Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Texas
government/intellectual property
I am a marketing exec working for an agency that developed a health awareness brand (intellectual property) for the city government. Looking to privatize the brand by engineering a deal for a private firm to buy the brand and develop it by creating a commercial business model to maximize the profit potential of said brand. Such a deal would potentially involve a flat fee and/or the private firm committing to an agreed upon percentage for x years to be recommitted to city programs.
question 1: is the city government bound from the sale of a brand or profiting at all from intellectual property? Is it not the same as the city of Denver selling the naming rights of Mile High Stadium to Invesco?
Question 2: Is the city prohibited from entering any contract where they are accepting a percentage of a private firm's revenues in context of the overarching arrangement where they have released the brand ownership? In other words would there be some sort of inside training / conflict of interest issue? If so would it typically be a scenario that is resolved by a bid requirement? In other words could the city put the brand development ownership out for Bid with consideration of who would offer the best proposal for long term development?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: government/intellectual property
We would need to look to the regulations covering your city to see how many ways they can go about this. Cities can generally sell their property, within reason, and benefit from revenue generation, but you have to comply with all relevant regulations. The city attorney would be responsible for making sure the city followed its own rules and an outside firm could help ensure that the intellectual property and business structure are properly handled.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
