Q: Did I give up my rights to intellectual property after I came up with a clever business name for a friend years back?
Nothing was ever signed between us. She thanked me for being “so clever” and gaveme a t-shirt with the biz name. She has earned a LOT of income and all I want to know is if I have rights to the name when she sells the business. It is in a lucrative area and the name is a big piece of the value.
A:
Very likely you did not retain any rights.
In part because of the time passed, also the fact he is using it.
You need to work an idea to develop any rights. Ideas themselves do not create property rights. It is their implementation.
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