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https://www.pch-iplaw.com/

1 Southeast 3rd Avenue
Suite 1820
Miami, FL 33131

Firm Phone: 305-341-3000

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Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.
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Find out how IP mechanisms help mobile application developers and publishers generate more income from their creations.

Types of intellectual property

Training - from IP basics to specialist skills

WIPO runs workshops, seminars and training courses throughout the year, both in Geneva and worldwide.

Year-round roving seminars help businesses, researchers, lawyers and innovators stay on top of latest developments in global IP services.
Browse seminars and workshops
The WIPO Academy offers distance learning and face-to-face courses. Choose from a rich portfolio of general and specialized courses on IP to improve your skills, whatever your level of knowledge or interest.

Or explore the interactive IP PANORAMA e-tutorial.

Raising awareness of IP

WIPO's award programs recognize innovators and creators, big and small, companies and individuals. The WIPO Awards Program includes both global and national awards.

IP for...

Find out how WIPO is supporting judiciaries in dealing with the novel legal questions that often arise from IP disputes in a rapidly changing technological environment.

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Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce. IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

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USPTO Trademark Registrations, Office Action Responses, and TTAB Trials and Appeals

Whether your company owns hundreds of brands or you are starting a business as an entrepreneur, protecting your trademarks is fundamental to building a strong and distinguished presence in the marketplace. Filing a registration application is a critical first step; however, it is not unusual for trademark owners to run into issues with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and disputes with other applicants and registrants can add complexity to the process as well.

Our trademark attorneys have successfully represented clients in thousands of filings with the USPTO. We also routinely represent clients in proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) - the hearing office within the USPTO that rules on registration denials and disputes between trademark owners and trademark registration applicants. With offices in South Florida, we work with brand owners of all sizes nationwide, and we utilize our attorneys' experience and our firm's technological resources to make the process as efficient and cost-effective as possible.

File a Trademark Registration Application with the USPTO

While geographically-limited trademark rights arise automatically upon use of a mark in commerce, USPTO registration affords numerous benefits. Most importantly, registration grants a trademark owner nationwide priority, which means that no other business can adopt a "confusingly similar" mark to sell competing products or services anywhere in the United States, including online. Additionally, by conducting comprehensive "clearance" research prior to filing an application, companies and entrepreneurs can avoid adopting marks that infringe on third-party owners' existing rights - potentially resulting in expensive infringement litigation and re-branding.

We help clients file USPTO registration applications that provide the protection they need to grow their brands unencumbered. To get started, send us your trademark information using our trademark intake form.

Office Action Responses and TTAB Trials and Appeals

Responding to a USPTO Office Action

If you have received an Office Action in response to your USPTO trademark registration application, you need to submit a timely response in order to avoid a final denial. The reasons why trademark examiners issue office actions vary, from technical deficiencies to apparent conflicts with existing registrations or previously-filed third-party applications. Our attorneys can review the Office Action to determine what is necessary to save your application, and we can correspond with the trademark examiner on your behalf for the remainder of the registration process.

Protecting Your Trademarks Before the TTAB

We provide full-service representation for TTAB proceedings involving registration denials and disputes between trademark applicants and registered trademark owners. If you need help with any of the following, we encourage you to contact us for a confidential initial consultation:

Appeal Proceedings - Appealing a final denial of registration from the USPTO.

Opposition Proceedings - Opposing a third-party registration application or fending off a third-party opposition.

Cancellation Proceedings - Seeking to cancel a third-party registration or protecting your mark against cancellation.

Speak With One of Our Trademark Attorneys in Confidence

Questions? Feel free to contact us for an initial consultation. To speak with a trademark attorney at Peretz Chesal & Herrmann, P.L. in confidence, please call 305-341-3000 or inquire online today.

Below is our trademark intake form, which can be completed prior to the initial consultation.

Trademark Registration Intake

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USPTO Trademark Registrations and Denials | Miami Trademark Lawyers

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Whether your company owns hundreds of brands or you are starting a business as an entrepreneur, protecting your trademarks is fundamental to building a strong and distinguished presence in the marketplace. Filing a registration application is a critical first step; however, it is not unusual for trademark owners to run into issues with the U.S.

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Experienced IP Litigation Lawyers in Miami, FL

As an intellectual property owner, preserving the value of your intangible assets often means taking legal action to protect them. IP holders can lose their ownership rights if they fail to pursue legal remedies for infringement, and challenges to ownership or allegations of infringement require a swift and strategic response in order to mitigate the costs and risks of defending against claims in litigation.

Our attorneys represent parties on both sides of intellectual property litigation. We have significant experience using the litigation process to enforce our clients' IP rights, and we have also overcome numerous challenges to our clients' use of trademarks, domain names, patented inventions and proprietary information. In all cases, we take a swift and strategic approach focused on protecting our clients' interests as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

Cases We Handle

We handle cases involving all types of intellectual property and all types of IP-related claims. Our attorneys have litigated disputes in federal district courts across the country, before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), in private arbitration proceedings, and in other jurisdictions and venues worldwide.

Contact us today to discuss your needs regarding:

Copyright Litigation

We represent copyright owners and alleged infringers in copyright litigation involving software code, databases, print and online media, musical compositions, architectural plans, and other registered and unregistered works.

Trademark Litigation

Our trademark litigation practice includes representing clients on both sides of infringement claims as well as USPTO and UDRP proceedings involving challenges to trademark and domain name registrations.

Patent Litigation

We have extensive experience in patent litigation involving inventions in a broad range of fields and industries. We have pursued and defended against claims challenging all elements of patent eligibility, alleging unlicensed use of patented inventions, and charging patent holders with misrepresenting information to the USPTO.

Trade Secret Litigation

Trade secret litigation presents a number of unique challenges and risks for plaintiffs and defendants. Trade secret owners must often act quickly in order to prevent their propriety information from falling into the public domain. We litigate trade secret infringement claims under state law and the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, and we take aggressive action when necessary to preserve our clients' proprietary rights.

Non-Competition and Non-Disclosure Agreement Litigation

In addition to statutory claims for exclusivity, we also routinely represent clients in contract litigation involving violations of non-competition and non-disclosure covenants. The laws governing these covenants vary by state; and, here too, acting quickly can be essential to preventing catastrophic economic loss.

Contact Us to Discuss Your IP Dispute
If you would like more information about our intellectual property litigation experience or to discuss what our attorneys can do to protect your company's intangible assets, please feel free to get in touch with us today. Call (305) 341-3000 to reach our Miami, FL law offices by phone, or send us a message online and a member of our firm will be in touch with you shortly.

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Intellectual Property Litigation | Miami IP Law Firm

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As an intellectual property owner, preserving the value of your intangible assets often means taking legal action to protect them. IP holders can lose their ownership rights if they fail to pursue legal remedies for infringement, and challenges to ownership or allegations of infringement require a swift and strategic response in order to mitigate the costs and risks of defending against claims in litigation.

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Our legal system provides certain rights and protections for owners of property. The kind of property that results from the fruits of mental labor is called intellectual property. Rights and protections for owners of intellectual property are based on federal patent, trademark and copyright laws and state trade secret laws.
In general:

Patents protect inventions of tangible things

Copyrights protect various forms of written and artistic expression

Trademarks protect a name or symbol that identifies the source of goods or services.

It is important to note that patents, trademarks, and copyrights constitute the basis on which the underlying intellectual property may be protected in law. It is therefore vital that a great degree of skill be exercised in drafting the documents and following the procedures necessary for obtaining this protection.

By relying on a specialist in the field who has good standing and recognized ability in his profession, the inventor or artist can be assured that the intellectual property will be adequately protected.

​Trade secret law is not addressed here. The details of this law, the protection provided, and the liability for unauthorized use or disclosure depends upon the State within which the reader resides.

The law varies from State to State. However, the reader should know that a trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of information which is used in one's business and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. (Restatement of Torts 757)

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Our legal system provides certain rights and protections for owners of property. Patents protect inventions of tangible things. Copyrights protect various forms of written and artistic expression. Trademarks protect a name or symbol that identifies the source of goods or services.

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When Big Data Collides with Intellectual Property Law

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When Big Data Collides with Intellectual Property Law

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The world of big data just keeps on turning, tossing up new opportunities, new approaches to business growth and development, and a host of new ways of handling the population's vastly expanding data mass as it does so. As with any emerging significant shift, big data has presented a number of complications, too.

Indeed, the effects of the growing big data solutions we're seeing are increasingly felt in a wide array of contexts, industries, and sectors, covering everything from healthcare to education, and from market research to consumer trends... and beyond. There's no question that big data is having certain dramatic effects on big business, but many of the subtler impacts are also beginning to make themselves known, too.

The realm of intellectual property - and the myriad twists and turns inherent - is being subjected to the latest waves of cutting-edge analytic tools which fall within the sphere of big data.

Coming to grips with how contemporary data handling technology is impacting that specific niche is going to take some time, and already, plenty of the world's greatest tech minds are turning their attention to how big data and intellectual property will collide. Personal security, business and customer data safeguarding, property rights, and copyright are all going to be major issues as big data continues to emerge, and the industry has a keen responsibility to stay on top of the changes and challenges which are yet to make themselves fully known.
The Value of Information and Intellectual Property
Big data, by its very nature, depends upon access to huge quantities of information in order to grow, to thrive, and to continue wielding its power. With more than 4 billion people online in 2020, it's only by being able to comb through vast numbers of key data points that businesses can draw the actionable, accurate, and dependable conclusions they need.

This, unsurprisingly, creates a number of conflicts. Creators deserve and withhold the right of intellectual property protection. The digital age and the world of big data present challenges to these rights which were hitherto unimaginable.

In layman's terms, big data is all about uninterrupted, unfettered, and fully attainable access to information; something completely at odds with traditional IP protections and rights, many of which pre-date the digital age by centuries. Intellectual property legal experts can assist with understanding the intricacies surrounding these issues and conflicts, but on the surface level, it isn't hard to see how these points sit in completely opposing positions.

The rise of digital technology was causing problems for IP rights long before the advent of big data. More than a decade ago, peer-to-peer networks (P2P) arose that allowed individuals to share files. Many took the opportunity to share copyrighted material, and the secure browsers that were used to access P2P networks meant that this IP infringement was all but untraceable. At the time, P2P networks such as Napster were regarded as a major threat to both IP rights and data privacy. The irony is that they form the basis for the way that big data projects work today.

Because of this, big data projects and the individuals and companies behind them have a tightrope to walk; one which undertakes and facilitates the necessities of big data, and yet avoids falling on the wrong side of copyright law. Theoretically, at least, it's necessary for those responsible for big data projects to reach out to each and every author or creator represented in any given data set, and request explicit permission for the use of their work.

It goes without saying that such necessities represent a huge strain on resources, and as such, loopholes are being exploited, and the way data is currently being collated requires urgent and often profound change.
Big Data Creators and Intellectual Property Rights
As ever, the rabbit hole goes deeper still. Indeed, it doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to understand that the products of big data projects themselves will also qualify as intellectual properties in their own right, and will, therefore, be eligible for the same protections afforded by copyright law.

Take, for example, the case that a format of a database can be considered a unique creation - one which cannot be infringed upon, plagiarized, or copied without the permission of the author... whether or not any of the individual pieces of data, or the conclusions they draw, are themselves worthy of intellectual property protection. As we can see, the complications at the heart of this issue are no mere trifle, and represent a considerable amount of thought for the future, alongside potential seismic shifts in copyright law itself.

The natural conclusion of this is to reconsider what actually counts as authorship when it comes to big data. After all, the majority of the 'work' involved is undertaken by computing software, thus creating a sizable grey area between human creators and the tools they are using in the digital age. While this clearly represents the more philosophical side of the big data IP debate, it's rapidly being agreed that the current legislation in most regions is woefully inadequate to even begin tackling this thorny issue.
Data Obtainment: Big Questions Remain for Big Data
The complications continue. When it comes to the subject of intellectual property in the context of big data, there's a further set of confusions surrounding the issue of the compilation of specific datasets. Indeed, while information can still be collated directly, it's more usual for databases to be compiled from automatically-harvested information, gleaned from a wide array of disparate sources. This is, after all, part and parcel of the internet as we know it.

The unstoppable rise of the IoT (the Internet of Things) has given something of a carte blanche to tech firms seeking to gather gargantuan quantities of data, generated by a multitude of devices in real time, and used by consumers criss-crossing all walks of life and professional backgrounds. Certain courses on big data further demonstrate how the IoT has transformed the way that data is obtained. Training programs have already been formulated, showing anybody and everybody how this can be undertaken.

There's also lively debate surrounding the distinction between whether or not the IoT is actually generating data which any individual (or company) might effectively claim ownership, or whether it is actually being obtained via processes involving potentially millions of individual creators.
Tackling Future Ambiguities
Such debate has already begun necessitating regulatory change (most notably the globe-spanning GDPR changes of a couple of years ago, which filled our inboxes with endless checklists and boxes to tick). However, the market continues to evolve and grow, and the nature of big data and IoT continues to manifest its potential beyond anything we might have expected, even a few short years ago.

As such, legislators will have no choice but to play catch-up. Rules and laws will have to evolve alongside these changes, and ambiguity and loopholes will either have to close, or widen to the point of becoming a new normality. Time, as is so often the case, will tell.
About the Author

Bernard Brode has spent a lifetime delving into the inner workings of cryptography and now explores the confluence of nanotechnology, AI/ML, and cybersecurity. Sign up for the free insideBIGDATA newsletter. Join us on Twitter: @InsideBigData1 - https://twitter.com/InsideBigData1

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When Big Data Collides with Intellectual Property Law - insideBIGDATA

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In this contributed article, technologist Bernard Brode discusses how the realm of intellectual property - and the myriad twists and turns inherent - is being subjected to the latest waves of cutting-edge analytic tools which fall within the sphere of big data.

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How to Protect Your Trademark on an International Scale

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How to Protect Your Trademark on an International Scale

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Holding a trademark is one of the most valuable steps you can take for your business. However, understanding which protections will apply internationally is key to protecting your trademark in an increasingly globalized and competitive business landscape. Whether you are a retail business reaching Asian customers or a manufacturing firm shipping goods to Europe, establishing a trademark that carries weight in countries worldwide is crucial.

Understanding the steps you need to take at the outset of the trademark process will make it that much easier to ensure it is strong on an international scale. Consider taking some of the steps below to ensure your trademark rights are protected no matter where in the world you're doing business.

Make Your Mark a Strong One

The logo you choose is often the first thing a customer will recognize when identifying your brand, and a strong trademark works the same way. As such, it's important to think critically about choosing the right trademark and take care that it's being registered in the correct format. The United States Patent and Trademark Office recommends avoiding generic or overly descriptive language in your trademark, as the former won't guarantee protection, and the latter will make it easy for someone else to infringe upon. Instead, your trademark should only hint at the product or service being offered and be strong enough to carry its own weight in an international market eventually. For example, Nike and Starbucks have highly distinguishable trademarks, no matter where they're doing business.

Register with the USPTO

Speaking of the USPTO, you will definitely want to take steps toward registering your trademark with this office since it's relatively easy to complete and carries weight when you're preparing to file internationally. Moreover, a U.S. trademark filing will give you up to six months to file your trademark in other parts of the world, giving you a head start when you're gearing up to take your company's product or service offerings worldwide.

While registering a trademark in the U.S. is easier than in some other countries, it's still quite an involved process that usually requires an experienced attorney's oversight. You'll need to do a thorough search to ensure your trademark doesn't yet exist, determine which international classes should form part of your trademark registration and more.

Don't Try to Do It All

Once your trademark has been created and registered, avoid the mistake of taking on a global effort to register your trademark everywhere in the world. Instead, take a close look at the international markets in which you are or plan to do business, and approach this exercise from both a short- and long-term perspective. Are you currently exploring opportunities in Asia? Thinking that Europe will soon become a major market for your business? Or have a 10-year plan to enter the Middle East? While it may seem a way off, registering your trademark internationally as quickly as possible is always recommended to avoid intellectual property issues down the line.

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Local Announcement: How to Protect Your Trademark on an International Scale

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Holding a trademark is one of the most valuable steps you can take for your business. However, understanding which protections will apply internationally is key to protecting your trademark in an increasingly globalized and competitive business landscape.

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Intellectual property is essential for a company's bottom line, and protecting your IP by conducting frequent audits of your IP assets is an important step to protecting your company's health. An IP audit is a systematic review of a company's intellectual property assets, addressing what's available while also identifying the risks and opportunities inherent within each asset. Your company's intellectual property can consist of patents, trademarks, and copyrights that pertain to your services, and protecting these assets is crucial to its continued longevity.

An audit not only preserves and enhances your company's IP; it also allows any issues to rise to the fore that might represent a risk down the line. An IP audit is an opportunity to correct defects, identify risks that you might be infringing on another's intellectual property, and allows you to implement an organizational framework and best practices for tracking each of your company's IP assets.

Generally, an IP audit is performed by a seasoned team of legal professionals, who have experience identifying the issues, risks, and opportunities your company may face. Hiring a firm to work in-depth with your IP audit will also set you up for success with that same firm should litigation arise down the line.

Benefits of Conducting an IP Audit

There are a variety of benefits to auditing your company's IP, which helps you obtain a complete picture of what's available for your business. The audit will help your firm identify what is already owned, so it can make decisions about whether further protection is needed for each individual asset. The audit would review all of your company's existing agreements, including licensing agreements, assignments, employment and independent contractor contracts, joint ventures, and tech transfers. The audit can also identify new opportunities from which companies can profit, identifying strategies for either patenting, copyrighting or trademarking certain services or creative assets. Not only can these strategies allow you to exploit your company's offerings in foreign markets, it will also increase the likelihood that any usage of these items would allow you to seek damages for their infringement.

What is Identified During the Audit?

Each audit is different, but there are a number of steps most IP lawyers will take to perform your audit, and certain documents or information will prove key to their efforts. These requests will undoubtedly lead to the discovery of key opportunities and risks. Some of these include:

Product and process features that have not been patented yet, but could be

Defects in existing patents

Missing and deficient employee agreements that risk trade secrets

Trademarks central to the company's identity

Product configurations requiring protection

Patent and trademark royalty payment terms that were being ignored and stand to be recouped

Missing notices of patent, trademark, and copyright that were not allowing the company to enforce their IP rights and seek damages

Opportunities for licensing in new markets and channels

IP audits almost always result in quantifiable benefits for companies, so it's highly recommended you consider launching your own today.

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Intellectual property is essential for a company's bottom line, and protecting your IP by conducting frequent audits of your IP assets is an important step to protecting your company's health. An IP audit is a systematic review of a company's intellectual property assets, addressing what's available while also identifying the risks and opportunities inherent within each asset.

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Have you ever had a great idea, and had family and friends tell you you should patent it? If you have an invention that you intend to sell, filing a patent is important for protecting your intellectual property. However, many people are unsure of where to begin with this important step. If this is you, read on to learn about the basics of patenting your invention.

Do You Actually Need a Patent?

If you plan to market and sell your invention, you will definitely want to patent it. While many understand the concept of protecting intellectual property, there is some confusion about the differences between a copyright, trademark and a patent:

What Type of Patent Do You Need?

Once you've determined that a patent is what you need, the next step is to determine what type of patent is suitable for your invention. There are different types of patents available depending on what the invention is and how you want to protect it, and you can have more than one patent for your invention if there are different aspects you wish to protect. The main types of patents are:

Utility Patents protect the function of your invention. These are the most common types of patent applications filed and include machinery, manufactured items, processes, and unique compositions of matter.

How to File a Patent

Before you begin your patent application, you must first determine if your idea is actually patentable. Your invention must be fully developed, and you will need to determine what specifically about it makes it novel and useful. You must be able to prove your design is "non-obvious," that is, something a layperson who is in the field would not already know. To keep your innovation from becoming public knowledge, it is important to not write about or disclose your invention publicly before your patent is filed.

In addition, you also need to do your research to ensure that the elements of your invention have not already been patented. This involves searches of public disclosures and patent applications for similar or competitive inventions and determining how yours differs. While this important step of due diligence can be completed on your own, if you are unfamiliar with patent searches it is recommended to enlist the assistance of a patent attorney who is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Finally, you are able to begin the paperwork to file your patent. If you are still working out your design, you can file a provisional patent which will protect your idea for 12 months while you develop it. Once it is ready to market, you can then file a nonprovisional patent. While you can prepare your patent application yourself, errors in your application can cause it to be denied, and you will lose your filing fee. An experienced intellectual property attorney can provide guidance to ensure your application is accepted and help resolve any issues that may arise.

The filing fee for your patent application depends on the type of invention, the size of your business (if you have one), and the type of protection requested. An examiner will then review your application and notify you if your application meets the requirements. Be aware that it can take a year or even longer to receive a response from the patent office. You can use the USPTO's estimator to find out when to expect a response to your application. Use this time to fully develop your concept, so that you are ready to market and sell it publicly once it is approved.

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Have a Great Invention? Here's How to Patent It

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Have you ever had a great idea, and had family and friends tell you you should patent it? If you have an invention that you intend to sell, filing a patent is important for protecting your intellectual property. However, many people are unsure of where to begin with this important step.

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It seems like virtually everyone is talking about NFTs these days, and the views on them are very polarized. Some are lauding them for allowing artists to make money from their creations, while others see them as a bubble soon to be burst, like the Beanie Babies craze in the 1990s. As the blockchain technology on which NFTs are built is relatively new, regulations have yet to catch up. There is much confusion about things such as claiming digital assets on your tax returns, and how to deal with the rampant intellectual property theft in the industry.

What Are NFTs?

The term NFT stands for "non-fungible token." An example of a fungible asset would be a dollar bill; if you take a damaged one to a bank, they can swap it out for another one with the same value. In contrast, an NFT is one of a kind and cannot be duplicated. Sure, you can right-click on an image and share it on social media. However, the value of the NFT lies in the digital token attached to the work. This identifies the work as the "official" creation of the artist.

The NFT token is created or "minted" on a blockchain, such as Ethereum, Polygon, or Binance. Blockchain technology records transactions using blocks of information that cannot be altered or removed. The NFTs themselves are generally artistic creations, such as images, written works, music, or games. Some of the most popular NFTs have sold for thousands and even millions of dollars. Celebrities and corporations are now getting in on the craze and minting their own NFTs, often to huge profits.

Intellectual Property Concerns for NFTs

Much like buying a painting, buying an NFT does not transfer the copyright to the new owner. That is, you can display it or sell it if you like, but you cannot replicate the image for commercial use-like selling it on shirts, mugs, or stickers-unless the creator allows it. Bored Ape Yacht Club is one of the few major NFT projects that grants owners full commercial use for the assets they own.

Unfortunately, many people are minting NFTs for works of art they did not create and do not have permission to use. Some of these are copyrighted works, such as the group SpiceDAO that purchased a rare copy of the book Dune, but could not mint the chapters as planned as they did not purchase the copyright as well. In addition, many artists are finding that their works have been stolen and minted as NFTs by other people seeking to make a profit.

In addition, there is a murky area concerning artistic creations that are based on trademarked brands. One of the most well-known examples of this is the MetaBerkins case, which is still to be decided by the courts. The NFTs are digital handbags based on the Berkin design, but with artistic elements such as faux fur and bright colors. The company that manufactures the bags, Hermès, argues that the NFT creator is infringing on their trademark rights, creating confusion as to the source of the NFTs, and unfairly profiting from the brand's reputation. The outcome of this case will likely affect future cases to come.

Options for Protecting Your Intellectual Property

With the lack of regulation in the world of blockchain, it can seem like the Wild West out there. If an artist finds their stolen work on a platform such as OpenSea, they can report the account and get it removed. However, that doesn't prevent the offender from minting that same artwork on another platform instead, which can lead to an endless game of Whack-A-Mole for artists trying to protect their creations. In addition, since blockchain transactions are only identified by a wallet address, it can be difficult to find enough identifying information about the individual in order to bring an intellectual property lawsuit.

Because of this, many NFT creators are looking into options for legally protecting their works before they are stolen. While the industry itself is new, many of the existing laws about intellectual property apply. Some of the options creators are using include design patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Still, applying existing laws to the new industry poses some challenges.

Design Patents

Unlike utility patents, which protect the function of a creation, design patents protect the non-functional, aesthetic components. Many NFT creators are looking into design patents, which would make it easier for them to sue in cases of infringement. However, the patent must apply not to the NFT itself, but to the underlying asset from which it was created. Whether this can be done depends on the nature of the asset.

Another issue arises for NFT artists who use AI to create their works. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has previously ruled that AI cannot be listed as an "inventor" on a patent application. With the complexities involved in patenting an NFT creation, it would be wise to consult with a patent attorney as to whether this would be your best option.

Trademarks

Trademarks protect the identifying information of your brand such as the name, tagline, logo, and package design. In general, filing a trademark as an NFT creator is no different from trademarking your brand in any other industry. The tricky part is to select the correct class when filing, and to keep in mind you may need to protect your trademark on a global scale. Some of the USPTO classes that could potentially apply to NFT creators include:

Class 9: computers and scientific devices

Class 35: advertising and business services

Class 41: education and entertainment services

Class 42: science and technology services

Copyrights

Independent creators can also register for copyright protection for their unique creations. Any sort of artistic work can be copyrighted, and NFTs are no different. The smart contract created when the NFT is sold will identify whether the new owner is granted any commercial rights to the asset upon which the NFT is based.

Of course, no matter which method you choose to protect your works, the difficult part will be enforcement. This means that for now, NFT creators will have to monitor NFT marketplaces and the metaverse for unauthorized use of their creations. The sooner the infringement is caught, the easier it is to pursue legal action. For instance, it is easier to get a counterfeit NFT of your work removed from a platform before it is sold. Until regulations catch up with technology, artists have no choice but to be diligent when it comes to protecting their creations.

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Protecting Your Intellectual Property In the Age of NFTs

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It seems like virtually everyone is talking about NFTs these days, and the views on them are very polarized. Some are lauding them for allowing artists to make money from their creations, while others see them as a bubble soon to be burst, like the Beanie Babies craze in the 1990s.