The U.S. Copyright Office publishes processing-time data twice a year. For claims closed between April 1 and September 30, 2026, the average across all claims was 4.1 months. Fully electronic applications with an uploaded digital deposit and no examiner correspondence
Indiana will register a trademark for ten dollars. The filing is on INBiz. The term is five years. The Secretary of State wants a specimen showing the mark is already in use in the state. That is the whole transaction.
In April 2015, Security Masters Corporation bought the assets of Nelson Alarm, Inc. The deal, an asset purchase agreement that Daniel E. Nelson signed personally, included the “Nelson Alarm” business and trademark name and the goodwill that went with it.
A photographer in Indianapolis shoots a wedding, a storefront, a plate of food. The picture shows up on someone else’s website. A friend says “send a cease-and-desist.” Another friend says “sue them.” Both friends skip the part that actually matters
Broadcast Music, Inc. licenses the public performance of songs in its repertoire. When a bar, restaurant, or grill plays that music without a license, BMI and the publishers sue. The complaint names the venue and, often, the owners. It lists
If you scan the Northern District of Indiana copyright and trademark indexes, you will keep seeing captions like Plaintiff v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A. That is not a missing name. That is the case. The
As a trademark attorney, I almost always notice whether a company is using the federal registration symbol, ®. From time to time I look the mark up, and there is no registration. Sometimes there is not even an application.
That
Clients still ask whether it is in their best interest to register a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The traditional short answer is still: yes, if at all possible, you should register your trademarks.
In January 2025
Most Indiana trademark and copyright fights that end up in the Northern or Southern District started with a letter, not a complaint. That letter is usually called a cease-and-desist. It is also one of the most misunderstood pieces of paper
Two years ago this blog posted its last monthly update – October 2024 Indiana Intellectual Property Litigation Update – and then went quiet. I’ve still been following along with Indiana copyright and trademark litigation updates, but not posting my thoughts
