How to Trademark/Copyright Your Brand for Free (Pro Bono)
This one here is for all my creative friends. A little background on myself, I decided to LLC my brand in January of 2018. To me, this was the step that would make it “official”. The step to ensure I was holding myself accountable. On February 1st 2018, I successfully registered Modern Day Minority, LLC.
Appropriate side bar, if you are working on your blog, brand, or business I do recommend going ahead and registering your business as an LLC if you haven’t. Depending on what state you are in, you can quickly Google “LLC business registration in *your state*. This will be a “.gov” domain.
Now if you are ready to trademark your business name or logo.. Or copyright your artistic work, but are not ready to make that financial investment, I'll show you how to achieve this.
While not all law firms handle pro bono cases, it comes very highly recommended in the industry. If you are interested in why, you can check out a post here from the American Bar Association laying reasons out for why its beneficial for a lawyer to take on cases of this sort.
Below is a list compiled of nonprofit organizations who support artists by pairing them with a lawyer to assist with their legal needs.
Residing in Maryland, I stumbled across the Maryland Volunteer Lawyer for the Arts (MDVLA) from a friend of mine studying law at the University of Baltimore.
I call out specific organizations who can help you find legal services pro bono in handful of regions:
- Maryland: here – Maryland Volunteer Lawyer for the Arts
- New York: here – Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
- California: here – California Lawyer for the Arts
- DMV: here - GuideStar
- Link here which provides a comprehensive list from the American Bar Association of non-profit organizations in all 50 states
Furthermore, if you are fall outside of the United States, ‘Its Art of Law’ posts a list of nonprofits across the U.S, but as well as in Canada, Australia, Switzerland, & the UK + London. They also list some as just “international” so be sure to look into those if you are reading this from somewhere outside of those countries. Check their post out here.
For my story, MDVLA was able to pair me with a lawyer from Venable LLP in Downtown Baltimore and I successfully received my trademark in April of 2020.
To learn more about my journey, you can check out my latest blog posts here.
You can follow the Modern Day Minority Instagram here!
