Completing your estate plan is vital to ensuring that your family is cared for and your assets are distributed according to your wishes. However, all the time, money, and effort put into establishing your estate plan may have been wasted if those documents are lost or destroyed. In Oregon and many other states, the original copy of a person’s will [...]
This past spring, we notified you about a case involving a brewery that applied to register the mark TACO TUESDAY for its Mexican-style lager. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and then, on appeal, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) refused registration of the mark on the grounds that “Taco Tuesday” is a widely used message and, as [...]
Aretha Franklin’s estate still has not been distributed to her heirs, although she died almost five years ago from pancreatic cancer. When the singer/songwriter passed in August 2018, her family thought she had died without a will. Nearly a year later, though, some estate-planning documents were found in her home. Since that time, her sons have argued over which handwritten [...]
If you or your business hire someone to create work for you, for example, to write a blog post, take some photos, compose a jingle, or design a logo, who owns the copyright in that work? The answer depends upon several factors. Generally, the person who creates a work is considered to be the author of that work under the [...]
Many small businesses start out as sole proprietorships or partnerships, usually because they’re the simplest to get up and running. For most businesses, though, the small amount of extra time and expense involved in setting up a corporation or limited liability company (LLC) will be well worth it. The most important benefit of doing business as a corporation or LLC [...]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that it had reached a settlement with Cycra Inc. and its chief operating officer. Cycra, a manufacturer of motocross and ATV parts, had advertised that its products were "Proudly made in the USA," "Made in the USA," and "Proudly designed, developed and manufactured in Lexington, North Carolina." You might wonder what’s wrong with [...]
Choosing a trademark may be more difficult than you think. You might be focusing on the catchiness of the name, but there are legal considerations that should be considered as well, such as the possibility of infringing some other trademark. People often think that if they aren't aware of anyone else using the same trademark, it's okay. They may rely [...]
We frequently get questions from our clients about requests for payment of registration, publication, or renewal fees for corporate, domain name and intellectual property filings. Requests may also be received for monitoring fees or the preparation of minutes. The scam requests typically look like invoices or letters, often containing false due dates or threats about loss of rights if you [...]
If you’re involved in a legal dispute, it’s important for you to understand how the money you might receive, whether as part of a settlement or as awarded by a court or arbitrator, will be taxed. The Internal Revenue Code states that all income—from whatever source derived—is taxable unless exempted by another section of the code. This means that unless [...]
To be protectable, a trademark must be “distinctive.” This means it must be used to identify the source of the product or service. Courts classify marks into categories of distinctiveness. The most distinctive marks are those that are arbitrary or fanciful. Examples include EXXON for gasoline and APPLE for electronics. Suggestive marks, those that require some imagination to determine the [...]
