Copyright
Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is "©", and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C). Copyright may subsist in a wide range of creative, intellectual, or artistic forms or "works". These include poems, theses, plays, and other literary works, movies, choreographic works (dances, ballets, etc.), musical compositions, audio recordings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, software, radio and television broadcasts of live and other performances, and, in some jurisdictions, industrial designs. Designs or industrial designs may have separate or overlapping laws applied to them in some jurisdictions.
In the United States, copyright has been made automatic since March 1, 1989, which has had the effect of making it appear to be more like a property right. Thus, as with some forms of personal property, a copyright need not be granted or obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape or a letter), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while a copyright need not be officially registered for the copyright owner to begin exercising his exclusive rights, registration of works (where the laws of that jurisdiction provide for registration) does have benefits; it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright and enables the copyright holder to seek statutory damages and attorney's fees (whereas in the USA, for instance, registering after an infringement only enables one to receive actual damages and lost profits).
How We Serve Our Clients
We represent both emerging and established businesses in establishing and protecting their intellectual property rights. To that we work closely with clients to register copyrights and trademarks where appropriate to ensure the greatest protection under the law. Such registration also provides notice to the general public of our clients rights in such intellectual property to protect their brand identity and established good will. We also work diligently to protect our clients rights through the negotiation and drafting of confidentiality agreements and nondisclosure agreements to protect our clients tradesecrets. Licensing agreements are also an integral part of our intellectual property practice whereby we not only provide our clients a means to financially benefit from grant others the right to utilize their intellectual property, but through skillful negotiation and crafting such agreement, we endeavor to provide our client the maximum protection under the law
Working so closely with clients in our diverse corporate practice, we develop long-term relationships in which our attorneys serve as trusted legal and business advisors throughout the life of the corporation. Because many of our clients are small privately-held companies without the resources to employ a staff of attorneys like many Fortune 500 companies, we can serve as virtual in-house counsel, serving our clients' needs on a daily basis.
