Intellectual Property, Business, and Estate Planning

King Patent Law, PLLC

Protecting your ideas, business, and legacy

Intellectual Property

Patent

Trademark

Copyright

Trade Secrets and Confidential/Proprietary Information

Patents

Patents protect inventions, like manufactured items, processes, machines, compositions of matter, or improvements to those things. Sometimes they also protect the way a manufactured item looks or a new kind of plant.

Trademarks

Trademarks protect your brand: business name, logo, slogan, package design, store design elements, sounds, scents, and more. They identify a source of goods or services and distinguish it from others.

Copyright

Copyright protects intellectual and artistic expression, including books, magazines, movies, photographs, music, drawings, paintings, live performances, and sculpture. It also protects software programs, business plans and charts, websites, graphic designs, and data compilations.

Other IP Protection

Trade secrets, confidential information, and proprietary information cover many pieces of intellectual property that can’t be protected by patent, trademark, or copyright registration. Non-disclosure agreements are useful for protection.

Not Ready to Hire An Attorney Yet? Start Here:

Are Your Valuable IP Assets Protected Properly?

Get the IP Checkup Checklist and find out what you’re missing, before a competitor, copycat, or the USPTO’s deadline calendar finds it for you.

$47 that could help you save your brand, your invention, and your competitive edge.

Recent Posts About Intellectual Property

Your Content Deal Has Claws

What Coca-Cola Did to Johnny Cash — And Why Every Creator Should Be Terrified

Last November, the Johnny Cash estate sued Coca-Cola for using a tribute singer specifically chosen to sound like the Man in Black, without permission, without a license, without paying a single cent. Sound familiar? It should. Frito-Lay tried the exact same thing with Tom Waits in 1992 and lost two and a half million dollars. Brands have been stealing artists’ voices, content, and identities for decades. And it’s not just celebrities at risk. If you’re a creator signing brand deals, or a business hiring influencers, your contracts may be doing the same thing right now without you realizing it. I’m Julie King, a patent and IP attorney with over 25 years of experience, and today we’re talking about the three legal traps hiding in almost every influencer and marketing contract.

April 21, 2026

AI and Your IP: What Every Small Business Owner Actually Needs to Know in 2026

The artificial intelligence tools you are using right now to run your business, to write your marketing copy, design your logo, generate product ideas, create images for your website, and produce your social media content, are raising intellectual property questions that most business owners have not fully thought through yet.
And here is what makes it genuinely spooky: the wrong assumption can cost you your copyright. It can sink your trademark application. It can leave you building a brand on a foundation you do not actually own.

April 7, 2026

IP Strategy for Creatives: Protect Your Art, Your Brand, and Your Business

The Four Intellectual Property Tools Every Creative Needs in Their Arsenal: When we talk about intellectual property, we are talking about four main categories: copyright, trademark, patents, and trade secrets. As a creative, your work often touches multiple categories at once. Understanding which protects what is the foundation of any smart IP strategy.

March 31, 2026

Zombie Businesses: Avoiding the IP and Succession Nightmare

Zombie Businesses: Avoiding the IP and Succession Nightmare

A zombie business is what happens when a business loses its owner or a key owner without any plan in place for what comes next. The owner is gone, but the business staggers forward without direction, without legal authority, and without any structure to resolve the chaos.

It can happen when a founder dies, becomes incapacitated, or simply wants to retire. It can happen when a co-founder relationship falls apart with no exit plan. But death is the clearest example, and it is where the consequences hit hardest.

March 17, 2026

Is your business cursed? 7-Point legal business checkup

Is Your Business Cursed (But You Don’t Know It Yet?) 7-Point Legal Checkup

Are there horrors lurking in your business’s outdated operating agreements or bylaws, problematic contractor agreements, expired licenses, or other dusty business corners? If you’re not sure, right now is the time to find out, before they cause serious problems. This is essential business maintenance you need to do at least once a year. This article, gives you a clear 7-point checklist you can work through now to save yourself major headaches.

March 10, 2026

Tales from the Crypt(ic Requirements): Trademark Specimens and Intent-to-Use Trademark Applications Decoded

Thinking about filing a trademark before you launch? Intent-to-Use applications and specimen requirements are more complex than they appear. Patent attorney Julie King explains what goes wrong and why trademark attorney guidance matters. You’ve got a great brand name. Maybe you’ve designed a logo. You’re getting ready to launch your business or product. But here’s the question everyone asks: Should you wait until you’re actually selling products to file for a trademark? Or can you file now and secure your rights before launch?

February 24, 2026