Intellectual Property Business

Why do I need an intellectual property attorney?

• Only registered patent attorneys who are licensed to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office can legally represent an inventor in seeking a patent
• 99% of the attorneys in the US are not licensed patent attorneys
• Whether you are an inventor seeking a patent, or want to ensure that your existing intellectual property is protected, you will need the services of an intellectual property attorney

What do the registered patent attorneys and intellectual property attorneys at Woods Rogers PLC offer?

• Complete services for US and international patent prosecution.
• Full service for the protection of intellectual property, including:
  • patents
  • copyrights
  • trademarks
  • licensing

What can Woods Rogers PLC offer that most Washington, D.C. firms cannot?

• A wealth of intellectual property expertise, both in protection and litigation, delivered more economically than most big city law firms
• How is this possible? Most of the work involved in seeking patents and trademarks from the USPTO and copyrights from the Library of Congress is done electronically or through the mail.
• Even if a personal meeting is required, a Woods Rogers PLC attorney can easily make the short trip from one of our Virginia offices to D.C.
• It is simply not necessary to pay big city rates for the services of an experienced intellectual property attorney

Now you have a trademark. How do you protect it?

Once you have a trademark that is of value to you and your business, you must be vigilant in protecting it from “poaching” by competitors, or even people in other industries. Before you can bring a cease and desist letter or institute litigation, you must know who is infringing. Sometimes that infringement is inadvertent, sometimes malevolent.
Here are some of the ways you can protect your mark:

• There are companies that make a business of searching for infringing marks. You can hire them for a single search or for conducting searches on a regular basis. Cost will vary, but routine searches can likely be accomplished for less that $1,000 per year.
• There is a publication, known as the U.S. Patent & Trademark Gazette publication, which shows names and logos for new trademarks. This is done pre-registration and can give you an opportunity to contest registration.
  
• A simple and inexpensive alternative to the foregoing is to keep your eyes and ears tuned for infringers. For example, do your own internet check periodically to see if anyone else is using your mark, or any similar “knockoff” of your mark. If you find an apparent infringer, that is where your lawyer must come into the picture.
• Should you license the use of your mark, be sure to watch how it is used and provide in the license agreement how the mark can be used. The manner in which your licensee uses or abuses your trademark may damage or destroy the value of the mark.
• Be sure to use the mark regularly in connection with your own goods or services. Also, should you be able to use a registered trademark with an expanding range of products, you may be able to register the new uses with the PTO and get broader legal protection.