Protecting Intellectual Property with Erin Ogden of OGS Law
Trademarks, copyrights, and patents play an important role in the value of a business, but it can be confusing to know how to use them effectively.
Erin Ogden is the Managing Attorney at Ogden Glazer + Schaefer, a business law firm that focuses on intellectual property, and she joins us today to help us navigate these tricky waters. Our conversation begins on the subject of Erin’s training and she talks about how her education in the fields of genetics, law, and dairy science have uniquely positioned her as an expert in the field of intellectual property. From there, we take a deep dive into four of the biggest legal regimes surrounding intellectual property protection: trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Erin does a fantastic job of explaining how each of these terms differ from one another. She weighs in on how these regimes help businesses set up protections around their rights to what they produce and the signals their customers use to differentiate them from their competition. We talk about how businesses should know when to apply for what, and Erin highlights that it should come down to strategy, goals, and budget.
We speak about which types of businesses would benefit from each process, depending on whether their audience connects to them via a slogan, color, logo, design, or even through the particular creative expression of an idea. For a technical conversation bound to enhance your understanding of intellectual property, be sure to tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
An intro into Erin and the intellectual property services offered at Ogden Glazer + Schaefer.
The story behind Erin studying genetics, law, and then dairy science.
Erin’s experience working at big and small law firms and the differences between them.
Growth through change and the reason why Erin started her own practice.
Erin’s approach of using her clients as sounding boards when she has new ideas.
Using client feedback as an opportunity to come up with solutions.
Definitions of the intellectual property regimes: Trade secrets, patents, copyrights, and trademarks.
Legalities surrounding application and rights given by trade secrets, copyrights, patents, and trademarks.
Using budget, strategy, and goals to judge when and what to trademark versus copyright.
Whether to create new colors to trademark or use colors being used by other brands.
The best time to patent, copyright, trademark.
Common mistakes companies make with trademarking, patenting, and copyrighting.
Erin’s thoughts on the future of trademarking, patenting, and copyrighting.
Tweetables:
“We are a business law firm who loves intellectual property, so all of the stuff in a business that gives a business its value but you can’t put your hands on, so things like trademarks and copyrights.” — @ErinROgden [0:00:54]
“Copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents are the four biggest regimes of intellectual property protection that the government sets up.” — @ErinROgden [0:18:43]
“When it comes to filing trademarks and copyrights, ask yourself what is your strategy, what are your goals, and what is your budget.” — @ErinROgden [0:40:17]
“Could I use Home Depot orange on my doughnut shop? Probably unless I was calling it Donut Depot because now I am trying to trade in on their orange.” — @ErinROgden [0:51:05]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Erin Ogden
Ogden Glazer + Schaefer
New Glarus Brewing
