Avoid the Legal Horrors with Julie King: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy

Yes. A utility patent protects how something works. A design patent protects how something looks. If your product has a distinctive visual identity, you may have more protection available than you think. 📰 Sign up for the Avoid the Legal Horrors newsletter: https://kingpatentlaw.com/newsletter/ Avoid the legal horrors and keep rocking your IP. 💀🎸 📅 Ready to protect your brand and business? Boo...

Utility patent pricing scares a lot of product inventors out of pursuing any patent protection at all. But design patents (which protect how a product looks, not how it works) are a meaningfully different conversation. If you've written off patents on cost alone, this one's for you.   📰 Sign up for the Avoid the Legal Horrors newsletter: https://kingpatentlaw.com/newsletter/ Avoid the legal horro...

If you sell a physical product online, copycats are a real threat, and most sellers don't know about the IP protection built specifically for this problem. In this episode, I break down design patents: what they protect, how they differ from utility patents, when to file, and what having a patent number actually does for you when you're dealing with a look-alike competitor on Amazon. TIMESTAMPS 00...

Registering an LLC gives you a liability shield. It does NOT give you trademark rights. Your business name, logo, and brand identity are only protected through federal trademark registration. And the window to get that registration isn't unlimited. 📰 Sign up for the Avoid the Legal Horrors newsletter: https://kingpatentlaw.com/newsletter/ Avoid the legal horrors and keep rocking your IP. 💀🎸 📅...

I filed the trademark applications for "Avoid the Legal Horrors" this week. And it made me think about how many podcast creators, YouTubers, and newsletter writers are operating under names they don't own. Common law trademark rights give you some protection from first use. Federal trademark registration gives you nationwide presumption of ownership, the right to stop others from registering confu...

You designed your logo in Canva or some other tool using AI Elements. It looks great. You've built your brand around it. But can you actually trademark it? There are two separate legal problems with AI-generated logos, and most business owners don't know either one exists. In this episode: what Canva's (and other programs') Terms of Service actually say about AI-generated content, why the Copyrigh...

Avoid the Legal Horrors is moving to shorter episodes, and here's the data-driven reason why. Same IP and business law content, same Julie King, just a lot less of your time. 📰 Sign up for the Avoid the Legal Horrors newsletter: https://kingpatentlaw.com/newsletter/ Avoid the legal horrors and keep rocking your IP. 💀🎸 📅 Ready to protect your brand and business? Book a consultation: https://kin...

If you've been building your brand under a social media handle, this episode is for you. Most entrepreneurs assume that claiming a username locks in their brand. It doesn't. Your handle is a license from the platform—and every platform's terms of service explicitly reserves the right to transfer that username to someone with a valid trademark registration. The blue checkmark verifies your identity...

What happens to your Instagram account, your domain name, your email list, your Shopify store, your YouTube channel, and your podcast when you die—or when you're too sick or injured to run them? A few weeks ago I covered what happens to your trademarks and patents. Today is the part nobody in the legal world is talking about enough: the digital infrastructure of your business. Why short-term disab...

Your LLC has default rules. They were not written for your business. In this episode, I break down everything you need to know about operating agreements: the internal document that governs how your LLC runs, protects your partnerships, and determines what happens when things go sideways. Whether you're a solo LLC owner (yes, you need this too) or you have business partners, this episode covers wh...

What happens to your trademarks, patents, and copyrights when you die, and why your heirs probably have no idea what they're actually inheriting? In Part 1 of a two-part series on IP legacy, patent and business attorney Julie King breaks down the IP succession crisis: what makes intellectual property different from every other asset in your estate, the three ownership scenarios that determine what...

Taylor Swift just filed to trademark her voice. Here's why that matters for every creator, and the 8 brand deal contract clauses you need to read before you sign anything. In this episode, I walk through the eight contract clauses in brand deals that quietly strip creators of their rights, including the AI replica clause that Taylor Swift's legal team is working to address through trademark law. W...

If a competitor opens up down the street with the same color scheme, the same layout, the same vibe, and just a different name, is that legal? Maybe not. Today Julie King of King Patent Law, PLLC, covers trade dress: the intellectual property protection that most small business owners have never heard of, which can protect everything that makes your business visually distinctive, above and beyond...

In November 2025, the Johnny Cash estate sued Coca-Cola for using a Cash tribute singer to make a commercial sound like it was voiced by the Man in Black himself, without asking permission or paying a dime. Sound familiar? It should. Tom Waits won $2.375 million from Frito-Lay for the same thing in 1992. Some brands apparently never learn. But this isn't just a celebrity problem. If you're a creat...

There is a federal court decision from February 2026 that every attorney using AI tools needs to read, not because of what it held, but because of what it did NOT hold, and because most of the published commentary is getting the scope of the ruling wrong in ways that could lead you to precisely the wrong conclusions. In this episode, Julie King of King Patent Law, PLLC, walks through the Heppner d...

There is a significant amount of misinformation circulating right now about what AI does and does not mean for your intellectual property. In this episode, Julie King of King Patent Law, PLLC, cuts through the noise with what the law actually says RIGHT NOW about copyright, trademarks, patents, training data, and the growing threat of AI-generated digital replicas. This episode covers: What the U....

The designer who spent weeks on a logo, got paid, and then discovered she owned nothing. That is what a work-made-for-hire clause can do, and it happens every single day to designers, photographers, musicians, illustrators, and writers. In this episode, attorney Julie King of King Patent Law breaks down IP strategy for creatives: the four types of intellectual property protection, the copyright re...

What happens to your business when you die? If you're a sole proprietor, or if you don’t address succession planning properly for your partnership, LLC, or corporation, the answer is: zombie chaos . In this episode of Spellbinding IP: Patent, Trademark, and Business Strategy, attorney Julie King of King Patent Law walks through the legal reality of what happens to a business, and its intellectual...

Most business problems don't announce themselves with flashing warning lights. They lurk in outdated contracts, expired licenses, and forgotten compliance deadlines. By the time you notice them, they've already cost you money. In this video I walk through a 7-point legal health check every small business owner should do at least once a year, and I show you how to do a 15-minute version if that's a...

Want to file a trademark before you launch your business? Intent-to-Use (ITU) applications let you secure your brand name before going public, but they're significantly more complex than standard trademark filings. In this episode, I break down ITU applications and the highly technical specimen requirements that trip up even experienced filers. Learn what trademark specimens actually are, what the...

Planning to sell your invention internationally? You need a global patent strategy, because international filing is complex and expensive. In this episode, patent attorney Julie King breaks down your options for protecting inventions abroad: the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Paris Convention direct filing, and regional systems like the European Patent Office. Learn when each strategy makes sens...

What does it actually cost to get a patent? Not the advertised number from patent mills. The real, complete cost. Patent attorney Julie King breaks down typical expenses you'll encounter in the patent process, from initial searches to maintenance fees, and why that $25,000+ budget for a US patent isn't a scare tactic; it's reality. You'll learn: How long it takes at a minimum to get a patent (prob...

Can you legally file your own patent application? Yes. Should you? Patent attorney Julie King explains why DIY patent applications are almost always a terrible idea, and the rare circumstances when they might be acceptable. You'll learn: Why patent law is uniquely technical and complex What patent attorneys bring to the table (technical degrees + legal training + special bar exam) How one wrong wo...

This might be the most important misconception to clear up in all of patent law: there is no such thing as a "provisional patent." Patent attorney Julie King explains the critical difference between provisional applications, non-provisional applications, and actual issued patents, and why getting this wrong can cost you everything. You'll learn: Why a provisional application is NOT a patent The 12...

The most underrated, and most critical, step in the patent process is something you can start doing today, for free: detailed documentation of your invention. In this episode, patent attorney Julie King explains exactly what you need to document, how to do it properly, and why this seemingly simple step can be the difference between winning and losing a patent dispute. You'll learn: The things you...