Good references when looking to see if someone really legally owns a name, copyright, etc.
Copyrights = http://cocatalog.loc.gov/
Trademarks = http://tess2.uspto.gov
Patents = http://patft.uspto.gov/
Website Address = http://www.internic.net/whois.html
Copyright
Copyright, a form
of intellectual property
law, protects original works
of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods
of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.
Trademark
A trademark protects words, phrases, symbols, or designs identifying the source
of the goods or services
of one party and distinguishing them from those
of others.
Patents Set
of exclusive rights to an inventor for a limited period
of time in exchange for a public disclosure
of an invention.
Website Address (aka "Domain name") The core portion
of a website name (such as "apple.com" or "msn.com")
of a web site, which is uniquely registered to an individual or company (also found to the right
of the @ sign in an email address such as "
[email protected]".)
Side note #1. LLC Company Names appear to be registered and maintained by state only. If you want to reserve a LLC name nation wide, you may have to register with each state.
Side note #2. The copyright office's FAQ has a question called "How do I protect my sighting
of Elvis?". No kidding. Check it out. http://www.
