During Denver Startup Week over 1,200 Denver professionals and entrepreneurs attended presentations at University of Colorado Denver Business School. On September 17 the Managing Attorney for Trademark Outreach for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Craig Morris, presented “Trademark Basics” on the fifth floor of the Business School in the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship.

Morris studied trademark law before taking a position in the USPTO. He was quick to point out a company’s name is its most valuable asset: “If Coca-Cola lost everything: their plants, their employees, all of their product, they would still have their name. The name Coca-Cola would still have bargaining power.”

The hour-long presentation was flooded with questions ranging from generic trademark questions to in-depth questions about specific scenarios. Morris was more than willing to answer those generic questions, but directed the specific questions to practicing trademark lawyers.

The biggest set of hypothetical questions came after he mentioned Common Law Rights: as soon as a firm starts using a mark, it has rights to the mark even if at a later date another company files for a registered trademark. Morris had nearly the same response to each hypothetical: “The dispute would go to court and the judge would side with whoever used it first. Trust me, though, you never want to go to court.”

For more information about Denver Startup Week, click here.