Guides
Guides.
Guides to intellectual property law for founders, executives, engineers, and creators. Each guide cites the statutes, regulations, and cases it relies on and shows the date through which the law was checked.
Getting started.
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Four Types of Intellectual Property
What patents, trademarks, copyright and trade secrets protect, how they differ and why one product can involve all four.
Patents.
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Patent, Trade Secret, or Both?
How to choose between patenting an invention and keeping it as a trade secret, or using both.
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The Patent Application Process at the USPTO
The main stages of a U.S. utility patent application, the principal fees and the deadlines that shape the process.
Trademarks.
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Choosing Trademarks and Clearing Them
How distinctiveness affects whether a brand name can be owned, and how to clear a name before investing in it.
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Registering and Maintaining a Trademark
The main steps from a federal trademark application to registration, continued use and maintenance filings.
Copyrights.
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Who Owns a Copyright?
How copyright ownership works for authors, employers, contractors, and joint creators, and how ownership transfers.
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Copyright Registration, Fair Use, and Online Takedowns
How registration affects enforcement, what fair use asks and how copyright takedown notices and counter-notices work.
Trade secrets.
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Trade Secret Law in Texas
How the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act protect confidential information, and what “reasonable measures” means.
Transactions and licensing.
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IP Licenses and Assignments
How ownership transfers differ from permission to use intellectual property, and the terms that define a licensing arrangement.
Disputes.
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Receiving an IP Demand Letter
What typically happens when a letter accuses a business of infringing a patent, trademark, copyright, or trade secret, and the options for responding.
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Where IP Disputes Are Heard in Texas
How the claim, the parties and the requested relief affect the choice among Texas state courts, federal courts and other forums.