
Patents protect functional innovations and ornamental designs. Design patents protect the visual appearance of functional objects—product packaging, furniture, fashion accessories, consumer goods, architectural elements. Utility patents protect how inventions work or are used. Both provide exclusive rights and require USPTO registration.
Our patent practice includes prior art searches, application drafting and prosecution, office action responses, maintenance fee management, infringement analysis, and licensing negotiations. Design patent applications require technical drawings that meet USPTO standards. Our practice focuses on design patents for creative industries—product designers, fashion brands, furniture makers, and industrial designers where form and function intersect.
Intellectual Property Contracts
IP contracts for creative businesses include licensing agreements, acquisition and sale documentation, commission agreements, consignment contracts, collaboration agreements, work-for-hire contracts, and Visual Artists Rights Act waivers. These contracts establish ownership, define usage rights, allocate revenues, and protect both legal interests and working relationships.
Our practice focuses on art world transactions—artist studio operations, gallery consignments, museum acquisitions and loans, corporate commissions, collector purchases, collaborative projects. This specialization provides familiarity with standard legal terms, industry-specific provisions (edition limits, artist resale rights, moral rights), and market customs that inform negotiation strategy.
We draft original contracts and review third-party agreements (construction contracts, purchase agreements, performance contracts) to add IP protections, licensing provisions, VARA compliance, and attribution requirements. Our relational approach applies to IP licensing—protecting both legal rights and collaborative relationships.
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Registration timing depends on commercial release plans and infringement risk. For works in revision, early registration may be premature. For completed works approaching public release (festival screenings, major exhibitions, product launches), registration before release provides maximum protection. Registration is required before filing infringement lawsuits, so discovered infringement requires immediate registration to preserve legal options.
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Trademark applications require either actual commercial use of the mark or documented intent to use within six months. "Intent-to-use" applications provide earlier filing dates but require proof of commercial use before registration completes. Trademark rights strengthen with continuous commercial use over time.
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Fair use permits limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like criticism, commentary, scholarship, or transformative creative work. Fair use analysis considers four statutory factors: purpose and character of use, nature of the original work, amount used, and market impact. Fair use determinations are highly fact-specific—identical uses may receive different legal treatment depending on context. We analyze fair use risk for appropriation art, sampling, archival use, and educational materials.
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Infringement response depends on registration status, infringement scope, and business objectives. Options include cease-and-desist correspondence, licensing negotiations, USPTO opposition or cancellation proceedings, and litigation. Registration status affects available remedies—unregistered copyrights have limited damages options, and unregistered trademarks require common-law rights proof. We assess infringement claims, recommend response strategy, and handle enforcement actions.
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USPTO filing fees range from $250-$350 per class of goods or services. Attorney fees for trademark registration vary based on application complexity, number of classes, and whether the application is based on actual use or intent-to-use. Comprehensive clearance searches, application preparation, and office action responses are typically included in flat-fee trademark registration packages.
FAQs
I Always Feel Protected .
“Working with Katherine and Rob has helped me enhance skills or shift habits within my business that, I believe, have made me a better business owner and artist. I am proactive with negotiations and enter them with more confidence. I always feel protected and that my clients are joining me in a very clear working relationship, which supports all parties involved. ”
Meredith Connelly | Art by Meredith Connelly LLC
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