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Our Services
Publishing, Media and Cyberspace Law Our Focus We represent growth-oriented organizations and entrepreneurial individuals. Our clients are generally companies involved in print and electronic publishing. Books. Magazines. Newsletters. Training programs. Multimedia programs. On-line products and services. We represent clients ranging from start-up's and closely held family businesses to larger corporate entities. Our Philosophy & Client Response Enthusiasm. Determination. That's where we begin. Our approach to meeting client challenges and problem solving is creative, responsive, cost-effective and practical. We're strategically aggressive on our client's behalf. We believe in providing clients with focused, individual attention and sensitive response to complex needs and opportunities. High quality work. Value-added solutions. Reasonable fees. These characterize our practice as well. The result is excellent working relationships, open communications and enhanced control for our clients.
Areas of Practice
Publishing, Media and Cyberspace The legal protection for the Publishing, Media, and Cyberspace industries is not one single body of law, but is instead a combination of legal principles that are specifically applied to these industries that have developed within such areas of the law as business and contract; intellectual property -- copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret, unfair competition, domain names; First Amendment; torts -- right of publicity and privacy, and defamation and libel, and many other legal subject areas. The law that applies to the Publishing/Media Industry is therefore both general and particular as it applies to publishers, authors, developers, artists, photographers, designers, editors, and agents. Our legal practice emphasizes the Publishing, Media, and Cyberspace industries. We have 30 years of worldwide publishing, communications and business experience with large and small publishing, technology and communications organizations. Our experience includes new business development, start-up and turn around situations, acquisitions and divestitures, strategic and financial planning, worldwide licensing and joint ventures, and the protection, management and commercialization of intellectual property rights. Contracts The single most important document in any publishing deal is the publishing agreement which governs the rights of the publisher, author and other creative people, distributors and licensees of publishing rights for the duration of the agreement. Important terms, and sometimes the written document itself, are frequently overlooked in print and electronic publishing agreements, whether the agreement be an assignment of rights, a "work made for hire", a distribution agreement, a licensing agreement for subsidiary rights or a joint venture opportunity. Frequently, too little attention is paid to "familiar" clauses of the "standard agreement" that have been relied upon for years without taking into consideration developments that have occurred and continue to occur in today's modern "publishing age". We have extensive experience in analyzing, preparing and negotiating publishing agreements of all types. We provide counsel with respect to the "grant of rights", subsidiary rights, copyright and trademark ownership, royalties, warranties, discounts and all other components of publishing agreements, whether they be in standard contracts or one-of-a kind publishing agreements. Intellectual Property Our intellectual property practice focuses on assisting clients in the creation, acquisition, protection, distribution, transfer and management of copyrights and trademarks. The objective is to assist clients in commercializing and safeguarding their valuable intellectual property assets. The firm has considerable expertise in negotiation and structuring transactions involving the distribution and licensing of intellectual property assets. Copyrights Our approach is to counsel clients "offensively" on how to protect new products through copyright, and "defensively" on how to avoid copyright infringement. We also conduct copyright searches, prepare copyright availability opinions, and assist clients in obtaining copyright registrations through our ©Xpress service. We also handle copyright infringement litigation matters. Trademarks We provide a full complement of services relating to the selection, and protection of trade marks, service marks and company names. We also provide counsel regarding the availability, use and registration of trademarks in the United States and abroad. In addition, we assist clients in developing trademark protection strategies. Other services include the preparation and prosecution of trademark applications through our ®Xpress service and handling trademark infringement litigation matters. Additionally, we provide counsel and handle litigation in the related areas of trade dress infringement and unfair competition. Licensing We have had extensive experience in negotiating and drafting licensing and assignment agreements of all types, including distribution agreements, joint venture agreements, subsidiary rights agreements and acquisition of intellectual property assets. We also provide counsel with respect to many licensing issues, such as ownership of intellectual property, warranties, enforceability, limitation of liability, and escrow. Intellectual Property Audits
We are often called to assist clients in establishing and implementing company-wide
procedures to systematically protect all forms of intellectual property - copyrights,
trademarks, patents and trade secrets. We also regularly perform intellectual property
portfolio audits in connection with the client's existing intellectual property assets or
the purchase, acquisition or license of these assets.
The audit determines:
Corporate -- Acquisitions and Divestitures We frequently assist clients with structuring, negotiating and closing transactions, such as licensing agreements, joint ventures, and acquisitions and divestitures. This part of our practice is heavily dependent upon our 30 years experience in the publishing industry and provides counsel on due diligence, deal points, alternatives, safeguards and other critical terms of the transaction. A significant part of our corporate practice concerns business planning and counsel regarding day-to-day and future operations, such as responding to specific questions from management and reviewing documentation. 1163 Vine Street Denver, Colorado 80206 Telephone: (303) 388-0291 Fax: (303) 388-0477 E-mail: rich@publishingattorney.com |
