TRADEMARKS & COPYRIGHTS
We help business owners secure and defend the names, marks and creative work their businesses trade on, from clearance and federal registration through licensing and enforcement.
What This Work Actually Involves
Protecting What the Business Trades On
A brand that has been used for years without registration is not unprotected, but it is harder to defend and easier to lose. Most of the owners we work with have built something recognizable and have never formally secured it, and discover the gap only when someone else files first or begins using something close.
This work sits alongside our business and entity practice. When a group of companies restructures or expands, the question of who owns the marks, and which entity should hold them, has to be answered at the same time as the corporate structure.
Clearance and searching
Determining whether a proposed name or mark is available before money is spent building a brand around it.
Federal trademark registration
Preparing and prosecuting applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including responses to office actions.
Portfolio and ownership structure
Deciding which entity should hold the marks in a group of companies, and documenting the licences between them.
Copyright and creative work
Ownership, assignment and licensing of creative work, including work produced by contractors rather than employees.
Licensing and coexistence
Agreements permitting others to use a mark, and negotiated arrangements with parties using something similar.
Enforcement and defence
Demand letters, opposition and cancellation proceedings, and litigation where a mark is being infringed or challenged.
Representative Experience
Matters We Have Handled
Entity structure and trademark protection for a family office
Formed new business entities for a family office expanding an established group of companies, and filed trademark applications protecting long-established brands. The structure was built across Michigan and Delaware to be scalable and tax-efficient as the group grows.
Reese Serra · 2026
Independent film financing and production
Advised a family office investing in and producing feature films outside the studio system, across Michigan, Florida and Tennessee. Contracting was complex and production timelines were compressed.
Reese Serra · 2024–2025
The matters described above are examples of work performed by The Private Firm. Client identities and identifying details have been omitted or generalized. Every matter turns on its own facts and its own law. Prior results do not guarantee, predict or imply a similar outcome in any future matter. Nothing on this page constitutes legal advice or creates an attorney-client relationship.
Who Handles This Work
Trademark Counsel at The Private Firm
Trademark and copyright work is handled alongside the firm's business and entity practice, because the question of who owns a mark is usually a question about corporate structure.