Event Recap: The Legal Reality of Intellectual Property in Marketing and Branding

by Jonathan Kreitler, Marketing Manager, Parsons Brinckerhoff

This past Tuesday we were treated to an entertaining lunch presentation on...LAW!

More specifically, Joel Emans of Hughes Media Group talked about "The Legal Reality of Intellectual Property in Marketing and Branding".

Joel made it fun and used examples we could understand - like Star Wars. I certainly learned a lot about a few areas of intellectual property (a.k.a. creations of the mind) law that we marketers deal with occasionally or frequently.

Joel defined several terms such as trademarks, copyright, patent, trade secrets, and publicity rights. Here's a link to look up such terms on your own: http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html

The bulk of the discussion really focused on copyright law and how to protect our businesses. Here are a few key takeaways:

• Make sure you own it: brand your images, secure your brand's web domain (and domain spinoffs), use watermarks, generate company forms to protect your company when using contractors (such as photographers, etc.)
• Consider intellectual property registration: register your trademark nationally and at the state level, familiarize yourself with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/)
• Don't talk about it until you've thought about it - a.k.a. loose lips sink ships
• Ask questions early - better to meet with a lawyer for five minutes than hire one for a five-week trial

Thanks to the Harbor Club Seattle for hosting and serving delicious cookies (lunch too).