Eric Estadt

I am a Columbus area intellectual property attorney specializing in patent and trademark prosecution and intellectual property portfolio management. I have represented clients ranging from individuals to multinational enterprises in various industries, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, mechanical devices, materials, and electronics. Beyond intellectual property matters, I have experience drafting and reviewing an array of business agreements and contracts, including licensing and transactional agreements, branding agreements, research and development agreements, non-disclosure agreements, and governmental contracts.

DePaul College of Law

J.D. (2013) | Law

2010 - 2013

Honors: Certificate in Intellectual Property: Patent Law

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh

B.S. (2010) | Bioengineering

2006 - 2010

Attorney

Carlile Patchen & Murphy LLP

2022 - Current

Attorney

IpHorgan Ltd.

2014 - 2022

Illinois

Supreme Court of Illinois

Since 2013

Ohio

Supreme Court of Ohio Office of Attorney Services

Since 2021

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Since 2013

• Copyright registration

Q. I began a Facebook page then group page & IG all as Solid Perfume Collectors. How do I trademark the name? Do I need to?

July 6, 2023

A: First, I want to caution that it is necessary to check whether the trademark is in use by anybody else prior to beginning use yourself, or you could be on the receiving end of a cease and desist letter or lawsuit. I recommend hiring an experienced trademark attorney to advise you on the risks and benefits of using/registering your particular proposed marks, as the issues can be complex and a search is not easy to conduct for the inexperienced. There are also specific requirements for registration of some categories of goods including book titles, so it is best to contact an attorney to avoid expensive pitfalls in the registration process as well.

Generally, you automatically own unregistered trademark rights merely by using a name in connection with any good or service in the market. These rights are also known as "common law" trademarks and they are enforced under state law. However, there are significant advantages to registering your trademark at the federal level in the US Patent and Trademark Office:

1) federally registered trademarks apply across the entire United States even if you are only operating locally, whereas unregistered trademarks will only protect you in the actual areas you are operating in;

2) federally registered trademarks are presumed to be valid, so the burden of proof shifts to the infringer to prove that your rights are invalid;

3) federally registered trademarks can be enforced in federal courts, and better remedies are available including statutory damages and increased penalties and attorneys fees in some cases;

4) federal registration is required before you can use the (R) symbol. All unregistered marks must use TM or SM. ... Read More

Q. Can I create a company called “Robin-Hood loans” or Robin-hood Funding”? What about RobbinHood or Robbin-Hood with two B

July 6, 2023

A: I recommend against creating a company in the financial industry with any name that is similar looking or sounding to RobinHood. That is likely to invite a cease and desist letter, lawsuit, or other legal action against you. Even if the risk was low, do you really want your brand to have such a confusingly similar name to another well-known brand in a similar/related industry?

Ultimately, trademark infringement usually comes down to a question of whether your use of a certain trademark would confuse a relevant group of consumers about who the source of a product or service is. These consumer categories are usually broadly defined as any ordinary consumer unless there is some kind of specialty involved, such as with high end industrial equipment (which does not appear to be the case here). Also, even if you believe your company provides different services (loans, funding, etc.) than RobinHood does (stock trading), trademark law will generally consider the services to be sufficiently related if other third party companies provide both types of services.

An experienced trademark attorney will be able to help you navigate these issues and provide advice regarding the risks and benefits of registering your proposed marks. ... Read More

Q. Hi ! An organization is accusing me of violating intellectual property. Where can I find what, exactly, is protected ?

July 6, 2023

A: It is best to contact an intellectual property lawyer to review the facts specific to your case. It is not clear from your post exactly what the other party is claiming you have infringed or exactly what they are asking you for. Moreover, it is not clear whether you have received a cease and desist letter from this party, or a YouTube takedown notice, etc.

That said, the fact that you have searched several databases and found nothing does not mean the material you are using is not copyright protected. It can be difficult to determine whether a person owns a copyright and what the extent of that copyright protection is. This is because even if a work is registered with the US Copyright Office, you can only publicly view basic bibliographic information such as the title, type of work, date of creation, date of publication, author, and owner. You cannot view the registered work itself.

Moreover, copyright protection can exist for works that have not been registered yet. Although registration is a prerequisite to filing a copyright infringement lawsuit, you may still receive a cease and desist letter or other actions from an alleged copyright owner. If they subsequently register the work, they can file a lawsuit against you. However, their remedies will be limited based on how long the work existed and when registration occurred.

Finally, I note that copyright cannot protect an idea or concept itself, but only the expression of that idea. Thus, a company cannot claim exclusive rights to anatomy and physiology. However graphics, text, and animations that describe or show the anatomy could be protected under copyright. It can be difficult to determine the exact scope of copyright being claimed, and it is best to contact an experience intellectual property attorney to help you decide whether and how to respond. ... Read More