Thomas James
Thomas James at the Law Office of Tom James - copyright, trademark and appeals
Thomas B James (Thomas James) is a private practice attorney with over 25 years experience at the Law Office of Tom James in Cokato, Minnesota. He focuses on business law, nonprofits, trademark registration and enforcement, copyright registration and enforcement, intellectual property licensing, and appeals. Thomas James is licensed to practice in Minnesota state and federal courts, the 8th and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal; and the United States Supreme Court. He is also admitted to practice in the Trademark Trials and Appeals Board (TTAB);
In addition to practicing law, Tom James is the author of "E-Commerce Law: The Handbook for Online Business," "Website Law" and "The History of Custody Law." Has also published numerous articles in law reviews and other business and legal publications.
Attorney Thomas James has two blogs - The Cokato Copyright Attorney, www.thomasbjames.com, and a personal blog at https://medium.com/@ThomasBJamesMinnesotaAttorney. The Cokato Copyright Attorney focuses on news and developments in the field of copyright and trademark law. The blog on Medium.com is where he posts matter that is not related to copyright or trademark law.
When he is not practicing law or writing, attorney Tom James teaches continuing legal education courses on copyright law, elimination of bias, and other topics to attorneys.
- Southwestern Law School
- J.D. | Law
- Honors: Honor student; Top student award in Constitutional Law
- Activities: Judicial internship
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- University of California - Berkeley
- B.A. | Philosophy
- Honors: Magna cum laude
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- CLE Instructor
- Echion
- - Current
- Attorney
- Law Office of Thomas James
- - Current
- The Internet Archive Lawsuit
- Cokato Copyright Attorney: The Law Blog of Attorney Thomas James
- Dobbs: What Happened and What It Means
- Medium.com
- 'The' a Registered Trademark Now
- Cokato Copyright Attorney
- Copyright Small Claims Court Opens
- Cokato Copyright Attorney
- What to Know About the New Copyright Claims Board
- The Cokato Copyright Attorney
- The New Copyright Small Claims Court (non-credit course), https://echioncle.com/copyright-small-claims
- Echion CLE
- On-Demand course offered by Minnesota attorney Tom James to help members of the public navigate the new Copyright Claims Board for small copyright infringement claims
- The New Copyright Small Claims Court CLE, Online Continuing Legal Education Program, https://echioncle.com/copyright-small-claims
- Echion CLE
- Introduction to the new Copyright Claims Board. Continuing legal education program describing the role of this new administrative tribunal; claim and response procedure; service of process; discovery; hearings; settlements; determinations; appeals/review; and potential constitutional challenges. Online webinar offered on June 22 and July 13, 2022. Taught by Cokato Minnesota attorney Thomas James.
- Relative Foster Care and Adoption CLE, Webinar, Online
- Echion CLE
- 3-hour CLE course hosted by Tom James lawyer in Minnesota and featuring speakers Kelis Houston (Village Arms), Rhia Spears (attorney) and Misty Coonces (Ampersand Families adoption/foster placement agency). More information at https://echioncle.com/relative-adoption
- Trauma-Informed Practices CLE, Webinar, Online
- Echion CLE
- 3-hour CLE course hosted by Tom James attorney and featuring speakers Jennifer Bovitz, JD (Minn. OLPR), Katie Olson, JD, and Russ Turner of People Incorporated. More information at https://echioncle.com/trauma-informed-practice
- Trauma-Informed Practices CLE, Webinar, Online
- Echion CLE
- 3-hour CLE on Trauma-Informed Practices. Hosted by Tom James attorney and featuring Jennifer Bovitz, JD, Katie Olson, JD, and Russ Turner of People Incorporated. More information at EchionCLE.com
- Mediator
- Dispute Resolution Institute
- Legal Scholarship Award
- American Jurisprudence
- Certificate of Commendation for Contribution to the Administration of Justice
- Minnesota Governor
- Judges Award for Outstanding Service
- Hennepin County District Court
- Top Student Award for Constitutional Law
- Southwestern University School of Law
- Minnesota State Bar
- Member
- Current
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- American Bar Association
- Member
- Current
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- LegalCORPS
- Volunteer attorney
- Current
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- SCORE
- Volunteer instructor
- Current
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- Copyright Society
- Member
- Current
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- Nonfiction Authors Association
- Member
- Current
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- National Parents Organization
- Advisory Board Member
- - Current
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- Minnesota
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- 8th Circuit
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- Federal Circuit
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- U.S. Supreme Court
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- Credit Cards Accepted
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Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
Offers flat fee options for registrations of copyrights and trademarks
- Intellectual Property
- Trademarks
- Trademark Registration
- Appeals & Appellate
- Civil Appeals, Federal Appeals
- Business Law
- Business Contracts, Business Dissolution, Business Formation
- Nonprofit organization -formation and tax-exemption application
- Copyright
- English: Spoken, Written
- Q. so someone has a clothing brand with a name that doesn't seem to be copyrighted.
- A: A name isn't protected by copyright, but it might be protected as a trademark. In the U.S., an unregistered trademark is enforceable as a "common law" trademark. You run a high risk of trademark infringement liability if you use another company's brand for the same kinds of products or services.
- Q. Why is my trademark cancelled?
- A: In the United States, cancellation could happen for a variety of reasons. The most common ones are (1) Failure to renew it; (2) Failure to file an statement of use after filing an intent-to-use application; (3) Non-use at the time of the application (where the application was based on an existing use); (4) fraud; (5) abandonment (presumed if not used for more than 3 consecutive years); (6) likelihood of confusion with another trademark; (7) failure to function as a trademark (e.g., genericide, or it is merely descriptive; (8) dilution.
- Q. I'm writing a book on covid, I'm including quotes from various doctors and medical journals, is this fair use?
- A: Under U.S. fair use doctrine, a limited portion of a work may be quoted for purposes of criticism, commentary, news reporting, or academic writing. There is no bright-line test for determining the amount that may be quoted. It depends on consideration of several factors. Note that the question of fair use is analyzed for each separately copyrighted work. For example, suppose you quote one sentence from work A, comment on it, and then quote another sentence from work B by a different copyright owner and comment on that one, A court would analyze whether the quoting of work A is fair use separately from whether the quoting of work B is fair use.