Intellectual Property

Trademarks, trade dress, trade secrets and copyrights represent a substantial, often critical, segment of a company's value. At Doster Guin James Ullom Benson & Mundorf, LLC, our intellectual property attorneys provide businesses with assistance in establishing intellectual property rights, in leveraging the value represented by those rights for growth, and with vigorous defense against trademark and copyright infringement.

Control of elements of branding is essential to artists, entrepreneurs and business ventures of every size. By performing thorough searches, and meticulously preparing copyright and trademark applications, our IP lawyers and staff work to establish rights that prevent or minimize expense, disruption and loss of good will from infringement. Our civil litigation practice is well-prepared, however, to handle all levels of intellectual property infringement claims. The attorneys are skilled at clearly demonstrating the often subtle distinctions involved in intellectual property infringement claims.

Copyright registration

Our lawyers assist individuals and businesses in establishing ownership of published and unpublished original works of art, including books, music, photography, architecture and computer program source code, through copyright registration with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress.

Trademarks, service marks, and trade dress

A trademark or service mark, including a word, name, symbol or other device, is intended to identify the source of the product or service. Our attorneys handle all phases of the trademark registration process for trademarks used locally and those used in interstate and international commerce, including searches and preparation of the applications, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO.)

Infringement of Internet domain names

If part of an internet domain name identifies the source of the goods or services involved, trademark standards may apply.

Internet defamation

Every company is vulnerable to Internet defamation, which is trade libel performed by establishing a defamatory Web site or by posting defamatory comments on third party sites. Our attorneys will take immediate and effective action to have libelous material removed from current Web sites and search engine caches.

If you would like to speak with one of our lawyers about establishing intellectual property rights through trademark or copyright registration, or defense against infringement, please e-mail us or call our St. Louis/Chesterfield office (636.532.0042), our Collinsville, Illinois office (618.301.4060) or our Kansas City, Missouri, office (816.531.1888), to arrange a consultation.