Melrose - Having worked in a copyright and trademark research company with a talented group of lawyers, I was fortunate enough to learn quite a bit about the topic over a four year period.  This along with over a decade of attending a multitude of workshops dedicated to filling out forms, registering designs and dealing with renewals has provided me with enough information to be able to share that knowledge with others in order to help them begin the process of registering a copyright or trademark.  But, no matter how many times I've attended a workshop or class, there's always something new to learn.

The most recent workshop that took place at the Longwood Arts Gallery at Hostos Community College was similar to many I've taken before.  Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto was represented by six lawyers who shared their knowledge of the copyright and trademark laws with the audience.  They handed out basic guides to the laws about the topic.  Beginning with examples of a word mark and design intended to be registered, the lawyers walk you through the two separate handouts--one dedicated to copyright and the other to trademark--while utilizing a PowerPoint presentation.  Although they were able to answer many of the questions posed during the workshop, it felt a bit stagnant and dry typical of workshops of this nature.  The interaction was pretty straightforward and one-sided.  They explained the similarities and differences between the two commonly confused types of marks.  They also cited various legal proceedings involving copyright and trademark disputes, the timeline of their registration and ownership and the ramifications of not registering original marks and designs.

But, one thing that was a bit disconcerting was that the workshop seemed to cater much more to a businees clientele.  In fact, the artistic individuals responsible for creating all those interesting and memorable logos and sound bytes for businesses seemed few and far between in the audience.  What I quickly realized was that a lack of advertising may have played a key role in creating a forum where the larger percentage of attendees were business owners based on all the comments made and the lack of artists actually asking key questions about how to register their creative work in order to protect themselves.  Instead, this group's questions were more focused on how to utilize the copyright and trademark laws to manipulate the use of the designs that artists have created or will create for their businesses in order to prevent having to pay out royalties.

This being said, there were many questions that would have created a much larger discussion about the rights of the artists if more artists were indeed present.  Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto was able to conduct this important service to the Bronx community but, unfortunately, the lack of service to the group of people that should have been served was completely dismissed.

Although it was disappointing for me in that aspect, I actually feel empowered to have been present for the event.  Now, I can share this with other interested artists to help motivate them into taking a workshop on this subject to prevent businesses from abusing the artist's rights.  I'm hoping that the next event on copyright and trademark will be advertised much more in advance and in a manner that would allow a much larger presence of artists to participate.

USPTO - United States Patent & Trademark Office

By Xavier Figueroa

Editor, photographer, writer and founder of Bronx Art Guide

Xavier Figueroa's website

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