You’ve probably seen these trademark symbols everywhere: TM, SM, and ®. But what do they mean, and when should you use them to protect your

Disney’s new series The Mandalorian conjures the iconic image of a space-faring mercenary clad in the ubiquitous armor. The character Boba Fett was the first to wear the armor and for almost four decades it has been a seminal part of all things “Star Wars.” Fittingly, the protections afforded to the idea of the armor mirror the protection the armor provides its wearer. Like the armor, intellectual property law provides various layers of protection with copyrights, trademarks

When you think of the terms, “trademark” and “copyright”, you probably know that both offer some sort of intellectual property protection. Did you know there’s a distinct difference between the types of protection they offer? TRADEMARK A trademark is any word, name, phrase, logo or symbol that is used to identify its source. Many trademarks today cover a variety of business intellectual property such as slogans, logos and branding. Where copyrights have expiry dates, trademar

Every day, hundreds of new companies are born.  More often than not, intellectual property strategies take a back seat to other pre-incorporation concerns such as selecting a business name, securing a domain, financing, budgeting, and staffing.  Then, months or years down the road, someone drops an infringement or cease and desist on the company for allegedly using their name, logo, or copyrighted material.  This can prove very costly, necessitate a name or logo change, and n