I see from websites and products that the fictional name ‘Knapford Station’ is not trademarked by ‘Thomas and Friends’ (Hit Entertainment), so is it okay for me to name my brick and mortar store Knapford Station? Or are there other implications I’m not aware of?

I have a big problem my book publisher Publish America suggested I change my title to Rise of the Humanoid. The problem it’s been over 1 year and my contract still shows the old title The UnKnown I feel cheated because they asked me to change my title after I signed the contract. I hope you can help?

Is it illegal to write down lyrics and chords to songs and share them with other people who play the same instrument? I play Q Chord and can’t find music with the buttons marked to push so I write the music myself for the instrument. Others find this works well with the ovals representing the buttons.

I want to know whether I should sign a settlement agreement for a domain name?
The domain name was infringing on my IP rights and so the domain holder agreed to transfer it over to me on the condition of signing a settlement and release agreement. The reason i am so reluctant is that i do not see the need for a settlement agreement, if he just transfers the domain over to me in what circumstances would i bring any future action against him for the domain…I really think the domain holder is trying to make me give up any future rights I have and ultimately bar me from bringing any future action against him concerning unrelated claims. Should I sign this agreement?

I have a patent case (pro se) in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and it was dismissed in May 2010 because I failed to submit a brief appealing a final judgment although it didn’t say with or without prejudice. Few days ago I file a Motion to Recall the Mandate. Now I want to go back to district court to amend the complaint, how should I do it from here? Thanks so much for your assistance.

I have a patent lawsuit in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and it was dismissed on May 3, 2010 because I failed to submit the brief. However, few days ago I filed a Motion to Recall the Mandate. If the motion is granted, can I still go to the district court and file a motion to amend new complaint in the district court? If the motion is denied, what should I do next?

My book as been accepted in Raider Publishing, but before I go any further I would like to know how I can trust them. Should I get a lawyer to help me when I sign the contract in case they are trying to trap me within it? I am only 17 years old so I am completely confused.

I would like to trademark a word to an item. I have already gone to USPTO website and did a search for several key words. However, I did not find what I was looking for. Lets assume, I want to sell a rubberband with the word “Premium” branded on it in a special font. I want this to reflect the two different categories of rubberbands that I sell. However, my competitor already sells a rubberband with the word “Premium” on it with the TM logo next to it. As I had mentioned before, I search for this other company and found no TM associated with word “Premium” with them. Do to the similarities in products, I am boarding on trademark infringement?

OK…so, I am recording an album of material that is very often considered “traditional” music – SOME of the songs are in the Public Domain, so I am not worried about those. But, what about the others. The song Hesitation Blues for example, does back to the early 1900’s, but it seems like MANY people own the copyright because it has been recorded many times over the years. I want to record these songs, but want to legally do it the correct way. Please help.

My doll design was copied by another doll maker in a different medium. She has acknowledged that my work was her inspiration but says that there is no infringement because hers are done in crochet work and mine are sewn. Now she has changed her story and says she created these dolls 11 years ago and sold them to a big pattern company. I contacted the pattern company and they acknowledged that she sold them a doll design with patterns in 1993, but not for the items in question and have no such work in their database. So it’s true that they do have a doll design from this person, but not for the ones in question. She is now giving the patterns for these dolls away for free on her blog, as a download.

I have good reason to believe she copied my work when she saw it for sale on a website 9 years ago. She has admitted to seeing the dolls on the site, (why are these stories so complicated?) and even told me that she missed out on purchasing one, at the time. The only reason this person is even on my radar is because she contacted me to tell me how much she loved my work, and then posted photos of her new dolls which look like mine, onto the Flickr site.

This person is a fairly well known crochet designer. At first, she told me said she made the dolls in question recently but now has changed her story to add enough time to put them in advance of the time frame when I began selling them through the website (2001). (The only published photos of these particular dolls of hers are from 2008 and the new versions, from 2010) These dolls of hers look nothing like any of the other work in her portfolio, all of which look quite similar.

I have plenty of documentation for the original work which was actually done several years prior to when she saw them and several years before photos of my original works were ever on the web, a miniature version was presented to a major fast food company in hopes of licensing for a kid’s meal toy premium, which was declined.

Photos of both works, (mine and her knock offs), placed side by side show disturbing similarities and could be mistaken for the same product to the average person. Do I have a case? Is it worth pursuing?