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Ready to talk to someone about an intellectual property matter in Elizabethtown? The form above connects you directly, no need to read everything below first.
Elizabethtown at a glance
The Kentucky Small Business Development Center has an Elizabethtown center at 1201 North Dixie Highway, Suite 112, and its own page says it gives no cost coaching and low cost training to entrepreneurs in Hardin County and ten nearby counties. The steps on this page start from what you own and end with a conversation with an attorney.
Step one: identify what you own
Make a list of the names, methods, written work and designs that your business uses, and note who made each one and when. LLCs, corporations and other entities are formed through the Secretary of State’s Business Filings division in Frankfort, where most filings can be made online and an annual report is due by June 30 each year. A business that uses a name other than its exact legal name files a certificate of assumed name. An entity files with the Secretary of State and then files a stamped copy with the county clerk where its registered agent is located, and an individual files solely with the county clerk of the county of the principal place of business. An entity that has no registered agent and no principal office in Kentucky files only with the Secretary of State. The assumed name lasts five years and can be renewed in the six months before it ends. The Secretary of State says trade names are not registered at the state level in Kentucky.
Step two: check what is registered
A Kentucky trademark or service mark is registered with the Secretary of State, which keeps a Trademarks and Service Marks division in Frankfort. The mark has to be in use in Kentucky already. A registration is effective for five years from the registration date, and it can be renewed for further five year terms by filing within six months before the term ends. Its reach stops at the Kentucky line. The Secretary of State says registration does not create rights, because those come from actual use, but it gives notice across the state and may help in court.
Step three: know the court
The Western District of Kentucky lists Hardin County under its Louisville Division, and the court’s pages give 601 W. Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 for that division. That is the extent of what the county list says.
Protecting your work in Elizabethtown? Get matched with an attorney now.
Step four: watch the clock
Write the dates on your list from step one next to each item.
Step five: protect secrets at work
Kentucky adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act as KRS 365.880 to 365.900. Under it, a trade secret is information such as a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique or process that gets independent economic value from not being generally known or readily ascertainable by proper means and is the subject of reasonable efforts to keep it secret. A misappropriation claim must be brought within three years after the misappropriation is discovered or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence, and a continuing misappropriation counts as one claim.
Employment agreements come next. Kentucky has a narrow statute on one kind of noncompete: KRS 216.724 bars a health care services agency from restricting its temporary direct care staff, including through noncompete clauses.
Step six: use local help
The Elizabethtown SBDC center, at the address above, lists Hardin County among the places whose entrepreneurs it coaches and trains.
Step seven: local organizations to know
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is at 600 College Street Road. Its Automation, Industrial, and Robotics Technology associate degree has a mechatronics pathway that leads to an opportunity to transfer to the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering. If your work came out of a class or a lab, ask an attorney how any school’s rules apply.
Step eight: industry context
Hendrickson USA opened a manufacturing facility of about 100,000 square feet in the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park in Elizabethtown in April 2015. According to a state news release, the company broke ground that month on a second building of 50,000 square feet next to it. Both items are dated April 2015, and nothing in the release speaks to patents or trade secrets.
Was your work copied or your brand used without permission? Talk to an attorney in Hardin County.
Step nine: talk to an attorney
Take your list and its dates to the first conversation. The Kentucky intellectual property attorneys page covers the state, and nearby Radcliff and Louisville have pages of their own. For other states, see intellectual property attorneys across the country. To begin, get matched with an intellectual property attorney.
Related Intellectual Property Pages
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Kentucky SBDC offer in Elizabethtown?
The Kentucky Small Business Development Center has an Elizabethtown center at 1201 North Dixie Highway, Suite 112. Its page says it gives no cost coaching and low cost training to entrepreneurs in Hardin County and ten nearby counties.
Which federal court division lists Hardin County?
The Western District of Kentucky lists Hardin County under its Louisville Division, and its pages give 601 W. Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202 for it.
Does Elizabethtown Community and Technical College offer an engineering transfer path?
The college, at 600 College Street Road, offers an Automation, Industrial, and Robotics Technology associate degree whose mechatronics pathway leads to an opportunity to transfer to the University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
How long does a Kentucky assumed name last?
An assumed name lasts five years and can be renewed in the six months before it ends. An entity files the certificate with the Secretary of State and then files a stamped copy with the county clerk where its registered agent is located. An entity that has no registered agent and no principal office in Kentucky files only with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State says trade names are not registered at the state level in Kentucky.
Speak With Someone Who Handles Cases Like Yours
An intellectual property matter is easier to handle with someone reading the documents alongside you. Submit the form to be connected with an attorney who can go over your work, the deadlines, and the court for Hardin County.
