Protect your brand and IP assets. Lawyers help businesses establish, document, license, and maintain intellectual property rights, from trademark registration to IP portfolio management.
IP Protection
Intellectual property, your brand, your creations, your confidential methods, can be among your most valuable business assets. But unlike physical property, IP requires active protection to maintain its value and enforceability.
Lawyers help businesses build and maintain IP portfolios that protect what matters. From clearing and registering trademarks to protecting trade secrets and licensing technology, lawyers provide practical IP counsel focused on business value.
Whether you're establishing brand protection for a new venture, licensing IP for revenue, or organizing your rights for a transaction, lawyers bring the strategic perspective your IP matters require. Claims, demands, takedowns, and contested enforcement are referred to qualified outside counsel.
Why It Matters
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets. Proper trademark protection prevents others from trading on your reputation.
Unclear IP ownership creates problems, especially when raising investment, selling the business, or facing disputes.
Trade secrets and proprietary methods give you competitive advantage, but only if properly protected.
Registration and clear ownership records strengthen your position in licensing, diligence, and future work with specialized enforcement counsel.
IP assets contribute significantly to business value. Proper protection and documentation maximize that value.
Clearance searches and proper licensing avoid costly infringement claims from others.
Services
From trademark clearance to portfolio management, lawyers provide complete intellectual property services for growing businesses.
Before adopting a new brand, you need to know if it's available. Lawyers conduct comprehensive trademark searches to identify potential conflicts and assess registration prospects.
Proper trademark registration protects your brand nationwide. Lawyers handle the application process from filing through registration, responding to office actions and overcoming obstacles.
Growing businesses accumulate trademark assets. Lawyers manage your portfolio by tracking renewals, monitoring conflicts, and ensuring your protection remains current and comprehensive.
Copyright registration provides important benefits: presumption of validity, statutory damages, and lawyer's fees. Lawyers register software, content, creative works, and other copyrightable materials.
Trade secrets require active protection to maintain their status. Lawyers develop policies and procedures that identify, protect, and maintain your confidential business information.
Proper assignment of intellectual property rights is essential, especially from founders, employees, and contractors. Lawyers prepare assignments that clearly transfer rights to your business.
Licensing your IP to others, or licensing theirs for your use, requires clear agreements on rights, restrictions, and compensation. Lawyers draft licenses that protect your interests.
Not all work automatically belongs to the hiring party. Lawyers review ownership terms and prepare agreements that address rights in work created for your business.
Clear registrations, ownership records, and license terms put your business in a stronger position when questions arise. Lawyers organize the documentation and can refer infringement or enforcement matters to qualified outside counsel.
What IP does your business own? Is it properly protected? Lawyers conduct comprehensive audits to identify IP assets, assess protection status, and recommend improvements.
Protecting your brand starts with thoughtful clearance, registration, ownership records, and licensing controls. Lawyers help maintain those foundations and coordinate referrals when a dispute requires adversarial counsel.
Domain names intersect trademark law in important ways. Lawyers advise on domain acquisitions, ownership strategy, and portfolio planning.
Virtual-First IP Services
IP services work perfectly in a virtual model. Trademark searches, application filing, and portfolio management all happen efficiently through digital channels.
Video consultations for strategy discussions, clearance reviews, and portfolio planning without travel requirements.
Portal access through MyRelevant gives you visibility into application status, renewal deadlines, and portfolio details.
Electronic filing means lawyers handle USPTO filings efficiently, with real-time updates on prosecution status.
MyRelevant for IP
All your registrations, applications, and IP documents organized in one secure location.
Get answers about IP matters without scheduling calls, including brand clearance, registrations, licensing, and portfolio planning.
Automatic reminders for trademark maintenance, renewals, and other critical deadlines.
Strategy sessions and portfolio reviews via video conference from anywhere.
Track application progress and registration status in real time.
Sensitive IP documents and trade secret materials stored with appropriate security.
The Process
From initial assessment through ongoing protection, here's how lawyers develop your IP strategy and portfolio.
Your lawyer discusses your business, brands, creations, and IP concerns. This helps the team understand what needs protection and prioritize the most important assets.
45-60 minutes
For trademark matters, lawyers conduct comprehensive searches and analyze availability. For other IP, lawyers assess current protection status and ownership issues.
3-7 business days
Based on the findings, your lawyer recommends a protection strategy: what to register, how to structure ownership, and how to maintain rights over time.
1-2 days
Lawyers prepare and file applications, draft agreements, or develop policies as needed. All documents are provided through your MyRelevant portal.
5-10 business days
For trademark applications, lawyers handle office actions and prosecution through registration. For other matters, lawyers finalize documents and resolve any issues.
Varies by matter
IP protection requires maintenance. Lawyers track renewals, monitor for infringement, and update your strategy as your business evolves.
Ongoing
Common Questions
Trademarks protect brand identifiers such as names, logos, and slogans that distinguish your goods or services. Copyrights protect creative works including software, content, designs, and other original expression. Most businesses need both: trademarks for their brand, copyrights for their content and creations.
You have some common law rights just by using a trademark, but registration provides significant benefits: nationwide priority, presumption of validity, ability to sue in federal court, and access to statutory damages. For any brand you're investing in, registration is strongly recommended.
Currently, the USPTO takes 8-12 months from filing to registration, assuming no complications. If the examining lawyer raises objections, the process takes longer. Lawyers help you anticipate potential issues and prepare strong applications that minimize delays.
Options depend on priority (who used it first) and likelihood of confusion. Lawyers can assess registration and ownership records, explain business alternatives, and help preserve relevant documentation. If the matter requires a demand, takedown, claim, or other adversarial action, the firm refers you to qualified outside counsel. Early clearance searches help avoid these situations.
Trade secret protection requires active measures: identifying confidential information, limiting access, using confidentiality agreements, and maintaining reasonable security. Lawyers help you develop trade secret policies and the agreements needed to protect proprietary information.
For employees, work within the scope of employment typically belongs to the employer. For contractors, ownership depends on the agreement; without proper documentation, the contractor may own the IP they create. Lawyers help document the intended ownership.
Ownership of creative work depends on the work and the applicable agreement. Lawyers can assess when work-for-hire terms or an assignment is appropriate and document the intended rights.
Patent prosecution requires specialized credentials (patent bar admission) not held within this practice. Your lawyer can advise on patent strategy and connect you with trusted patent counsel, but patent applications are not handled directly. All other IP matters are covered — trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and licensing.
Related Services
Whether you need trademark registration, IP portfolio review, or help with a licensing agreement, lawyers can assess the legal steps that fit your business.
State Disclosures
Virginia: Legal services in Virginia are provided by independently owned and operated Virginia law firms doing business as Relevant Law. The responsible licensed Virginia lawyer and office address for each Virginia location are listed on that location's office page.
Washington: The Supreme Court of Washington does not recognize specialties in the practice of law, and no representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.
Relevant Law offices are independently owned and operated by licensed attorneys.