Expert: Shannon Moore - 9/30/2008

Question
QUESTION: ....and what's the difference between a copyright and a trademark?  As a hypothetical, let's say that I've come up with a slogan for a political bumper sticker and I don't want some unprincipled competitor from running off 100,000 copies and having them all sold on e-Bay while I'm still getting bids from printers.  

Is "copyrighting" the slogan the route to take to keep this pithy gem out of the hands of "them what didn't have nothing to do with its creation"; and who/how/when/where is copyrighting done?

ANSWER: Dear Mac,

First, the differences between the two:

Copyrights can be obtained for things of an artistic nature. This includes, of course, poetry, films, sculptures, music, fiction, etc. But can also include things that may not necessarily seem "artistic" in the general sense of the word. Copyrights can also be obtained for advertising copy, games, software programs and blueprints, to name just a few.

Trademarks can be names of products or services, logos, slogans, packaging and even sounds and smells. In essence, a trademark can be almost anything that is used to identify a particular product or service. Registering a trademark grants the owner exclusive rights to the mark within the specified industry.

Of course, it's necessary to research the mark comprehensively prior to filing to ensure that there is no possibility of infringing upon another party.

Secondly, slogans/phrases are dealt with a bit differently. Here's an article I wrote about this subject: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Do-I-Trademark-a-Slogan?&id=689574

If I knew a few more details (e.g. is there an image on the sticker? is the slogan the name of the company? etc.), I could point you in a more definite direction. Please feel free to ask again or contact me at my email at dc@tmexpress.com

Hope this helps!

Warmest regards,
Shannon Moore
http://www.tmexpress.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The details: I've (attempted to) attach an image, but in case it doesn't get through, it's the capital letters NO in one size and color superimposed over the name Obama! in a slightly smaller-sized and different-color font so that the result gives a succinct indication of an opinion in the matter: NObama!.  I hope this helps.

Answer
Dear Mac,

I can see the image just fine. Now that I see you're talking about Senator Obama, this is a whole different ball of wax. I'm assuming you're in no way connected to either campaign and I've got to tell you quite honestly that it is highly unlikely the USPTO would give you this trademark.

I wrote an article about this very subject back in March -- http://tmexpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/mccain-winning-08-presidential.html

All kinds of folks have already attempted to do this very thing & the response from the USPTO were refusals. The refusals from the USPTO were "because the mark consists of or comprises matter which may falsely suggest a connection with the individual [candidate's name]."

Hope this helps!

Warmest regards,
Shannon Moore
http://www.tmexpress.com