Wood, Atter & Associates, a Florida Law firm located in Jacksonville provides individuals businesses located in the areas around Duval, St. Johns, and other areas of North East Florida with a full spectrum of Intelectual Property related services. Lawyers in our firm have experience structuring with creating and forming Trademarks and Copyrights for that meet our clients needs.

Copyright protects original works of expression, such as novels, fine and graphic arts, music, phonorecords, photography, software, video, cinema and choreography by preventing people from copying or commercially exploiting them without the copyright owner's permission. But the copyright laws specifically do not protect names, titles or short phrases. That's where trademark law comes in. Trademark protects distinctive words, phrases, logos, symbols, slogans and any other devices used to identify and distinguish products or services in the marketplace.

There are, however, areas where both trademark and copyright law may be used to protect different aspects of the same product. For example, copyright laws may protect the artistic aspects of a graphic or logo used by a business to identify its goods or services, while trademark may protect the graphic or logo from use by others in a confusing manner in the marketplace. Similarly, trademark laws are often used in conjunction with copyright laws to protect advertising copy. The trademark laws protect the product or service name and any slogans used in the advertising, while the copyright laws protect the additional creative written expression contained in the ad.

Generally, patent and trademark laws do not overlap. When it comes to a product design, however -- say, jewelry or a distinctively shaped musical instrument -- it may be possible to obtain a patent on a design aspect of the device while invoking trademark law to protect the design as a product identifier. For instance, an auto manufacturer might receive a design patent for the stylistic fins that are part of a car's rear fenders. Then, if the fins were intended to be -- and actually are -- used to distinguish the particular model car in the marketplace, trademark law may kick in to protect the appearance of the fins.

Your continued success in business is our goal. To learn more about our Trademark or Copyright services, set up an appointment for your free consultation today by calling us at (904) 355-8888 or fill out our online Contact Form and one of our business specialists will call you today.