Featured Services

Trademark

A trademark is a word, symbol, or phrase used to identify the source of products and to distinguish the products of a particular manufacturer or seller from the products of another. Before selecting a trademark, you should determine if the mark is available for your use. This is important for two reasons: 1) to determine whether your mark is capable of registration; and 2) to avoid opposition to your registration by the owner of a similar mark. Everhart Law Firm offers the following legal services to assist you in selecting and protecting your trademark:

Trademark Search and Selection: Advice on selection of a trademark, including evaluation of whether the mark is protectable as a trademark and evaluation of a trademark availability search
Trademark Registration: Preparation and filing of trademark applications for registration in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, in state trademark offices, and outside the United States
Other Pre-Registration Trademark Filings: Preparation and filing of pre-registration documents, including Statements of Use and responses to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Actions issued in response to applications for trademark registration
Post-Registration Trademark Filings: Recordation of trademark assignments; preparation and filing of documents necessary to maintain registration, including Declarations of Continued Use of a mark, Declarations of Incontestability showing a mark has been in continuous use for the requisite period of time and has gained “incontestability” status, and Applications for Renewal
Protection and Defense of Trademark: Drafting of cease-and-desist letters to infringers of your trademark; responding to cease-and-desist letters alleging trademark infringement by you; prosecution and defense of trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board
Trademark Contracts and Licensing: Negotiation and preparation of trademark-related contracts, assignments, and licenses
Use of Trademarks: Advice regarding the ongoing use of your trademark and your use of others’ trademarks in your literary, musical, and other works

>> Trademark F.A.Q.

Copyright

A copyright is the right to own your creative work. It includes the rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display the work and to prepare derivative works from your original work. Examples of works protected by copyright are songs, plays, poems, paintings, and films. Everhart Law Firm offers the following legal services to assist you in protecting your creative work:

Copyright Registration and Recordation of Assignment: Registration of copyrights and recordation of copyright assignments in the U.S. Copyright Office
Use and Protection of Your Copyrighted Work: Advice on how to protect your copyrighted work, including whether your work is copyrightable, when copyright protection attaches, the duration of your copyright, transfer and license of copyrights, and termination of copyrights
Copyright Infringement: Advice on copyright-infringement issues; drafting of cease-and-desist letters to the infringer of your copyright; responding to cease-and-desist letters alleging copyright infringement by you
Copyright Contracts and Licenses: Negotiation and preparation of copyright-related contracts, assignments, work-for-hire agreements, and licenses
Fair Use: Advice on whether your use of others’ copyrighted works in your work is fair or requires a license

>> Copyright F.A.Q.

Entertainment

Whether you are a songwriter, a film producer, a record company, a dancer, a booking agent, or a book publisher, you are a member of the entertainment industry, and you have legal needs unique to your profession: negotiation of contracts, protection of intellectual property, questions regarding compensation. Everhart Law Firm offers the following legal services to counsel you in your role in the entertainment industry:

Entertainment Contracts and Licensing: Negotiation and preparation of contracts and licenses in all areas of entertainment, including music, visual arts, literary publishing, theater, dance, film, television, video, and digital media
Royalty and Compensation Issues: Advice regarding royalties and compensation under entertainment-related contracts
Minor Performers: Representation of minor performers and those that contract with them in matters unique to minors in the entertainment industry, including petitions for approval of minor entertainment contracts under the Tennessee Protection of Minor Performers Act and similar procedures in other states
Right of Publicity: Advice regarding issues related to each individual’s right to control and profit from the commercial use of his or her name, likeness, and persona

>> Entertainment F.A.Q.

Internet

Whether you use the internet to conduct business, to market your business, to express your opinion, or as an entertainment outlet, you are undoubtedly using the internet today in some form or fashion, and you are likely to encounter legal issues along the way. The legal limits of internet use, still a relatively new frontier of communication, are being defined and tested constantly. Understanding your rights and obligations on the internet is paramount. Everhart Law Firm offers the following legal services to guide and protect you in your use of the internet:

Internet Contracts and Licenses: Negotiation and drafting of legal documents in internet-related matters, including digital-download license agreements, domain-name purchase agreements, website terms of use, and website-design agreements
Domain-Name Selection, Registration and Transfer: Advice regarding selection of domain names; registration and transfer of domain names
Domain-Name Disputes and Cybersquatting: Advice regarding domain-name disputes and cybersquatting issues, including claims and defenses under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
Internet Use and Liability: Advice regarding potential liability from use of the Internet, including copyright, trademark, defamation, and privacy issues raised by activities such as blogging, message boards, social-networking, posting of third-party content, downloading of third-party content, and website hosting

>> Internet F.A.Q.

Interested in Our Firm?

Everhart Law Firm can guide you in protecting the execution of your bright idea, whether the result is a business or product name, a creative work, an Internet presence, or a career in the entertainment industry. Founder Amy J. Everhart has more than a decade of experience as a lawyer in the areas of trademark, copyright, entertainment, and internet law. She founded her firm to offer the experience she gained during her years of mentorship in a larger firm environment with personal and customized attention to your unique legal needs.

>> Contact Everhart Law Firm