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Latest from King Business and Patent Law Blog - Page 2

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.

The Role of NDAs in Business:

Keeping Negotiations Private – Prevent competitors from gaining insider knowledge.

NDAs keep preliminary discussions confidential, preventing competitors from gaining insight into your strategic plans. Also, if the deal falls through, the negotiations will still remain confidential.

This can apply to the formation…
Continue Reading Sealing the Deal: How NDAs Keep Business Talks Confidential

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, an NDA is one of the most important tools, sometimes more important than the patent, in protecting an invention.

Why NDAs Are a Must for Patent Protection:

Guarding Unpatented Innovations – Ensure confidentiality before filing a patent…
Continue Reading Loose Lips Sink Patents: Protect Your Invention with an NDA

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.

How NDAs Safeguard Your Trademarks:

  • Securing Brand Strategies – Keep marketing plans and rebranding efforts confidential.

NDAs ensure that sensitive information about marketing plans, new logos, and rebranding efforts stays confidential until and sometimes after a public launch.

  • Ensuring Safe Collaborations – Set clear expectations with designers, marketers, and vendors.

When working with designers, marketers, or manufacturers, NDAs can clarify the expectations and consequences regarding the development and…
Continue Reading Ban the Blab about Brand Development: Why Your Brand Strategy Needs an NDA

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 post, we’ll explore how NDAs help safeguard original works and prevent unauthorized distribution or copying of your intellectual property.

Protecting Creative Works – Ensure your scripts, software, and designs stay confidential.

NDAs ensure that creative content, like scripts, software, designs, and other copyrighted works, remain confidential during collaborations. This is especially important when sharing drafts with publishers, partners, or contractors.

Preventing Early Exposure – Keep your work under wraps until you’re ready to share…
Continue Reading Shhh! How NDAs Keep Your Creative Works Under Wraps (and Safe!)

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.

This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the law and love, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

What Happens Without a Will?

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.

Blended Families: If you have a blended family, default state law doesn’t pass anything to your stepchildren. If you want…
Continue Reading Who Do You Love, and Will They Inherit the Way You Want?

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 ever filed. 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, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

Ok, here we go:

Patent US5727565A is for a “Kissing Shield,”—a plastic barrier for germ-free smooching. This invention from 1995 is a thin, flexible yet impervious membrane you can slide…
Continue Reading Is it Love? Unusual Love-Related Inventions

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 business and your relationship.

This Valentine’s Day week I’m talking about the law and love, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

Here are Some Legal Must-Haves for Couple Entrepreneurs

Have a Business Agreement: Just like a marriage, a business needs clear expectations. A partnership agreement or an LLC operating agreement should outline who owns what, decision-making power, and what happens if one…
Continue Reading Avoiding Heartache When Operating a Business as a Couple

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.

Trademarks protect brands, not just words. A common phrase can only be used and registered as a trademark if it’s being used to identify a product or service.

For example, “I NY” is a trademark because it’s used to sell merchandise. Taylor Swift has trademarked…
Continue Reading Trademarks Can Break Your Heart

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 Day week I’m talking about the intellectual property of love, but what I’m saying applies year-round.

The good news is that under U.S. copyright law, usually the person who creates an original work automatically…
Continue Reading I Give You My Heart, But Not My Copyright

Marketing is supposed to bring in money, not lawsuits!

If you’re not careful with how you advertise, though, you could be violating copyright or trademark laws. Let’s talk about how to market legally and protect your business.

Why Small Businesses Are at Risk

  • Many assume legal issues only affect big companies—wrong!
  • Small businesses often copy content, use images, or run ads without realizing they’re breaking the law.
  • Ignorance isn’t an excuse—legal fees can be devastating.

Top Legal Mistakes in Marketing

Using copyrighted images or music without permission. Running ads with misleading claims. Choosing a business name or slogan without a…
Continue Reading Marketing Without Getting Sued – Tips Every Small Business Must Know

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.

What Is a Trademark & Why Should You Care?

  • A trademark protects business names, logos, slogans, and sometimes even colors, sounds, scents, package design, and store layout.
  • Using a name, logo, or other piece of brand identity that’s too similar to someone else’s registered, or even

…
Continue Reading That Name or Logo You’re Using? It May Be Trademark Infringement!

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 to do it for you. If you use the wrong thing, YOU’RE going to be the one in trouble. (I’ll have another post later on protecting yourself from someone else’s mistake.)

Understanding Copyright…
Continue Reading Are You Stealing Without Knowing It? Copyright Risks in Marketing

Maybe. I know, I know, it’s rather annoying when lawyers give that answer or “it depends” so often, but there is no “one size fits all” with legal answers. With inventions, patentability depends on several factors that will be different for each invention.These factors prevent many patent applications from succeeding in becoming granted patents. Some of these important factors are distilled into essential requirements about the invention itself, rather than being just paperwork technicalities:Novelty: There must not be anything already like it. An identical invention or one very similar to it must not already be patented, described in someone…
Continue Reading Can You Get a Patent for Your Idea?

Meta Accounts: Instagram/Facebook

If you’re using a personal account, you have access to a huge library of music and other audio clips to use with your posts. However, your agreement with Meta says those are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Most of that music is NOT available to a business/professional account.

The Music Guidelines for Meta, which includes Instagram and Facebook, says: “Use of music for commercial or non-personal purposes in particular is prohibited unless you have obtained appropriate licenses.” “Commercial purposes” or “commercial use” don’t mean just for actual commercials. “Commercial” means for any use promoting a business.

TikTok

TikTok’s…
Continue Reading Riffs of Risk: Are you using a “personal” account for your business on social media?

Learn about protecting your business’s most valuable assets—your ideas, your brand, and your services and creations!

If you’re a business owner, you already have intellectual property. But do you know what it is or how to protect it and leverage it for success?

This course is about empowering YOU to safeguard what you’ve built. Whether you’re launching a new venture, growing your brand, or just want to know more, this course will give you the tools to make informed decisions.Ready to step into 2025 with confidence?

In this 80-minute crash course designed with YOU in mind and covering the must-know topics to protect…
Continue Reading New Course: Intellectual Property: The Basics for Your Business

Learn about protecting your business’s most valuable assets—your ideas, your brand, and your services and creations!

If you’re a business owner, you already have intellectual property. But do you know what it is or how to protect it and leverage it for success?

The longer you wait to get a handle on your intellectual property, the more problems you’re risking (possibly expensive and brand-killing ones).

This course is about empowering YOU to safeguard what you’ve built. Whether you’re launching a new venture, growing your brand, or just want to know more, this course will give you the tools to make informed…
Continue Reading Course: Intellectual Property: The Basics for Your Business