“We'd played under our name for six years when a stranger filed it. Saskia pulled together our old flyers and ticket stubs as proof of first use, and the other filing was withdrawn.”
Dov R.Bass player
Article I, Section 8, clause 8
“To promote the progress of science and useful arts”
The framers put making things into the Constitution in one sentence, between the post roads and the lower courts. It's the reason a song, a label or a print can belong to the person who made it.
The sentence doesn't do the paperwork. Someone still has to check the name before the sign goes up, file it in the right classes, and answer the examiner's letter before the deadline.
That's my work. I'm a one-lawyer practice in Brooklyn for musicians, designers, makers and the small brands they turn into.
Saskia Pellicano
Trademark and copyright lawyer
Saskia Pellicano
Attorney for trademarks, copyright and licensing
I work with people who make things and sell them under a name: bands, illustrators, clothing labels, potters, coffee roasters.
Before law school I booked shows at a small room off Flatbush Avenue, and watched three bands learn too late that someone else had registered their name. I spent my first years as a lawyer at a Midtown firm filing for very large brands, then opened this office to do the same work for small ones.
You deal with me, not a team. I answer my own email, quote each project in writing before it starts, and tell you plainly when something isn't worth filing.
Who I work with
- Musicians and small labels
- Clothing and accessories brands
- Illustrators and designers
- Food and drink makers
Why three stages
Arranged by where you are, not by statute
Most intellectual property sites list what the lawyer files: trademarks, copyrights, licenses. That's the lawyer's filing cabinet. It isn't the order a business happens in.
First you name the thing and make the first batch. Then other people want in: a shop asks for wholesale, a company wants your print on a tote bag, a show wants your song. Then, sooner or later, someone copies you.
So the practice has three doors. Start at the one you're standing in front of.
Not sure which? Write and tell me what you make. I'll say which door it is, and whether you need a lawyer yet at all.
The three stages
Build, grow, protect
Each stage has its own page, with what's included and how it's priced.
Starting outBuild
Before the sign, the website or the first pressing: make sure the name is yours to use, then claim it.
Building a brandA clearance search and written opinion
The federal trademark application
Copyright registration for first works
Ownership papers for co-founders and freelancers
Selling moreGrow
When a store, a brand or a producer wants to use what you made, settle the terms on paper before the first check.
Growing a brandLicensing your art, music or designs
Collaboration and co-branding deals
Wholesale and distribution terms
New products, new classes, filing abroad
When it's copiedProtect
Someone is selling your design, or filed a name close to yours. Start with the record and a measured letter.
Protecting a brandMarketplace takedown reports
Cease-and-desist letters
Office actions and oppositions
Renewals that keep a mark alive
Clients
Said by people who make things
“She told me two of the four names on my list weren't worth the filing fee, and why. The third one is printed on every bag we sell.”
Oriane T.Coffee roaster
“The home-goods contract was eleven pages. Saskia rewrote three paragraphs, and the rights to my prints came back to me after the first run.”
Kofi A.Illustrator
Shared with each client's permission. Every matter is different, and none of these predicts how yours will go.
Tell me what you're making
A few lines about the work and the name you sell it under is enough. I reply within two business days with whether I can help and what it would cost.
Please don't send confidential details until we've agreed in writing to work together.