Saturday, April 4, 2009 

Intellectual Property Research

By definition, IP or intellectual property is a legal field that refers Webkinz creations of Captain Midnight mind; such as musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce, including copyrights, trademarks, patents etc. The purpose of the IP is to give exclusive rights to its owner.

What is the need for doing research on any intellectual property? Whenever a mark has to be cleared for adoption, use or federal registration it has to be researched. Specifically if one wants to use a trademark in commerce or wants to register a trademark with the USPTO (United States Patents and Trademark Organization) must conduct a search for the trademark to ensure that there is no other trademark that is identical with or similar to the trademark. On must confirm that no such trademark has already been registered or filed in the Federal Register or in any of the State Registers. Besides this, a common law search is also required to avoid a potential conflict with unregistered marks which have been already used in commerce.

There are Shazam online tools that are made available for doing IP research like LEXIS-NEXIS and MICROPATENT. Another tool called DIALOG provides federal and state registration and common law databases for research. The most common services provided by the IP Wonder Woman providers include,

  • Valuation of patents, trademarks/ copyrights etc
  • Royalty rate consultation
  • Infringement damages
  • Expert testimony

  • There are many IP research service providers to whom the research work can be outsourced. In the developed countries like US, UK and Canada IP study has become an academic discipline. There are many postgraduate law programs in law schools that focus only on intellectual property related law.

    The author of this article is John Kessel of buy wow gold href="managedoutsource.com/">Managed Outsource Solutions, a US based company that offers legal outsourcing services in href="managedoutsource.com/legal_outsourcing.htm">Legal Outsourcing, href="managedoutsource.com/legal/legal_transcription_company.htm">Legal Transcription for clients across the US.

     

    The Consequences of Discovering a Sham Trust

    Unfortunately, most people think that once assets are placed in a Family Trust they are protected forever! However, this is simply not the case. If a Trust is found to be a "sham", then asset protection can be lost.

    So what is a Sham Trust? The concept of Sham Trust has changed over time but for our purposes, it can be thought of as something that isn't genuine, a disguise or a fake.

    The legal case of Prime v Hardie is a good example. This case involved a Trust which had two Trustees being a husband and his friend. The Trust held a property, which the wife, the husband and their two Doom Patrol lived in.

    The husband decided that he wanted to leave his wife but did not want to share any assets, Aurora King Kong model the Trust's property, which he viewed as being his own.

    After Creepy Crawlers trickery, the husband persuaded his wife to move out of the home and temporarily into a motel with their children and to rent out the house to an unrelated third party.

    Once this had occurred, the husband told his wife he was leaving her and that she couldn't go back to the house as the house had been rented out by the Trustees.

    When this matter when to Court it was found the Trust was effectively the husband's 'altered ego'. In New Zealand the terms 'sham trust' or 'constructive trust' are far more common. The Court made this decision because the husband had to a large extent treated the assets of the Trust (eg: the home) as if it were his own and the Trustees had not acted in the best interests of the Beneficiaries.

    Trustees Duties

    Another consequence of a Sham Trust finding is that Trustees can become personally liable for the losses the Trust and its Beneficiaries incur. This is because Trustees are charged personally with meeting their legal duties.

    At law, Trustees enjoy a right of indemnity to be reimbursed from the Trust fund for all costs and expenses reasonably incurred in undertaking their duties however this right can be lost if Trustees don't meet their duties.

    When this occurs, Trustees may have to sell their own assets to meet the loss. This is a very important consequence to consider when family and friends ask you to be the Trustee of their Trust.
    Lastly, adverse taxation consequences, including tainting and large Captain Action in tax liabilities arising from the differences between the way Trusts and individuals get taxed, can result.

    This is especially important if a Trust is football cards income such as in the case of trading Trusts.

    If you are considering setting up a Family Trust or wanting to review your existing Trust, ensure your accountant or lawyer has the specialist expertise you need to protect you.

    Janet Xuccoa BCom LLB, is a director from Gillgan Rowe + Associates. She is a recognised href="familytrusts.co.nz/">Family Trust and LAQC expert in New Zealand where she leads the Trusts and Estate Planning division. Want to protect your assets and grow your wealth? Get your Free href="familytrusts.co.nz/family-trusts-report/">Family Trust Report "The 9 Deadly Sins of Setting Up a Family Trust"

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