Intellectual Property Protection

Protecting intellectual property for creators, inventors, athletes, and businesses: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, plus music and sports law, contract negotiation and management, trusts and protective structures, and enforcement.

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

For creators, inventors, athletes, musicians, and businesses, intellectual property is often the most valuable thing they own. A song, an invention, a brand, a name and likeness, a confidential process—these intangible assets can be the foundation of a career or a company. Protecting them takes more than a single filing. It takes a coordinated approach: securing the rights, negotiating and managing the contracts that license and monetize them, and putting structures in place to preserve and pass on their value. Our firm works with clients to protect what they create and control how it is used.

This page is informational and is not a substitute for advice about your specific situation.

The Main Types of Intellectual Property

There are four primary forms of intellectual property protection, each covering a different kind of asset.

  • Patents protect inventions—new, useful, and non-obvious processes, machines, articles of manufacture, and compositions of matter. In the United States, patents are granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Utility patents generally last 20 years from the application filing date; design patents, which cover ornamental designs, run for a shorter term. A patent gives its owner the exclusive right to make, use, sell, and import the invention for that period.
  • Trademarks protect brand identifiers—names, logos, slogans, and other marks that distinguish goods and services in the marketplace. Rights can arise from use and are strengthened by federal registration with the USPTO, which provides important enforcement advantages. Marks can last indefinitely so long as they remain in use and are properly maintained.
  • Copyrights protect original works of authorship—music, lyrics, recordings, writing, film, art, software, and more—and arise automatically the moment a work is fixed in a tangible form. Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is optional but provides significant benefits, including the ability to sue for infringement and access to enhanced remedies. Copyright generally lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.
  • Trade secrets protect confidential business information—formulas, methods, processes, customer lists, and the like—that derives value from not being known. Unlike the others, trade secrets are not registered; they are protected by keeping them secret, typically through confidentiality agreements and reasonable security measures. They can last indefinitely, but protection ends the moment the secret becomes public.

Many assets are protected by more than one of these at once. A product can carry a patented mechanism, a trademarked name, copyrighted packaging, and a trade-secret process all at the same time. Coordinating these protections is part of a sound IP strategy.

How We Protect Our Clients’ Intellectual Property

Protecting intellectual property is not a one-time event. We work with clients across the full lifecycle of their assets.

Securing and protecting patents

For inventors and businesses, we help identify what is protectable, coordinate the patent process, and—critically—protect patents once they exist: monitoring for infringement, advising on enforcement, and structuring licenses so the invention generates value. We also help clients weigh whether a patent or a trade secret is the better protection for a given innovation, since the choice has lasting consequences.

Negotiating and managing contracts

Intellectual property earns its value through contracts—licenses, assignments, distribution and publishing deals, endorsement and sponsorship agreements, work-for-hire arrangements, and more. We negotiate these agreements on our clients’ behalf and manage them over time, watching the terms that matter most: scope of rights, royalties and payment, term and termination, ownership of derivative works, exclusivity, territory, and the conditions under which rights revert. Strong, well-managed contracts are often the difference between an asset that is protected and one that is quietly given away.

Creating trusts and protective structures

Intellectual property is an asset that can be owned, held, and passed on. We create trusts and other structures to hold and protect IP and the income it generates—helping clients with succession planning, asset protection, privacy, and the orderly management of rights and royalties over the long term. For clients whose name, likeness, catalog, or portfolio will have value well beyond the present, putting the right structure in place is an essential part of protection.

Enforcement and dispute resolution

When rights are infringed—or when a client is accused of infringing—we advise on the options, from cease-and-desist correspondence and negotiation through litigation where necessary. We also help resolve ownership and royalty disputes, contract breaches, and questions over the scope of a license.

Music Law

Few industries depend on intellectual property as completely as music, and few have as many layers of rights. A single song can involve several distinct interests, and understanding how they fit together is the foundation of protecting an artist’s work and income.

  • Two copyrights in every song. There is the musical composition (the underlying song—melody and lyrics) and the sound recording (the specific recorded performance, often called the “master”). These can be owned by different parties, and keeping the distinction clear is central to any music deal.
  • Publishing and royalties. Mechanical, performance, synchronization, and other royalty streams flow from these rights. We help artists, writers, and producers understand and protect what they are owed and how it is collected.
  • Recording, publishing, and distribution agreements. We negotiate and manage the contracts that govern an artist’s relationships—watching advances, royalty rates, ownership of masters, rights reversion, and term.
  • Licensing and sync. Placing music in film, television, advertising, and games requires careful licensing of both the composition and the recording.
  • Producer, collaboration, and split agreements. Clarifying ownership and songwriting splits up front prevents costly disputes later.
  • Name, likeness, and brand. An artist’s identity is itself a protectable asset, through trademark and rights of publicity.

Sports Law

For athletes, much of their long-term value lies in their name, image, and reputation—and in the contracts that turn athletic success into a career. We help athletes and others in sports protect and manage these interests.

  • Name, image, and likeness (NIL). An athlete’s identity has significant commercial value, protected through rights of publicity and trademark. This is a rapidly evolving area, particularly for collegiate athletes, and the governing rules continue to change.
  • Endorsement and sponsorship agreements. We negotiate and manage the deals that monetize an athlete’s brand, watching exclusivity, term, morality clauses, payment, and the scope of the rights granted.
  • Representation and appearance agreements. Clear contracts governing representation, appearances, and licensing protect the athlete’s interests over time.
  • Brand and trademark protection. Securing an athlete’s name, nickname, logo, or catchphrase as a protectable mark.
  • Long-term planning. Trusts and protective structures help manage and preserve the income and assets that flow from a career that may be intense but short.

NIL and sports-related IP rules are evolving quickly at the federal, state, and institutional levels, so the specifics in any matter depend on the current rules and the facts involved.

Why a Coordinated Approach Matters

Intellectual property is rarely protected by a single step. The strongest protection comes from aligning the pieces: securing the underlying rights, negotiating contracts that preserve and monetize them, enforcing them when necessary, and holding them in structures built to last. A gap in any one area—an unregistered mark, a poorly drafted license, an unprotected master, an unplanned estate—can undermine the value of everything else. Our role is to see the whole picture and protect it.

Related Practice Areas

Contact the Firm

Whether you are an inventor, an artist, an athlete, or a business, protecting your intellectual property is protecting your future. Contact our office today to discuss how we can help you secure, manage, and preserve what you have created.

This page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. Intellectual property law is complex and changes over time, and its application depends on the facts of each matter. You should consult a licensed attorney about your specific situation.