Protecting Your Intellectual Property

Now more than ever, protecting your intellectual property (IP) is more important than ever. With the internet, global communication is both easier and more economical than making an international phone call was only 40 years ago.

For example, the act of finding out whether one’s trademark is used by a competitor, especially a competitor located across the country or even the world, involves merely typing the mark in a web browser, hitting Search and reviewing the results. If you are a competitor identified by such a search, there is a significant likelihood you will be on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter especially if the other has registered the trademark and you have not. While registration isn’t an absolute bar to someone wanting to sue you for infringement, it can be a pretty good deterrent, and after five years of registration your mark can become effectively incontestable. On the other hand, if you’re the searcher trademark registration will give you the additional gravitas to prevent a competitor from trading off of the goodwill you have developed in your brand.

The Value in Retaining an IP Law Firm

The failure to register or protect your creative works and/or your inventions with copyrights registrations and patents respectively can erode the value of your company or venture, and limit your ability to capitalize on your intellectual pursuits and capital investment therein. Simply, IP matters, and no doubt, if you have read this far you realize this and see the value in retaining an IP law firm to assist you in maximizing your venture or company’s value.

Picking a law firm is never easy let alone one that practices in an area of which you are not particularly familiar. Hopefully, this website gives you at least some understanding of who we are at Leyendecker & Lemire, our experience, our unwavering dedication to our clients, and the value we can provide.  Nevertheless, we recognize you may have additional questions so we offer a FREE 30 minute consultation.

A Comprehensive Approach to Intellectual Property

While some IP firms only practice in Patent law or perhaps Patent and Trademark law, we believe in a comprehensive approach to IP and offer expertise in Copyrights and business law (formation, contracts, licensing and more) as well.  We can help you make sure you are fully protected, and perhaps more importantly, we can make sure you are as reasonably well protected as your budget allows.  We recognize that your venture, especially if you are just starting out, may have a limited budget for IP matters.  We will work with you to help you make the tough choices that maximize both your chances of success and the return on your investment.  We are here to not only procure you patent, trademark and copyright protection, but also provide invaluable legal advice.

Our representation is not limited to only those clients seeking patents, trademarks, and copyrights.  We offer litigation services to both enforce and defend your IP rights. We recognize that litigation, especially IP litigation, is exceedingly expensive and we will work with you to craft an enforcement or defensive strategy maximizes results while minimizing costs.

The following sections are provided in frequently asked question format.  Hopefully, they will answer at least some of your questions, but they may also spawn new ones. Please feel free to reach out and ask.

Intellectual Property Practice Areas Denver Colorado

Satisfied Clients

“I owned and controlled over 12 patents. I chose Leyendecker & Lemire (L&L) because my patent attorney must have three skills beyond the legal degree. They are:

  1. The ability to write clearly and persuasively regarding the patent
  2. The ability to understand both the conceptual and detailed specifications of the patent
  3. The ability to augment the various scientific and engineering disciplines of the patent with their knowledge and research

L&L exceeded my expectations in meeting my requirements. They added value to my patent with ideas. I recommend them to both the very sophisticated inventor as well as the first-time inventor with an idea that my require expertise beyond the norm with guidance through the patent process.“

Tony B.

Our Areas of Expertise

Patents

A patent protects an invention permitting only the owner of the patent to make, use or sell the invention claimed in the patent. A utility patent is typically good for 20 years from the date of filing, and a plant patent is good for 15 years from issuance. Most patents we procure for our clients are issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but if patent protection in other countries is desired, we can help with these as well.

Of important note, inventions comprise more than just a unique device or article but can also comprise methods such as but not limited to a process for making an article of manufacture, or the computational steps carried out by a computer.

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Trademarks

A trademark protects a symbol, word or phrase that serves as a unique identifier of a product or a service. Put another way, it protects a product’s or service’s brand. The length of a federal trademark registration is unlimited provided the mark is renewed at various points of time after registration is issued.

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Copyrights

Copyrights and copyright registrations protect creative works, such as artistic works, music, and books; in contrast to inventions which protect articles and devices that have a utilitarian use. Unlike patents that have to be applied for, a copyright attaches to a creative work at its moment of creation.  However, to enforce a copyright in court and sue an infringer for damages, the copyright must be registered.  The term of a copyright depends on several factors but is typically the life of the author plus 70 years. Compared to both patents and trademarks, copyright registrations are relatively inexpensive to obtain.

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Trade Secrets

Compared to patents, trademarks and copyrights, trade secrets comprise the often-overlooked type of intellectual property.  This is because they are not registerable or grantable by a state or the federal government.  Rather, they represent information and knowledge considered proprietary by a company or organization. However, not all proprietary information qualifies as a trade secret.  Rather to obtain legally sufficient trade secret status, the proprietary information must be maintained and controlled by the company so that only those employees with a need to know the information have access to it.  Unfortunately, because companies rarely use the requisite care of proprietary information, much of it qualifies as trade secret information of which is misappropriation is actionable in court again a former employee who has absconded with it.  On the other hand, if the information is properly protected within a company, the company can sue both former employees and their new employers making use of this hard-earned information.  Having Leyendecker & Lemire draft a strong trade secret policy and associated employment contracts could easily pay for itself in preventing competitors from stealing your hard earned proprietary information.

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Intellectual Property Litigation

As a general rule, companies and individuals don’t want to go down this time consuming and expensive road, but sometimes it is necessary or can’t be avoided.  When you are being accused of intellectual property infringement, we can defend you.  When someone else is infringing on your intellectual property, we can assist in stopping them and recovering your damages.  Our approach is to tailor our approach to each dispute and litigation to the needs of our clients with the goal of resolving the matter advantageously for our client.

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