Mohr Hackett assists its clients in securing rights to a broad range of intellectual property in the areas of trademark, copyright, and trade secrets. Mohr Hackett employs its expertise in litigation on behalf of their clients to defend and secure recognition of the client’s intellectual property rights, including representation in trademark infringement, trade name infringement, patent infringement, Lanham Act claims, and trade secret litigation.
In law, Intellectual Property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain names, written and recorded media, and inventions. The holders of these legal entitlements are generally entitled to exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, though the term is a matter of some controversy.
Intellectual property laws and enforcement vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. There are inter-governmental efforts to harmonize them through international treaties such as the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), while other treaties may facilitate registration in more than one jurisdiction at a time. Enforcement of copyright, as well as disagreements over medical and software patents, have so far prevented the emergence of a cohesive international system.
Trademarks are generally distinctive symbols, pictures, or words that sellers affix to distinguish and identify the origin of their products. Trademark status may also be granted to distinctive and unique packaging, color combinations, building designs, product styles, and overall presentations. It is also possible to receive trademark status for identification that is not on its face distinct or unique but which has developed a secondary meaning over time that identifies it with the product or seller. The trademark owner has exclusive right to use it on the product it was intended to identify and often on related products. Service-marks receive the same legal protection as trademarks but are meant to distinguish services rather than products.
Several treaties govern trademark rights, including the Benelux system of registration, Paris Convention Treaty, Trademark Registration Treaty, Madrid Agreement, Madrid Protocol, and the European Community Trademark (CTM). With the exception of the Madrid Agreement, these treaties do not attempt to harmonize the trademark laws of the member countries, but instead provide centralized trademark registration filing systems.