Dear Rich: Nolo’s Patent, Copyright & Trademark Blog

Dear Rich: Out of frustration with the nonsense taking place in our industry I asked a colleague of mine to set-up a blog site for me to blog on. So they did. All the content and photos are mine. My employer provided no support for the site other than my colleagues jumping in every so often to change fonts in my writings when things went haywire. I left my employer and want to take my blog content with me to my new employer. Who owns the content? The short answer is that we don't know ... but we have a feeling your employer owns it. 

Dear Rich: I have a film production company, the name of which I have been using for nearly 10 years, and for which I purchased a website for in 2005. I have also registered it as a business within my state. However, my goal, of course is to one day be internationally recognized. Someone from another country has begun using the same name for their own film projects. Is there something I should be doing now to gain international proprietary rights to the name? Or is that even possible? The short answer is that you should federally register the name of your film company. Registering your name as a business in your state -- for example, as a dba or as a corporate name does not give you any trademark rights. Even registering your name with your state's trademark office will not provide the protection you seek (and is usually not worth the effort). A U.S. registration will preserve your U.S. rights and enable you to stop others from using a similar name for film production services in the U.S. (Read more about enforcing TM rights, here.)  As for pursuing international rights, that may be premature since you haven't indicated that you are currently engaged in international commerce. In any case, securing rights in other nations -- there is no such thing as an "international trademark" -- has become easier in recent years with the adoption of the Madrid System. Nolo -- my employer -- can assist with federal registration, and the Dear Rich Staff prepared a helpful guide to the process.

Dear Rich: I am an artist and was recently approached by a woman who wants to use one of my images on t-shirts. She has proposed a simple arrangement doing 24 shirts at a time. As she sells out of one batch, she will make another 24. This is not a million dollar transaction but I have no idea how to respond to it. How do I know what the going rate is? The short answer is that artists get anywhere between 5 to 20% (or more) of the revenue generated by the shirt. It depends on the demand, the size of the print run and your bargaining power. Sometimes the royalty is paid only after costs are deducted; sometimes it is straight off the top. Some online T-shirt merchants even let the artist set the royalty.  

Beyond the Royalty

You should also ask yourself a few questions. Is the amount of money coming in worth your time and energy? What if you're not satisfied with the quality of the reproduction? Will the arrangement preclude you from other more lucrative deals? Do you have any reason to believe the t-shirt maker is not a trustworthy business person? If you have any doubts, it's probably a good idea to make the initial term of the agreement short, perhaps six months to a year (you can always renew). And it's best to keep it nonexclusive as well (you can always amend it later). And as they say in the music business, don't do a handshake deal, get some paper. Below is a sample short form t-shirt license taken from Getting Permission (written by the Dear Rich staff). Explanations for the agreement and a much more detailed long- form merchandise agreement can be found in the book, as well. And of course, make sure your artwork doesn't cross over into personality rights,trademarks, or otherwise illegal content.  (click to download:  T-Shirt License Agreement (Short Form))

Dear Rich: I'm trying to get a trademark for a nickname. The nickname has been seen in newspaper articles and media referring to different individuals who accomplished similar feats throughout the years -- imagine it is a nickname like "Home Run King" (although this is not the nickname). I have done an unprofessional trademark search and it seems that nobody has claimed it as a trademark. My friend is the original record holder of the feats referred to by the nickname. Although others have been called by this nickname over the years, and they have come close, nobody has broken the records earned by my friend to achieve the nickname. Now my friend wants to start selling pictures and memorabilia and he wants the nickname to be only related to his name. (My friend has already got the domain name. What class should my friend file in when seeking a trademark. He may be selling lots of things with his autograph: sports equipment, clothing, and my friend also wants to protect his nickname for writing books and making movies. My friend can only afford to start with one class at the moment. Which one would give the most protection? By the way, is LegalZoom a decent company to use? The short answer to your first question is that you should pick the goods or services that you believe will be most lucrative (and for which you wish to preclude competitive use). It all comes down to how you are currently making money, and the ways in which you have a bona fide intent to make it in the future. For example, if your friend is currently entertaining at sports memorabilia shows then perhaps you should seek a registration for entertainment services. If you're selling a lot of t-shirts, then that's the way to go. As for books and movies, you cannot obtain a trademark for the single title of a work, so you would not be able to obtain a registration for those goods unless your friend is writing a series of books.