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

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

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

2. Another form of MS intellectual property law, the copyright, protects original works of authorship, whether published or unpublished, such as literature, drama, music and other artistic renderings.

3. Mississippi trademark law defines a trademark (also known as service marks) as protection for 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.

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

Patent your invention through intellectual property law in MS

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 MS patent law, 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.

I recommend: Research the national patent registration database at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. Take advantage of the Inventor Assistance page on the University of Mississippi website. Use the resources on the Patent Research Guide provided by Mississippi State University to find patents and patent information.

Copyright your original work with MS intellectual property laws

Under Mississippi 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. To make sure your work has the best possible protection from plagiarism and reproduction, you should consult with an intellectual property attorney.

I recommend: For more information on copyrights, visit the United States Copyright Office website. Use the United States Patent and Trademark Office to search for registered USPTO intellectual property law firms in Mississippi. Visit the University of Mississippi Medical Center for additional information and resources on Mississippi copyright law.

Use IP laws in Mississippi 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 MS 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 and it is helpful to hire an intellectual property attorney Mississippi to assist you with the trademark process.

I recommend: Go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website to search the national trademark database. Visit the LegalZoom.com for further information on how to file a trademark in Mississippi. Search for a Mississippi intellectual property lawyer on Justia.com by Mississippi metro area, county or city.

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 Mississippi in order to protect your idea or creation fully.