|
Article:
I'm Riding a What?... An Intellectual Property Attorney's Guide To Patents and Surfing by: Thomas A. Hatfield Intellectual property is everywhere, and encompasses, among other things, the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. As an industry, surfing represents a significant market that is heavily influenced and involved with intellectual property. In fact, the Surf Industry Manufacturer Association's (SIMA) managing director Sean Smith surprised me with the fact that the U.S. Surf market is estimated to be a $4.14 billion industry and the worldwide surf market is estimated to be a $6.5 billion industry. SIMA, in a fact sheet, further reports that there are about 1.6 million people who participate in surfing. This substantial market is segmented along several intellectual property borders that have been created by both organizations and individuals. As an indicator of this segmentation, just start looking for those telltale indicators that include 'Patent Pending', 'Patent No. ___', ®, and ©. Chances are you will many of these references to trademarks, patents, and copyrights on your clothes, your board, the videos you watch, and your surfing accessories. So, you may be asking, what exactly is a trademark or patent anyway? A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of those things, that identify and distinguish the source of one party's goods and services from those of another party. Trademarks are often a good source of income generation for organizations having well established brands. This is because the organization can license the use of their trademark for display on almost any item or piece of clothing you can imagine. For example, Sticky Bumps® U.S. registration number 1831402 is used in conjunction with 'apparel; namely, shirts, shorts and hats, 'Roxy T-Street Surf Contest' an application for which was filed March '29
|
