The Second Edition of Own Your Lemons is currently in production and will be available this Fall! ************************ A lemon can be many things from a delicious citrus fruit to a dud of a car but most importantly it is something you can own. The idea for Own Your Lemons came to me when I was a freshly faced law student learning the basic of contracts, property law, and family law. As the daughter of Dr. Mary Lemon Brooks nephew I have always been interested in the fundamentals of law and how law connects the world. My first legal fellowship after graduating law school focused on art and entertainment law it was there I learned the fundamentals of intellectual property from renowned entertainment attorney John Renaud of Turner/Time Warner. In this second edition of Own Your Lemons I am delighted to share some of these internal secrets with you. When you first think of intellectual property (IP) what comes to mind? Is it the last commercial you watched on YouTube or the last item you bought in the grocery store? IP plays a large part in the branding and marketing we all see on a daily basis from slogans like “Where's the beef?” and “We have the meats” to characters like “Flo” and “Jake” promoting car insurance and even logos like the Adidas apparel three stripes and Nike’s coveted swish mark. Characters, slogans, and logos are the main elements of promotional IP but only a small part of the IP market. The great thing about America’s IP market system is owning the product and owning the promotion. Here in the US there are two federal offices which grant intellectual property rights. The US Copyright Office grants a copyright under specific circumstances. A grant of right allows you as the owner to protect your work from being copied and used without your permission. The US Patent and Trademark Office grants patents and trademarks under certain circumstances. Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights are the only types of intellectual property. Now it gets complicated, think of those Flo and Jake characters from your favorite car insurance ad they are people too! State laws in the United States of America grant publicity rights to individuals promoting products. You may be thinking this doesn’t make any sense and you are right it doesn’t make sense it makes cents. Literally every time your likeness is shown in association with a product or brand someone is making a royalty. Chang ching! As someone interested in owning lemons the cost of manufacturing and marketing can be steep if you don’t do your homework first. Building brand quality can take years whereas ideas are one in a million unlike those complicated combinations of slogans, logos, characters, products, and people. For more on IP purchase the digital copy of Own Your Lemons in Google Play Books. *****************COMING SOON*************************** Mind Your Lemons Give Your Lemons