Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Texas
We are trying to register a program name to be protected against use from anyone else. We are an LLC and want to use this name to sell a program to our clients. We are in the process of obtaining a Service Mark for our program logo and have filed a dba with our county clerk (XYZ LLC dba Program Name). Were these the proper steps to have taken? Is there anything else we need to do to protect and claim the program name as our own?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Yes. One more vital step is to check availability of a suitable domain name, as having the Service Mark may not do you much good if you have to switch because it is not available as a domain name for the inevitable website you will use to sell and service the program. Another step that may prove useful is patent protection for the program, if it is new, useful, and not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art and not already public for a year. Yet another step is to consider copyright registration for the program materials, visuals, ads, music (if any), posters, trailers, etc.so someone else can't simply rip them off. You would do well to hire an intellectual property lawyer for a consultation to review the specifics of what you have done and to strategize legally for you. This is an area where a modest expenditure up front for legal advise may save you thousands of dollars later and sometimes even make the difference between success and failure of your business. Don't go cheap on intellectual property. Get off lawguru and get some specific advice. I am licensed as an attorney in Texas and am an intellectual property attorney specializing in startups like yours, so you might consider calling me.
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