Louisiana intellectual property law aids in the protection of your ideas, inventions, and artistic renderings. Without intellectual property law in Louisiana, someone could claim your work as his own with no repercussions. Taking the time to register your creation under the appropriate IP law in LA will insure that it will always remain your own.

There are three types of intellectual property laws in Louisiana. When determining how best to protect yourself with Louisiana IP law, consider the following:

1. Patents are a form of Louisiana intellectual property law that protect the new and useful machine, method, manufacturing technique, composition or improvement that you invent.

2. Information about Louisiana intellectual property law provides that trademarks (also known as service marks) protect any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination thereof, which you use in association with a product/service that indicates the origin of that product/service and distinguishes it from others.

3. The final form of LA intellectual property law, the copyright, protects original works of authorship, whether published or unpublished, such as literature, drama, music and other artistic renderings.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Patent your invention through Louisiana intellectual property law

A patent gives you the right to exclude others from making, using or selling your invention. In order to have an invention worth patenting, it must be operative and useful. According to IP laws in LA, while you may have a good idea, you must be able to show how it will work, through diagrams or prototypes, in order to obtain a patent for it. Before getting to deep in the invention process, it's important that you make sure there isn't a patent already out there for your idea on a state or national level (and foreign, if you wish to go global with your invention).

I recommend: Check the Louisiana Intellectual Property Directory for existing Louisiana patent registrations. Research the national patent registration database on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. According to intellectual property law history in Louisiana, the earliest patent granted to a Louisiana resident was in 1810. The Index to Early Louisiana Patents provides information on patents from 1810-1890.

Use IP laws in Louisiana to obtain a trademark

You can establish a trademark by either using the mark (word, name, phrase or design) or registering the mark through the registration process provided in LA intellectual property law. The court must often determine the rightful owner of a trademark when a dispute arises between two companies that use the mark without registering it and without the knowledge that someone else uses it. The term of a trademark lasts for as long as the mark is in use and you renew the mark registration as required. Like a patent, you must make sure that someone else has no claim the trademark you use on both a state and national level.

I recommend: Go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website and click "search" on the right side to search the national trademark database. Visit the Louisiana Secretary of State website to search for trademarks, including business names, to see if yours is available. To register a trademark in Louisiana, go to the Secretary of State form page and click on form #309.

Copyright your original work with LA intellectual property laws

Under Louisiana intellectual property laws, only the owner of the copyright can reproduce, distribute or transfer ownership to the public (through sale, rental, lease or lending), and perform or display the work publicly. Authors who own a copyrighted work are free to give rights to others, but it is illegal for anyone to change or use those productions without the author's permission. Copyrights start at the time of initial authorship and last through the author's lifetime, plus an additional 50 years.

I recommend: For more information on copyrights, visit the United States Copyright Office website. To assign copyright privileges to another individual, visit FindLegalForms.com to purchase and download a Louisiana Copyright Assignment. Read the latest news on and articles on IP law on the Louisiana Intellectual Property Directory.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Be sure that you register for the appropriate form of intellectual property law in Louisiana in order to protect your idea or creation fully. When in doubt, consult intellectual property law lawyers in Louisiana.