Everyone needs someone that you can ask dumb questions and get good answers. One of those people for me is Ryan Waite at Neckerman Insurance. Whenever I have (or a client has) an insurance question, I know that I can call over there and get a good, full, and not dumb answer in a timely … Read more
Intellectual property tends to be a land of first come-first serve. Patents are only awarded to inventions that are new and non-obvious, which means your invention isn’t the logical next step based on what is already out in the world. Trademark protection looks at what marks potential customers have come into contact with in connection … Read more
When setting up a company, whether it is an LLC, corporation, non-stock corporation, or any of the other options, we always need to include the identity of the company’s registered agent in the Articles of Incorporation and Annual Report and update that information if it ever changes. Each company (again no matter what kind or … Read more
Section 2(a) of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1052(a), is an absolute bar to federal trademark registration of immoral or scandalous matter. The ban on scandalous and immoral trademark registrations is not new. It first came into federal law in the Trade-Mark Act of 1905 and reaffirmed as part of §2(a) of the Act of 1946. … Read more
Somehow, somewhere, applying for a trademark became an invitation for junk mail and spam. It’s annoying, but some are worse than others. Some of the worst are notices that look like they are from the United States Patent and Trademark Office or foreign offices telling applicants they need to spend more money in order to … Read more
A trade secret is something that gives a company a competitive advantage because others in the industry do not know the same thing. It could be a recipe, a formula, a compilation of data, an algorithm, computer code, and more. It is whatever can be used to gain an edge over competitors by being the … Read more
Photo: © 2008 flikr, flikr2639, licensed by Creative Commons You are looking for a nice photograph to take your website from “meh” to “yeah!” After tooling around, you find the perfect one on someone else’s website. It has everything you could hope for in a photo. It is pretty, professional, and just the right amount … Read more
As you drive though the green, rolling hills in the farmland in southwestern Wisconsin, you pass through small towns that proudly tout their local high school’s last state championship. In these towns, you find a lot of small businesses from ranging cafes to farm implement stores. If you enter Fennimore on Highway, if you look … Read more
I often get asked, “Now that I am an LLC or corporation, I am completely, 100% protected from personal liability, right?” Well, um, how do I put this delicately? Uh, no. No, you are not. “Wait, what!?” It is because the company isn’t an impenetrable shield. It is more like a really high wall that … Read more
Just like Steve Rogers through his transition to Captain America, trademarks vary in strength. Some are burly superheroes, and some are weaklings hiding behind their bigger friends for protection. What makes a mark strong versus weak? The level of which your mark describes the good or service that you are selling. There is a spectrum … Read more