Know Your Rights: Your IP and Business Law Playbook

Did you know that just because you invent something, you might not own the patent? Let’s break down the difference between inventorship and ownership in patents—and why it matters for your business! Inventorship is about who actually came up with the invention, while ownership determines who controls the patent rights. And yes, they can be different!

Who should own your trademark, you personally, or yourbusiness? This is a crucial decision for small business owners, and today we’re breaking down the pros and cons of individual versus business trademark ownership!

Did you know that just because you create something, you might not actually own the copyright? Today, we're diving into the difference between authorship and ownership in copyright law—because they’re not always the same thing!

Estate planning is a deeply personal process that involves sensitive financial and family information. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) can help keep your estate plans private and secure. For the transcript, please go to kingpatentlaw.com/blog

NDAs are not just for what people normally think of when they think of intellectual property; they are also crucial in business formation and transactions. Whether you’re forming a new company negotiating a merger, or working with independent contractors and employees, NDAs protect sensitive business information, which is actually also intellectual property. For the transcript, please go to kingpa...

Patents protect inventions, but before a patent is filed, NDAs are vital for keeping your ideas confidential. Here’s how NDAs help innovators and businesses protect their inventions during development. When people think of inventions, they think of patents. Patents are great for protecting inventions, but a patent isn’t always the best way to protect an invention. Whether a patent is wise or not,...

While trademarks protect brands, logos, and slogans, non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, can play a crucial role in maintaining the confidentiality of brand strategies. Let’s look at how NDAs help secure trademark-related information. For the transcript, please go to kingpatentlaw.com/blog

Why NDAs Matter for Copyright: Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) can play a critical role in protecting copyrighted materials, especially in the creative and tech industries. In this episode, we’ll explore how NDAs help safeguard original works and prevent unauthorized distribution or copying of your intellectual property. For the transcript please go to kingpatentlaw.com/blog

Love lasts forever—but what happens to your assets when you’re gone? If you don’t have an estate plan, your loved ones might not inherit what you intended. If you pass away without a will, state law decides who gets your assets. And if you’re not married , your partner may get nothing —even if you’ve been together for years. This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the law and love, but what I’...

They say never mix business with pleasure—but what about love? Many couples start businesses together, but without the right legal setup, things can go very wrong. Very, very wrong. Let’s talk about how to protect both your businessand your relationship . This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the law and love, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

Valentine’s Day brings out all kinds of creativity—and some people even turn romance into patented inventions ! Let’s look at some of the strangest love-related patents everfiled. I’ve kept these suitable for all ages so any little ones overhearing this won’t learn new and exciting inappropriate things to say at school. This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the intellectual property of love,...

Have you ever wondered if someone owns romantic phrases like “Be Mine,” “I Love You,” or “Kiss Me”? Phrases can be protected by trademark law, but only sometimes. The candy heart for this topic says “it depends.” This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the intellectual property of love, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

Valentine’s Day can be a time for romance, chocolates, and . . . copyright law? That’s right! If you pour your heart into a sincere love letter, a romantic poem, a beautiful painting, or even a heartfelt social media post, copyright laws are automatically involved. Who actually owns those expressions of love? The creator, the person they are intended to impress, or someone else? This Valentine’s D...

Be careful with how you advertise, or you could violate copyright or trademark laws. Learn to avoid that.

💥 Imagine spending thousands on branding and marketing, only to get a cease-and-desist letter because your business name, logo, slogan, or other piece of brand identity is too close to someone else’s. 💥 That’s called trademark infringement, and it can shut you down and cost you a bundle. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen to you.

🚨 Did you know that using the wrong image, song, or video clip in your marketing could land you in a lawsuit? 🚨 Copyright infringement doesn’t just happen to big corporations—it’s a major risk for small businesses too. Today, I’ll walk you through how to stay safe. This applies if you create your own marketing content or if you have your internal marketing department or hire a marketing service...

You put a great deal of effort in choosing the perfect name for your business. You registered the business with the Secretary of State in every state in which you operate. That’s all you need to own your business name, right?  Wrong. Most if not all states’ business registration offices don’t even check their state’s own trademark databases when approving a name for LLC/corporation/partnership reg...

This episode is about the pitfalls of using music on your personal social media accounts to promote your business and how to avoid them.

For the Day of the Dead, the last in this year's spooky-themed Patrifying Patents episode. This one is about how patent applications and issued patents can die, either by a premature visit from the Grim Reaper or of old age natural causes.

Buckle up my beasties! This Halloween night episode helps you learn more about patents by digging into patents for strange burials, exploding graves, creepy dolls, and more! Happy Halloween! 👻

Get your ghoulish patent game on by watching this episode, in which I cover a game inspired by the 1973 horror film The Exorcist and do a deep dive into the intellectual property of the long history of the Ouija board. See if you can spot some lyrics from "Sympathy for the Devil" and a reference to the original "13 Ghosts" film. Learn a lesson the makers of the movie "Witchboard" learned the hard...

In this episode of Petrifying Patents, Julie King talks about various aspects of patents, using the pumpkin-shaped candy carriers we all love. This episode is ok to show to kids or watch at work. Nothing gets too scary.

It's Halloween week again, which means another round of Halloween and horror-themed episodes from Julie King of King Patent and Business Law. This year the theme is Petryfing Patents, and this one is about design patents. Watch if you dare!

The legal world is buzzing about AI and its use for all kinds of things, including generating logos, text, and other things people would normally want to register for copyright or trademark protection. I'm particularly nerding out over these issues, because my master's degree project involved training of artificial intelligence systems. Rights to AI-generated content, and to content made on creati...

https://youtu.be/6cFVLWV0ZI4 This is part one of a 10 part series on Essential Benefits of Trademark Registration. This week, the topic is Avoiding a Busted Brand: Preventing the Pain of Forced Rebranding through Trademark Registration. I'll be talking about five painful problems that can happen for your business when you don't take the correct steps to develop your brand, and how to avoid those p...