Protect your brand and IP assets. Lawyers help businesses establish, protect, and enforce their 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 defending against infringement, lawyers bring the strategic perspective your IP matters require.
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 provides the legal tools needed to stop infringement and protect your market position.
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 prepare work-for-hire agreements that ensure you own the intellectual property created for your business.
When others infringe your IP, a well-crafted cease and desist letter often resolves the matter without litigation. Lawyers prepare letters that are firm, professional, and effective.
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 requires ongoing vigilance. Lawyers help you monitor for infringement, enforce your rights, and develop strategies to maintain brand integrity.
Domain names intersect trademark law in important ways. Lawyers handle domain acquisitions, disputes, and UDRP proceedings to protect your online presence.
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, brand clearance, enforcement options, and more.
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. If you have senior rights, lawyers can send cease and desist letters and escalate if necessary. If they have senior rights, lawyers assess your risk and explore alternatives. 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 prepare agreements that ensure your business owns what it pays for.
Work-for-hire agreements ensure that creative work produced for your business is owned by your business from creation. Without proper agreements, contractors retain copyright in their work. Lawyers prepare work-for-hire agreements that clearly establish ownership.
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 specific IP matter, lawyers are ready to help protect and maximize your intellectual property assets.
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.