Trademarks and protecting yourself

[aspenglass]

How does everyone feel about trademarking their intellectual property? Names, brands anything else.

[Greymatter Glass]

How does everyone feel about trademarking their intellectual property? Names, brands anything else.

Can't speak for everyone, but I'm all for it.

I can think of a few people who would still be around making stuff if they hadn't been ripped off left and right by every opportunistic biter that found their shit sitting out for free.

The flip side is that overly aggressive and broadly defined IP can (and does) stifle creativity, innovation, and motivation ... but when properly exercised IP laws allow companies to grow, hire workers, expand markets, etc....


Overall, I think if someone comes up with something marketable that has a real value, they should take steps to protect their IP IF THEY WANT TO. If they opt out then they have _ZERO_ right to complain about someone else doing it later on.


There are always exceptions, but in general, yeah, I think IP in the commercial art world is good.

[aspenglass]

Overall, I think if someone comes up with something marketable that has a real value, they should take steps to protect their IP IF THEY WANT TO. If they opt out then they have _ZERO_ right to complain about someone else doing it later on.


I feel the same, and is sad to see those who certain companies blatantly ripped off(swiss perc as an example)

As "just a glassblower" I trademarked The Ti-Pen to protect it from a large distributor who said "if you dont,we will". It was one of the smartest pieces of advice I was given,and surprising they were upfront about it. Now I eat shit on the regular from peers when I mention I own the trademark. Am all for competition,but is surprising how many vehemently oppose protecting themselves or supporting those who have.

*edit was to put the "R"'s into the words surprising :wtf1:

[SNYD]

I have been reading a lot on the subject lately, and unless you have a good lawyer and a lot of money it seems kind of pointless.
Your trademark for example on The Ti-Pen, what benifits have you seen from your trademark? Swiss perc can only trademark the name right, not the product. So if they did have a trademark on it it wouldn't stop people from making the same kind of tube, just from using the name swiss perc right?
It sucks that we either have to choose to be secluded and not share or have a pile of money to dedicate to making sure people don't copy what we think is our original idea.

[aspenglass]

Trademarking something doesn't cost as much as we think. Having a good lawyer to protect it is even cheaper with everything being on the Internet,essentially "written in ink" and court costs are typically paid for by the other guy.

By trademarking the Ti-Pen I was able to protect my tools brand and the 15g it cost me to develop the mold, find the exact titanium to use that was made in the US etc...Unless someone blatantly rips me off,I typically just throw out a heads up in private.

The Swiss perc could be protected for the most part because it is the same design sold to the same client base(not sure how our industry would be viewed though)as the same brand. That was something being maliciously ripped off.

I don't think we can or should trademark/patent things as simple as a reversal but if you take the time to develop a unique style,a tool or anything else that builds into a household name(within our industry) protecting it is a smart move.Companies like PURE are everywhere.

[styles1 torchlife]

My .02 take it or leave it?

13 years in the glass industry I have learned make your work and get paid.

I have had 100 ideas that are worth a ton of money.... but paying some tight ass Lawyer to enforce bullshit laws against people who work in their garages.

The truth is "YOU DON'T OWN SHIT"

Neither does anyone else, nothing is original it's called collective consciousness.

Once and Idea is in the world you can count on the fact that at least ten other people have had the same thought.

[Forche]

...

[Julian]

Many people don't understand the difference between a trademark, a patent and a copyright, and what exactly they do and don't protect. Given this lack of knowledge, IP is often misapplied, misunderstood, thought to confer rights it does not. This basically leads to pushy people with lawyers and money controlling others, far more than the opposite situation of people who really need legal protection finding it here. I don't think increasing the 'protection' conferred by IP in our industry is a positive plan, especially when it comes to patents.

Trademarks and brand building are great. If you think you have the sort of brand for which copyright protection of your logo is not sufficient, like say you're a tube company - definitely register a trademark.

Copyrights are important, but misunderstood and misapplied. The trauma with KB Glassworks/Lewis claiming they had a 'copyright' on two sided, cold worked hollow blown boro beads was an interesting example that served to stifle artistic freedom in the boro world. Of course you should copyright your trade materials, your logo, your work - because it's automatically copyrighted by virtue of you having created it. Registering a copyright is probably not needed for most glasswork.

Patents are rest for tools, but we will all be much better off if they're not applied to glass itself. Would you want to have to go check mountains of paperwork or ask a lawyer if a certain perc design is legal for you to make? Or say you got a letter from some lawyer one day saying your bubbler design is infringing on some glass made by someone you've never heard of. Would that improve our industry? No, only for lawyers.

[SNYD]

Julian just summed it up.

For tools and things like your The Ti-Pen, Sure a trademark helpful, but look at what happened with Glass alchemy's Glasstique color testing program they where doing. ABR started selling northstar experimental colors on ebay as Glasstique and ruined it for GA, because then no one knew which was which. I don't know what happened legally with that one, but GA dropped the Glasstique program and they had the trademark and everything. It wouldn't make much sense for GA to take legal action against one of there distributors, especially one as big as ABR.

[aspenglass]

Awesome responses, yeah the Ti-Pen I am secure in my reasons for going after the trademark and patent. As generic as the name may be to some, I built that brand to where most of us know exactly what it is when it is mentioned.In 10 years of glass and Ti-Pens I dont make much off of the Ti-Pen(the fuckers last forever) but by protecting it hopefully my kids will be able to make a couple bucks here and there when they are older.Tools and things outside of whats considered "art" I dont think it matters if 100 other people thought about it, I'm sure 1000 of people thought about the little plastic opening thats on a half gallon jug of milk, but one guy owns the patent and is living pretty sweet.

Techniques and other things is more along the lines of why I opened this back up for conversation. Have been thinking about it since the PURE thing,and work with a few companies where this topic comes up once in a while.

[ithruxix]

Wait a second, I make handmade titanium scribes or pens, whatever you want to call them. Now, if I call it, in generic terms, a titanium pen, you could sue me for using the term titanium and pen?

[zippetmonster]

A very interesting history of copyright is explained in the documentary about girl talk called rip. good film in many ways...

[Julian]

Wait a second, I make handmade titanium scribes or pens, whatever you want to call them. Now, if I call it, in generic terms, a titanium pen, you could sue me for using the term titanium and pen?

A short phrase like that would never be copyrightable, so that would be more like a trademark.

I suggest reading up on trademarks:
http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp