Copyright Law in New Jersey

Statista says the three most profitable companies in New Jersey are: Johnson & Johnson, Prudential Financial, and Merck.

Intellectual property is a central aspect of success for these colossal businesses. If you’re only getting started or an established enterprise, you’ll need the same to drive profits.

Unfortunately, obtaining a trademark, service mark, or copyright can be frustrating without previous experience. Evaluate your needs with the following facts and discover how much value an attorney could deliver.

What Is Copyright Registration?

Copyright registration offers the author of a piece of work in New Jersey some protection from those who attempt to steal their idea.

A novel creation receives copyright protection when it becomes fixed into a tangible form. Copyright law dictates how to establish this ownership. Additionally, it explains how to register intellectual property or defend against infringement.

Copyright registration is a type of public record for ownership. Technically, a piece of work doesn’t require copyright registration for protection under the US copyright law. However, you should register your product in New Jersey with the help of a copyright lawyer. This can offer you several unique advantages. By doing this you can:

• Protect your work against the importation of copies that infringe the registration. Your registration will be recorded with the United States Customs and Border Protection.
• If your work is already registered in the United States, you can proceed with an infringement lawsuit; otherwise, you will have to register it first.
• The IP owner can seek damages and attorney fees if a copyright registration happens within three months of publication (or prior to an infringement claim).
• If a copyrighted work is registered outside of the three-month time frame, you may seek actual damages that you lost.
• Copyright registration will identify each public record of its existence. This action puts the copyright protection into public notice for the piece of work that you’ve created and/or own.

What Is a Trademark?

A trademark is a word, symbol, design, or phrase that distinguishes you from another company. Service marks are a type of trademark that a company will use when providing services to the public.Technically, trademarks are a form of intellectual property. It also forms part of the company’s brand, even if they no longer use it.

Here are some of the components that business people and brand owners often trademark:

• Logos
• Symbols
• Product packages
• Name of the business
• Name of the product or service
• Designs

Businesses in New Jersey can register trademarks through the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services. The base filing fee is $50, but there are premium service charges to consider. You can also pay $15 for expedited handling or $100 for same-day service. If you need to add more classification numbers, each one incurs an additional fee of $50.

How Long Does It Take to Register a Trademark and Copyright?

The USPTO trademark process includes six steps businesses in New Jersey need to complete. Overall, the government anticipates that this process will take twelve to eighteen months. A few of the factors that can cause processing delays include:

• Failing to respond to office actions promptly or before deadlines expire

• Avoiding the use of dedicated fields in TEAS forms

• Contacting parties other than the examining attorney for minor corrections

• Not using identifications from the ID Manual

Working with the U.S. Copyright Office does not take nearly the same time. According to them, obtaining this intellectual property is around a three-month endeavor. The wait may be shorter, but there are just as many potential potholes to hit along the way.

What’s the Difference Between a Trademark and a Copyright?

The value of your New Jersey business depends on the assets it owns. It’s important to note that the most valuable assets are not always physical or financial. Your intellectual property counts as assets too. Because of this, if people use those assets without your permission, you can and should file a lawsuit against them for infringement under copyright law.

While trademarks and copyrights protect intellectual property, they cover two different aspects. Copyright registration protects artistic and literary works, such as videos and books. On the other hand, a trademark registration protects brand components. This could be a jingle, a logo, or a mascot of your organization.

Take, for example, if you own a magazine publishing company. You would trademark the logo and the name of your company. However, you would also place copyright protection on all of the magazines that you have published.

Work With an Experienced New Jersey Copyright Lawyer

Do you have an idea that needs protection under intellectual property law? If so, complete the registration process as soon as possible. There is always the risk that someone else might beat you to it. This eventuality can create complications when the time comes to defend IP rights claims.

New Jersey copyright lawyers can help you uncover if anyone else has registered a similar idea. If your concept closely resembles another, it might get rejected. Consequently, it is better to find this early than to go through the process only to get denied later. In addition, an intellectual property lawyer will help you to draft critical documents. Or, they can help determine the value of the intellectual property that you own.

An intellectual property lawyer also assesses the quality of the assets. They will look at the number of assets licensed under your name or your business in New Jersey. This evaluation can help to maximize the entire value of all intangible assets that your company has.

Are you ready to tap into our network of New Jersey copyright attorneys that can guide you through every step? We can even help you connect with an attorney across New Jersey state lines.

Submit a request online or call us today at (866) 345-6784 to get in touch with an experienced lawyer in your area!