FAQs

A trademark is a word, name, symbol, device, or other designation used, or intended to be used, to identify and distinguish one person's goods from those manufactured or sold by others and to indicate the source of those goods. The Lanham Act defines a trademark as any designation a person uses or intends to use to identify and distinguish goods from those of others. 15 U.S.C. § 1127. As the Supreme Court explained in Qualitex Co. v. Jacobson Prods. Co., 514 U.S. 159, 164 (1995), it is the source-distinguishing ability of a mark that enables it to serve trademark law's fundamental purposes.

A copyright is the exclusive legal protection afforded to original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression. 17 U.S.C. § 102(a). As the Supreme Court held in Feist Publ'ns, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340, 345–46 (1991), the sine qua non of copyright is originality — a protected work must be independently created and possess at least a minimal degree of creativity. Copyright protects an author's original expression, not the underlying facts, ideas, or systems embodied in the work.

A patent is a property right granted by the United States giving an inventor the exclusive right, for a limited time, to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing a qualifying invention. 35 U.S.C. §§ 101, 154(a)(1). As the Supreme Court noted in KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 427 (2007), the patent laws promote progress by offering inventors exclusive rights as an incentive for their inventiveness and research.

Business law is the body of law governing the formation, organization, operation, transactions, and dissolution of business entities, encompassing contracts, agency, business organizations, mergers and acquisitions, secured transactions, employment matters, intellectual property, and commercial litigation. See, e.g., N.C. Gen. Stat. chs. 25, 55, 55A, 57D; S.C. Code Ann. Titles 33 and 36; Tenn. Code Ann. Titles 47 and 48; Va. Code Ann. Titles 8.9A and 13.1.

We charge a $200 consultation fee, paid at the time of booking to reserve your appointment. This fee covers the consultation itself and is not applied toward legal services performed after the meeting. During the consultation, we evaluate your situation to determine whether you have a legal issue, identify the legal and practical considerations involved, and discuss the best strategy moving forward.

On average, our consultations last around 30 minutes, but do not generally exceed an hour.

You will be meeting with a licensed attorney.

Please bring any documents that you believe relate to your matter. A 30-minute consultation is not enough time to perform a complete legal review of an agreement or provide a formal legal opinion, and related agreements or communications may change the legal analysis. Our goal during the consultation is to identify the legal issues and offer the best path forward; if a detailed contract review is necessary, we will discuss being retained to work on it after the consultation.

We offer phone consultations (the most flexible option if you're on a time crunch or not near one of our offices), Google Meet video consultations, and in-person meetings at our Spartanburg SC, Rock Hill SC, Asheville NC, and Jonesborough TN offices. Due to scheduling and court dates, in-person availability may take slightly longer to arrange than a phone or video consultation.