Entrepreneurs and business owners may excel when it comes to starting and running companies – but they’re not always the most versed when it comes to legal issues and protecting the intellectual property of the business. In fact, there are many common misconceptions in trademark law that business owners need to be aware of to truly understand trademarks. Business owners often say, “I want to trademark my business name.” Not only is this bad usage, but it also indicates that the speaker does not understand trademark law and how to think about trademarks.
This course focuses on how to talk to business owners and entrepreneurs about the proper use of trademarks. As attorney and counselor, it’s important to counsel business owners not to use trademark as a verb and then educate them on the essential points of trademark law. Join intellectual property attorney Eric Morton as he mainly discusses common trademark usage, common problems with trademarks and state & federal registration of trademarks. Further issues covered this CLE course: the legal & practical definition of trademark, what the typical business owner thinks of the legal definition, who decides whether something is a trademark, who owns the trademark, control of the trademark, the benefits of federal registration, the scope of trademark protection, maintaining registrations and loss of registrations and rights.
Eric Morton has practiced business law and intellectual property law in North San Diego County since 1994. Eric is a member of the Strategic Trusted Advisors Roundtable (STAR) of San Diego. He gives workshops on “Business Law for Entrepreneurs” at the Small Business Development Center in Oceanside. Eric belongs to the North County Bar Association and is its Intellectual Property section Chair and he also belongs to the Intellectual Property and Business Law sections of the California State Bar. Eric also volunteers as a Constitution Day presenter in local schools. A resident of Carlsbad for over 10 years – where he lives with his wife and two dogs – when Eric is not at work, he plays Advanced Squad Leader, listens to jazz, reads, and pursues his passion for history.