Intellectual Property Lawyers

Overview

At Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC, we understand the ever increasing value of intellectual property, and we believe that close interaction with our clients is the most efficient way to develop a strategy to protect their intellectual property rights. When clients come to Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC for intellectual property matters, their needs are handled by attorneys who understand that thorough and ongoing discussion about IP concerns an important element in obtaining the broadest protection possible and often discover that combinations of different legal protections are appropriate.  As the attorneys at Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC come to understand your business products and services, we can anticipate your IP needs and issues that can arise in the future.

Securing basic rights of ownership in trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property protection gives our clients the foundation needed to implement a comprehensive intellectual property policy for their business.

Trademark Attorneys

A trademark is much more than a clever design or a catchy phrase – it is business asset that instantly communicates to your customers that a product or service comes from your business. It is both an advertisement and a symbol of your product’s quality. At Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC, we guide our clients through every step of the trademark application process so that your business’ investment and good-will receives the best protection possible. We work with our clients to understand how the trademark will be used with its products both now and in the future. Once we understand your proposed mark, our attorneys thoroughly search the United States’ Trademark Register for confusingly similar marks that could prevent you from using your mark. This due diligence early in the trademark process saves our clients time and money in branding a product, only to later find that they are infringing on another business’ trademark.

Trademark Law: Enforcement and Litigation

We know that you have devoted considerable time, energy, and resources to the brand identity that sets your business apart. Whether you believe someone is using your trademark, a competitor claims that you are using theirs, or if your business is facing an administrative action in front of the Unites States Patent and Trademark Office, Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC is here to diligently represent you.

• Monitoring and Due Diligence: On a regular basis, we will monitor your intellectual property to assist you in finding any competing users. If a competing user is found either through our inquiry or yours, we will evaluate whether that party has any right to use the intellectual property at issue. We will strive to protect your business from intellectual property theft, whether trademark or service mark infringement, copyright appropriation, or cybersquatting (i.e., the use of your trademark or service mark as part of a domain name). 
• Cease and Desist: If a competitor is infringing upon your intellectual property, our intellectual property lawyer will issue a cease and desist letter documenting your ownership of the intellectual property and the extent of the infringer’s violation(s). We follow-up on every cease and desist letter within two weeks to determine whether the infringer will comply with our demands.
• Negotiated Settlements: Negotiation is critical to our enforcement efforts. While some infringers quickly acquiesce to the demands outlined in a cease and desist letter, others will put up a fight. We will not stop until we secure your preferred outcome. In most cases, we are able to achieve the results that our clients desire through negotiation. We will memorialize a negotiated agreement in a contract to protect your intellectual property rights into the future.
• Litigation: Although we strive to resolve intellectual property disputes without litigation, our intellectual property lawyers have effectively litigated intellectual property disputes to protect our clients’ interests. In a recent case, a competitor appropriated our client’s business name and service marks in a way that caused immediate consumer confusion and had a significant business impact on our client. We acted quickly to file a lawsuit seeking preliminary injunctive relief. Within weeks, we obtained a consent judgment requiring the competitor to immediately change its business name, dissolve its corporate status, pay our client compensatory damages (including all of our attorney fees), turn over its phone and fax numbers, and deliver for destruction all materials bearing the infringing service marks.
• Trademark Proceedings: Our trademark attorneys have experience representing clients involved in proceedings in front of the Trademark, Trial and Appeal Board ("TTAB"), including trademark oppositions, trademark cancellations, and disputes between our clients and United States Patent and Trademark Examining Attorneys.
• Foreign Trademarks: Obtaining trademark protection in foreign countries is difficult and challenging.  At Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC, our trademark attorneys will work with you to protect trademarks that you use in foreign countries, including filing international applications through the Madrid Protocol and working with a network of lawyers in other countries.

Trademark litigation is complex and requires legal prowess and experience to be successful. Do not try to take on this burden alone. Let the attorneys at Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC take the weight off your shoulders.

Copyright Law

We help our clients protect their rights in valuable works of expression and authorship. This includes artwork related to your trademark and business, website content, or software programs. It also includes helping clients protect their personal expressive works in art, literature and music.

Licensing and Transfer of IP Rights

A growing component of our practice includes licensing and transferring various forms of intellectual property rights. These transactions range from licensing to outright sales and assignments of trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights. Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC's depth of experience in other forms of commercial transactions is easily applied to the IP subject matter, and this knowledge provides our clients with thorough representation in all aspects of an IP transaction, from planning to negotiation to documentation and closing.

Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition

Confidential information is often necessary to a successful business, however sometimes this information is not protectable as a trademark or a copyright. Marketing plans, customer lists, formulas or recipes are but a few examples of protectable trade secrets. We regularly design, implement and enforce non-disclosure agreements for our clients. These agreements protect their confidential information when, during the course of business or specific projects, it is necessary to disclose confidential information or trade secrets to employees, third-party suppliers, or collaborators. We also advise our clients on their rights and duties when they are subject to a non-disclosure agreement and have successfully litigated these issues on a number of occasions. By developing trade-secret policies and procedures, we help clients avoid liability from accidental disclosures.

Patents

Patent protection is a highly focused and highly technical niche of law. Patent lawyers must understand not only the complex procedures to obtain patent protection but they must also understand the science, engineering, or model that makes your product or idea unique from its competitors.

While Fahey Schultz Burzych Rhodes PLC does not represent clients in patent matters, we have a close and collegial working relationship with other lawyers and firms who do. If you have a patent law concern, we would love to meet with you and refer you to one of our highly skilled patent colleagues.