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We protect businesses' most valuable products, trademarks, and software through expert legal counsel and strategic guidance

Intellectual Property Lawyers Michigan

Patent & Trademark Law Firm

We assist entrepreneurs or anyone who needs to protect their new product, trademark, or logo. We increase the likelihood of approval for patents and trademarks by using experts with a 90% approval success rate. We also assist anyone who needs to protect their creative works with copyright registrations under U.S. intellectual property law.

Clients can have the peace of mind that competitors cannot copy their new products, trademarks or logos, and creative works.

We are pleased to be recognized in the Top 25 best-performing U.S. patent law firms for quality legal work out of 5,000 U.S. patent law firms by the well-respected patent analytics firm Patexia.

John P. Di Bartolo, Jr.
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What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) is a type of property that refers to intangible creations of the human mind. In particular, IP includes patents, trademarks, and copyrights. IP can be an important part of a company’s corporate assets if developed properly. By protecting a company’s IP according to intellectual property law, it can increase their competitive advantage in the marketplace.

The three primary types of IP will now be discussed.

A patent is utilized to protect inventions in exchange for the inventor disclosing how to make and use the invention to the public. In particular, a patent gives its owner the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing a claimed invention for a specific time period. Two types of patents are utility patents and design patents. A utility patent protects the functional and structural aspects of an invention and has a maximum term of 20 years after a filing date of a patent application. A design patent application protects the ornamental exterior look of a product and has a term of 15 years after the patent is granted.

To obtain a U.S. patent, a patent application must be properly filed with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and receive the office’s grant of a patent.

A trademark is a recognizable word, design (logo), or a combination that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others. A trademark may be located on the product itself or on a package holding a product. They can also appear on other marketing materials including websites, pamphlets, and physical and electronic communications.

Trademarks can be classified as either a word mark or a design mark. A word mark is just that - words that can be typed in a standard character format using a keyboard without any stylization. A design mark is generally a graphic design with or without wording, or just stylized wording.

To obtain a U.S. trademark registration, a trademark application must be properly filed with the USPTO and receive the office’s grant of a trademark registration. The trademark registration can be renewed as long as the trademark owner is using the mark in commerce.

A copyright gives its owner the exclusive right to copy and distribute a creative work for a limited time. A creative work is a work that is created in tangible form from a person’s mind. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educational, or musical form. For example, a creative work can include writings, photographs, music, artwork, and videography. There is an important distinction between a copyright and a copyright registration. Copyrights are automatically formed when a creative work is created, but copyright registrations are not.

To obtain a U.S. copyright registration, a copyright application must be properly filed with the U.S. Copyright Office and receive the office’s grant of a copyright registration.

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What does an intellectual property lawyer do?

Intellectual property attorneys are typically utilized to prepare and prosecute patent, trademark, and copyright applications due to their complexity and numerous filing rules.

For inventions, IP attorneys consult with clients and discuss how to best protect the inventions. Also, the IP attorneys perform patent searches to determine whether a product is patentable. If so, the IP attorneys draft and file detailed patent applications that describe the invention, drawings that illustrate the invention, and claims which define the scope of the invention. The IP attorneys further respond to Office Actions from the USPTO, in the prosecution phase, in order to convince patent examiners to allow the patent applications to issue into U.S. patents.

For trademarks and logos, IP attorneys consult with clients on how to best protect the trademarks. Also, the IP attorneys perform trademark searches to determine whether a mark can be protected with a federal trademark registration. If so, the IP attorneys draft and file trademark applications that include a detailed description of the goods and services to be protected. The IP attorneys further respond to Office Actions from the USPTO, in the prosecution phase, in order to convince trademark examiners to allow the trademark applications to issue into U.S. trademark registrations.

For creative works, IP attorneys consult with clients on how to best protect the creative works. The IP attorneys draft copyright applications that include all the relevant information required by the Copyright Office. The IP attorneys further respond to Office Actions from the Copyright Office, in the prosecution phase, in order to convince copyright examiners to allow the copyrights applications to issue into U.S. copyright registrations.

Our Clients

These patent and trademark clients trust us and we think you should too!

Why do you need an intellectual property lawyer?

IP attorneys specialize in protecting inventions, trademarks and logos, and creative works. So, by hiring an IP attorney, the attorney can file a proper patent application, trademark application, and copyright application and provide sound legal advice to overcome USPTO or Copyright Office objections to the applications. As a result, the IP attorney can greatly increase a probability of obtaining a patent, trademark registration, and copyright registration to protect your valuable IP. Further, a client can save a substantial amount of time and money by hiring an IP attorney. As background, the process for obtaining patents and trademark registrations is relatively long (e.g., typically 1-3 years) even if all the upfront legal work is performed correctly and the examiners concur that the patent and trademark registration should be granted. So, if a person tries to wing it and not hire an IP attorney, the person can waste a substantial amount of time and money in trying to negotiate a rather complex process that they are not familiar with, and end up with no proper protection of their IP.

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About Our Practice Areas

We support business owners who want to increase the possibility of their new brand or logo being approved. Our law firm offers copyright and trademark registration assistance to help safeguard your original creations.

We give clients the assurance that their new goods, trademarks or logos, and creative works will not be copied by other companies.

Our practice areas include the following:

Why Choose Us?

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Ranked Top 25 best producing patent law firm

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Over 26 years of experience

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Over a 90% patent allowance rate and trademark allowance rate

About the lawyers

Our IP law firm consists of attorneys John F. Buckert and Samantha Thompson. John launched the law firm in 2012 and has been a practicing intellectual property lawyer for over 26 years. Before starting the law firm, John worked for Electronic Data Systems as a software engineer, at Eaton Corporation as an electronic test engineer, at Ford Global Technologies LLC as a corporate patent attorney, and at a large IP law firm in Connecticut as a patent and trademark attorney. His current practice focuses on protecting clients’ inventions, trademarks and creative works with patents, trademark registrations, and copyright registrations, respectively. Samantha assists clients with protecting trademarks and creative works with trademark registrations and copyright registrations.

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How Our Firm Can Help You

We are experts at protecting new products, trademarks or logos, and creative works. If you need assistance with protecting your new product, trademark, or logo, or creative work, we can assist you through the entire protection process. For more information, call Buckert Law Firm for a free consultation.

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Client Testimonials

“I worked with John to help me handle a trademark case, and let me just say that I could not have found a better lawyer. And he has handled my needs with the utmost professionalism. We appreciate his attention to detail and recommend him often. His extensive knowledge and professionalism will get you to the safe land every single time. You can trust him to guide you and patiently answer your questions.”

Jay Alhashemy

“John has handled our many trademark and patent matters for many years now with great professionalism and friendly service. he has a knack for simplifying the many complexities involved and always has our best interests at heart. We value his skills and counseling.”

John Stoller

“This is the first time I have had to deal with a trademark renewal (which turned out to be expired!) and John was fabulous to work with. He explained everything in an easy to understand way, followed up to make sure I understood the next steps and was happy to communicate via email and/or phone, based on my preference. I 100% recommend Buckert Patent & Trademark Law Firm!”

Kathy Palmer

“Buckert Patent & Trademark helped me get my new business logo trademarked. No muss, no fuss. John was available anytime I had a concern or question. He was patient with me; helped me understand the laws and got the job done quickly and seamlessly. I especially appreciated his friendly manner and follow up emails; helped me stay on track. Highly recommended.”

Trisha Deaton

“Our small business filed for a Trademark ourselves without representation. When we received a denial, we contacted Mr. John Buckert to help us appeal. He was so professional to work with, friendly and knowlegable. He's an expert in this field, and we'd highly recommend using him, because you'll get someone who's passionate about his trade, very easy to communicate with, and completely trustworthy. We'd also highly recommend hiring an attorney right from the beginning when it comes to trademarks and patents instead of attempting to do it yourself.”

Sloan Wolf

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