Paralegal FAQs

Paralegal is a legal assistant who works under the guidance of attorneys or lawyers. These persons carry out various legal tasks, which include legal research, legal document preparation, and law office management. These persons gain corresponding qualification by education, training or by work experience at law offices, government agencies, and other law related fields.

How to become a paralegal?

You can become a paralegal by securing an associate degree from community colleges. Bachelor and master degrees and certification programs in paralegal studies are other options to become paralegals. Some employers even provide on job training for college graduates without any legal experience or take individuals who have experience as legal secretaries. Those persons with experience in technical field needed for law firms can also become paralegals.

What are the basic work qualities needed for a paralegal?

A paralegal should ideally have good skills for organizing and managing law offices. He should be capable of doing complex and detailed work in a fast and accurate manner. He should have excellent communication skills.

Where do paralegals work?

Paralegals work in almost all areas related to law. These include law firms, law departments, insurance companies, banks, courts, legal clinics, and government agencies. Paralegals can work independently or as team leaders.

Whether license is required for paralegals?

Paralegals do not require license to perform tasks in most cases. This is because these persons work under the supervision of licensed attorneys or lawyers.

Whether any certification is necessary for paralegals?

Certification depends on the area of service. Some areas require certification whereas some others do not. To become a certified paralegal, individuals should have CLA (Certified Legal Assistant) or PACE (Paralegal Advanced Competency Exam) certification.

What about the salary for paralegals?

Paralegal salaries are based on education, experience, special skills in the relevant field, and the nature of the employer. It can start from 16000 dollars and can go up to 34000 dollars.

Paralegal provides detailed information on Paralegal, Paralegal Jobs, Paralegal Schools, Paralegal Training and more. Paralegal is affiliated with Notary Public Supplies

Trademarks - A Quick Introduction

With the combined advent of the internet/dot-com boom and the prevailing trend of individuals going into business for themselves, the focus and importance surrounding intellectual property has been in the forefront of the minds of entrepreneurs, artists, inventors and anyone wanting to protect the fruits of their labors.

Because intellectual property and the laws therewith can change as rapidly as our ever-increasing technological world, it is imperative that when doing research on these topics to use accredited resources ? contact either the appropriate governmental agencies, attorneys or private companies that specialize in these topics.

TRADEMARKS :

Trademarks are frequently thought of as those items that identify either a product or a service. This can include names of services (e.g. McDonald?s ? for restaurant services) or products (e.g. Coca-Cola ? for soft drinks), logos (e.g. Nike?s ? swoosh design), slogans (e.g. American Express? ? Don?t Leave Home Without It ?), packaging, sounds and smells.

There are over 2,500,000 Trademarks, and over 16,000,000 commercial Common Law trade names in use! An existing Federal Trademark, State Trademark or commercial Common Law use can take precedence over your new business or product name, IF there is a conflict or similarity in sound, appearance or meaning!

SIMILARITIES IN SOUND, APPEARANCE & MEANING:

What exactly is a similarity in Sound, Appearance or Meaning? This is the most complex portion of any legal name research. In order to determine what may or may not be a similarity, one has to be as open minded as possible to include any & all variations that could possibly confuse the common consumer. Some examples may help with this:

1. Joe has a pending Federal trademark for his auto detailing service called It?s in the Details. Becky wants to call her new auto detailing service, It is the Details. They are both offering the same service and their trade areas cross. This is a Strong Similarity, based on Sound & Appearance, their crossing of trade areas & Joe?s pending Federal application.
2. Mary has a Federally registered trademark for her clothing line, Scary Mary?s Apparel. Dan wants to use the name Mary Frightful Wear for his clothing line. This is a Strong Similarity, based on Meaning & Mary?s Federal registration.
3. Sam has a California state registered trademark for his restaurant, Crabtastic Eats! and has no plans to expand outside of the state and primarily serves locals. Hannah's restaurant, Crabtastic, is located in Maine. She also has no plans to expand outside of the state and primarily serves locals. This is NOT a Strong Similarity based on their different trade areas.
4. Lorena?s online payroll service, Pay Up, has been in use for 15 years and has clients across the country. Gene wants to start an online payroll service called Wage Wizard. Neither of them have trademarks. This is NOT a Strong Similarity based on the dissimilarity in the names.

No claim is made to the ownership, knowledge or liability of the above personal and/or company names. The above examples are merely for informational purposes and should only be seen as such.

Naturally, there will be exceptions to every situation. For instance, similar trademarks (in name and goods/services) can coexist peacefully if both parties are comfortable with one another?s existence. This can happen if trade areas do not cross (e.g. located on opposite coasts), if they appeal to different consumers (e.g. one sells to private industry while the other sells to the general public), etc.

FAMOUS TRADEMARKS:

Trademarks that are famous are afforded slightly different protection based on the very nature of their recognizability. Simply, the argument for famous marks is that since their brand name is recognized by a vast majority of consumers, any marks similar to it, even in different industries, could be construed as an infringement. The main justification for this is if "the owner of a famous mark shall be entitled, subject to the principles of equity and upon such terms as the court deems reasonable, to an injunction against another person?s commercial use in commerce of a mark or trade name, if such use begins after the mark has become famous and causes dilution of the distinctive quality of the mark."

Of course, like with all trademark issues, there are gray areas. Each potential infringement is taken on a case by case basis. Not all cases end up favoring large corporations either. Take the famous case of Victor?s Secret & Victoria?s Secret (Moseley et. al. d/b/a Victor's Little Secret v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc., et al.), in which the smaller company won their case.

The best route to take if there is a possibility of an infringement, famous mark or not, is to speak to a trademark attorney. She will assist you in determining what the next best step is as well as offer assistance with any preparation and filing of documents.

SUMMARY:

While trademark law can be intimidating to the uninitiated, obtaining the help of a trademark attorney or an experienced private company will make the entire process go much smoother. There are preliminary steps one can do when starting a business and/or renaming a business:

1. Choose a name that is unique & distinctive ? generic or descriptive names are not generally allowed registration by the USPTO and are more difficult to enforce.
2. Do as much free research as you can before hiring an attorney or a private company. Check the internet, yellow pages, domain names & the USPTO.
3. Be aware that any research you do for free online is merely preliminary and only comprehensive research will tell if the name is available.
4. Once you receive the trademark, it is your responsibility to enforce your trademark rights. To do this, either have research conducted every 2-3 years OR hire a monitoring service.

Link to Above Quote

Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at http://www.tmexpress.com.

Trademark Infringement Against Newly Formed Businesses

Many years after forming a new business, your company may receive a letter telling you that your company?s name is infringing upon another company?s name. This could lead to either your company being forced to change its name or undergo litigation. In Illinois, a corporation or a limited liability company registered with the Secretary of State can have a name similar to a company located outside the state. This then leads the prevention of trademark infringement up to the company itself or a corporate attorney.

You will need to obtain a trademark in one of two ways. First, your company name can be registered in the Federal Trademark System. By doing this, you would have exclusive control over that name for usually a 10-year period, which can be renewed every 10 years. If anyone uses a ?confusingly similar? name, this is trademark infringement. Second, you can enforce your mark, within your territory, based on common law. Your territory could be considered a geographical area where your name has become familiar with your particular goods or services. However, a company in Washington State could have the same name as a company in Illinois.

When you organize your company, a thorough search is needed to be sure your new company name is not already taken. First, Federal trademarks can be searched. Also, a TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) search on the internet is needed. Visiting a Patent Library in Illinois can be done as well. Finally, a private firm can be hired to do a search for you. To search for a case law trademark, look at the Secretary of State?s website, phone directories, or other legal databases. You may also consider registering an internet domain name to both protect your company?s name and use it for marketing purposes.

Nicolosi & Associates - Attorneys at Law Since 1948. Skilled in the law. Experienced in business. http://www.nicolosilaw.com

It Really Is My Trademark, Honest

 

A trademark could be a different name, symbol, sign, phrase, picture or style employed by a business to work as an identity for its products and services as well as for itself.

A trademark lawyer?s job requirements include trademark application, filing and prosecution. A trademark lawyer searches and clears the trademark search analysis. He looks after the trademark infringement and enforcement matters and matters involving third parties? infringing marks. He manages all trademark litigation, prepares, reviews and negotiates license agreements. Registration and monitoring of domain names and general trademark counseling about routine trademark matters and education are the requirements for a good trademark lawyer.

A trademark lawyer is required to take the following steps for a trademark registration process:

1. The trademark lawyer makes an inquiry whether the name selected has already been registered or if it infringes a registered name or mark. It is only after the complete determination of trademark?s validity that an applicant may begin using the symbol.

2. The trademark lawyer then prepares and files the trademark application.

3. After one or two months the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) acknowledges the filing of trademark. The trademark lawyer then obtains a serial number for the application.

4. If the proposed trademark infringes on any existing one, the Trademark Office in consultation with the concerned lawyer, suggests possible alterations that need to be made. This is done within six months from the filing of application.

5. Within eight months of filing the application, USPTO publishes the proposed trademark in the Official Gazette. During this period, trademark holders may file objections to the proposed trademark.

6. After ten months, USPTO issues a Notice of Allowance. After this the applicant can start using the trademark in business.

The applicant may begin using the trademark only after the approval by USPTO. It is only then that an applicant can commence using the mark or name with the ? symbol.Howard Schwartz is a partner in several business strategy groups, including HJ Ventures International, Inc. Howard has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs worldwide with a focus on writing Business Plans for companies interested in raising capital from Venture Funds. http://www.hjventures.com/trademark/Trademark-Lawyer-Directory.html