Law Offices of Charles L. Thoeming - Ascendant IP

PATENTS
Best friend to the inventor, a patent works to protect the innovations of the creator, whether a new and useful process, machine, article, or manufacture or composition of matter. It can also protect inventions that are improvements to current technologies, processes or products. When seeking a patent, it's important to remember that a patent does not give you the right to make, use or sell your invention. It does, however, give you the right to exclude others from making, using or selling your invention.

In order to protect an invention with a patent, you must apply for it in a patent application. The application will require you to share, publicly, technical information about an invention. Ascendant IP can help guide you through the process of planning and applying for a patent.

TRADEMARKS
Trademark law was created to protect brands and the consumers who buy them. By trademarking symbols, words or marks, a consumer can discern whether or not a product or service is from a brand they trust or know. This also allows a brand to discern their products or services from similar businesses.

Protecting a trademark is essential to keep competitors from using your brand to serve their own purposes. If a trademark is not fiercely protected, a business faces the possibility of losing business and that trademark to a competitor. Ascendant IP will walk you through registering your trademark and the successful defense of a threatened trademark.

COPYRIGHTS
Literary and artistic works are imbued with immeasurable value. From books and poems to plays and films, each work of creativity is protected by copyright law. All that is required to gain a copyright is that the work be of original authorship and fixed in a tangible medium.

A copyright gives an author the right to copy their own work and create derivative works, while preventing others from copying it. While the protection of the copyright is given automatically, defending the copyright falls to the owner. Ascendant IP understands the inherent value of our clients' work and if your copyright is infringed upon, we can help you fight to protect it.

TRADE SECRETS
A trade secret, whether a recipe, pattern or process, is proprietary information that gives a business an edge over competitors. While typically well-guarded, a trade secret may also be known to many in a business, including employees who may need to know the secret to produce a product or method.

Because trade secrets are of great value to a business, trade secret law exists to protect them. Actions taken to protect a trade secret can include contracts with employees like confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements. Trade secrets that have been violated are in need of defense and Ascendant IP can help you negate the damage.