Partner at Legends Law Group -- trademarks, copyrights, and opinions
UPDATE: PLI has provided a 20% discount for Kane on Trademark Law for readers of my blog. Just use this link: www.pli.edu/WellsTrademark I work in several areas of law—copyright, social media, technology agreements, advertising and promotions—but at the moment, I spend the largest part of my day working on trademark matters. If you’re familiar with […]
The third best-selling sedan in California right now is not Lexus or BMW or Mercedes. It’s an electric car called Tesla. But Tesla was not in the news last month because of its record sales. It was in the news because its expansion plans in China were held back by trademark problems. A man in […]
A few months ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office dealt with a disciplinary case where a person ran an “inventor’s network” and handled more than 150 patent applications, even though he was not a registered patent attorney. Although the bar to becoming a registered patent attorney is high, the USPTO has very rarely gone […]
Can Super Heroes Be Trademarked? A recent piece at the Guardian discusses the efforts of comics creator Ray Felix to resolve a dispute with Marvel Comics and DC Comics about his comic title A World Without Superheroes. The issue may shock you: SUPER HEROES is a registered trademark in the US for comics, so Felix’ […]
Crowdfunding can be great. Kickstarter, Indiegogo and dozens of others can get donors signed on to your projects and help you create the Next Big Thing. But before you rush to post your idea and start collecting quarters, consider the risks as well. Seth Quest forgot about that part. He just declared bankruptcy because a […]
Note: I first published this article as the cover story in the Dec/Jan 2013 issue of ITMA Review, a print-only publication from the UK’s Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys. It was co-authored with Allister McManus of ipconsult. The Madrid Protocol is a tremendous tool for helping your clients secure trademark protection in other […]
Chroma is the Greek word for color, and many entrepreneurs are now sorry that they ever decided to use even a variation of that word in their business names. Since the Kardashian sisters have entered the makeup marketplace with their line of Kardashian Khroma makeup, small cosmetic business owners across the country have begun to […]
We recently completed a round of research showing that, compared to any other attorney in the State of Utah, Nicholas Wells of Wells IP Law, LLC has more than twice as many clients with active United States trademark applications. Among cities of its size in the United States, the Salt Lake City, Utah metropolitan area […]
In 2010, U.S. companies exported more than $1.2 trillion worth of goods and services to every corner of the globe. For most of those companies, a strong brand represents the value behind their goods and services. Sadly, many companies take huge risks with their brand when they export. In the process, they confuse customers and […]
The Madrid Protocol, a treaty that permits streamlined trademark applications in multiple countries, continues to expand. The U.S. joined in 2003 and has seen a strong growth in application both coming into the U.S. from other members and originating in the U.S. Here are a few updates on countries that will soon be active members […]