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Your business’ trademark and its associated goodwill are valuable assets. In some cases, a business’ trademark and goodwill are the most valuable asset. Because of their high value, it is important to protect your trademarks and goodwill if someone attempts to damage them. Your trademark provides customers with vital information as to the source and quality of the goods and services they purchase from your business. Customers use trademarks to choose between competing producers of goods. As you are no doubt already aware, your customers see your trademark as conveying certain characteristics of the goods and services you sell. More importantly, your trademark conveys to customers guarantees of quality. Basics about trademarks Trademark law is complicated, especially when it comes to litigation. The following is by no means comprehensive. Instead, it is intended only to give the reader familiarity with some of trademark’s basic principles. The law provides for various types of trademarks. There are word marks, design, marks, and composite marks, containing both words and design. In addition, there can be more unusual marks such as colors, shapes, sounds, scents, and even motion. The more distinctive a mark is, the greater protection the mark is entitled to receive under the law. More distinctive marks receive greater protection against uses of the same or similar marks in court.

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States kept the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program alive. What exactly did the Supreme Court decide today? The Supreme Court found that the decision to rescind the program was arbitrary and capricious, essentially saying that the Secretaries of Homeland Security Duke and Nielsen did not provide sufficient explanation to justify the program's rescission. Although the fight for Dreamers is not over, this means that if you are an existing DACA recipient you can continue to renew. If you believe that you may be eligible for DACA but have never applied, call our office for a consultation to see if you are able to apply.

Although many people and businesses assume that there is no harm in copying a photo onto their own website, that is not necessarily the case. Photographers and other visual artists have the right to protect their art from the unauthorized use of others, especially when others seek to use the art for commercial purposes. Hamilton Law has handled a number of copyright infringement cases in Nevada, California, and Colorado involving the unauthorized use of copyrighted photographs on websites. Many times cases of copyright infringement can be settled without litigation. The infringing party may be willing to pay for use of the copyrighted work. If the persons using your work is unwilling to pay for their use, it may be necessary to file a lawsuit to compel them to pay for their use. Should I register my work with the federal copyright office? There are compelling reasons for federally registering your copyrighted photo, including the amount of damages you may be entitled to recover if someone copies your work. Copyright protection for a work arises automatically at the moment of creation of the work. This is often referred to as common-law copyright protection. In many cases, however, if you have not federally registered your work you would be entitled to very little in money damages in the case of infringement. By contrast, if you have federally registered your copyrighted work you may be entitled to substantial money damages if someone copies your work without permission. Such damages are often referred to as statutory damages. Further, you may be entitled to recover damages for your attorney’s fees if you have federally registered the copyright. Do I have a copyright infringement case? Of course, like most things in the law, whether someone owes you money damages for copying your photo depends on the specific facts of the situation. There are a number of defenses to copyright infringement, such as fair use, and it’s important to know how and when these defenses apply. The law is constantly developing in the area of copyright infringement and it’s important to analyze cases similar to yours to determine how a court is likely to rule on your claims. If you are interested in bringing a copyright infringement cases or need advice in this area, contact Hamilton Law today at 702.818.1818.