Los Angeles Patent & Trademark Attorney

Law Office of Andrew Y. Schroeder

1427 North Wilcox Avenue Los Angeles, California 90028 USA

 (310) 256-0925
 (866) 227-5009

www.socalpatent.com
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Law Firm Overview

At the Law Office of Andrew Y. Schroeder, we specialize in Intellectual Property, and more specifically Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. We are licensed to practice before the USPTO (United States Patent & Trademark Office) and the State of California. We have extensive experience in all phases of Intellectual Property.

Practice Areas

Practice Areas Description

- Trademark Law

Trademarks are basically those symbols, designs, words, colors, or other indicia which tells people the origin of a product or service. For this reason, many people refer to Trademarks as "source identifiers" because they identify the source of those goods or services. Another way to think of Trademark Law is a way to enforce and protect your business goodwill.

There are many types of Trademarks. The most commonly understood and recognized trademark is the word mark or name mark. Examples include Coca-Cola®, Apple® Computers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers®. You should also note that other trademark rights also extend to those products and services. Coca-Cola® has rights in the colors and stripes which are emblazoned on their products. The Los Angeles Dodgers® have rights in the type of font and design used to compose their mark LA Dodgers®. And Apple® also has rights in the symbol of an apple with a bite in it. Other lesser known types of trademarks include trade dress, sounds, smells, and colors. When employed appropriately and consistently, these qualities can also act as source identifiers, and accordingly, as Trademarks.

- Patent Law

Patents are essentially monopolies the US Government gives inventors for around 20 years in exchange for a disclosure on how those inventions work. The basis for Patent law derives its origin from the US Constitution. The three main types of patents are: Utility Patents, Design Patents, and Method Patents. Utility patents are the most common types of applications submitted to the USPTO. Essentially, you can think of Utility Patents as being those things you can touch, see, and feel. Their patents cover the way in which they work, their composition, and assemblage. Examples include mousetraps, engines, and golf clubs.

Another type of patent is the Process or Method Patent. This patent covers the various steps, methods, and processes taken in a sequence to create a specific and useful result. One of the more renowned types of Method Patents are the Business Method Patent. These patents can be generally defined by the fact they are not inventions that you can necessarily touch, see, and feel. Rounding out these Patent types is the Design Patent. Design Patents are unique inasmuch as they do not cover the way inventions work, what they are composed of, or how they are assembled. To the contrary, Design Patents specifically do not cover any sort of functional benefits whatsoever. Instead, as the name implies, they are used to protect novel and unique designs. These designs are purely ornamental in nature and can have no utility or function at all.

- Copyright Law

Copyrights are used primarily to protect the expression of ideas. As long as the expression of those ideas are fixed in a tangible medium and have at least some creative element in them, they can be protected. Some of these mediums include art, photography, choreography, movies, music, writings, and software. Note that the important distinction between patents and copyrights is that while patents protect the underlying ideas of an invention, copyright law only protects the expression of those ideas. An idea which is expressed in a different manner than the original will not be susceptible to a claim for copyright infringement.

- Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property (IP) can be generally defined or described as the products of the mind or 'mental manufacturing'. The main areas of Intellectual Property are Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights. One of the things that you should know about IP is that there is overlap between the areas of law. It is possible that a single device can be patented, trademarked, and copyrighted. A device can be patented if the underlying components, processes, and materials add up to a novel and unique invention. That same device or product can be trademarked if it has a logo, name, or other symbol which acts as a source identifier. Moreover, the device can have some copyrightable elements if there is various artwork expression which is unique.

Affiliations

Attorneys

Andrew Y. Schroeder, Esq. Attorney Intellectual Property

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