Q: I’m writing a children’s book series with the Adventurers of Benny the Bigfoot and Wally the Whale. How to license

A: When writing a Children's Book the best protection is the copyright protection for the book. Be sure to once the final version of the book is complete to register the work with the Library of Congress. A copyright is not protected in court without being official registered work. The application can be submitted online but two copies of the literature work will need to be mailed as specimen for the application filed.

A: In addition to the copyright, once you are using the trademark in commerce (or what to pay in essence for a reservation to use the mark), then you can register a trademark as well. That just protects the name, while the copyright protects the words to the story.

A: You have a couple of options for protecting your original work, as described. The first would be to copyright the book, or books, you write. You could do them individually (single author, same claimant, one work, not for hire) and pay the $45 dollar e-copyright registration fees for each.

You may be better off filing the series as a group of unpublished works (If they are in fact unpublished) because then you could file one application for much less ($85) than filing multiple single applications. If the books have already been published (A copyright attorney could help figure out the legal definition of published, as it is not what many people might think), than you would need to register each individually.

In any event, you will be required to fill out the application, pay the fee and provide a copy of the work. In the application, you must identify the type of work, title of the work, publication status, the authors and claimants and a few other bits of information.

As to trademark, after the books have been copyrighted, and once you begin using the characters from the book in commerce as a logo or for a brand name, you may be able to trademark the name or likeness of the characters. However, not all characters can be trademarked and they must be distinctive. When the time comes, a trademark attorney would be able to help you decide if there is trademark potential and do a clearance search. You should reach out to an experienced intellectual property attorney who has experience in these types of matters. My office offers such services. Feel free to contact me for a consultation. In any event, I wish you the best of luck with your book!

Remember, the advice just provided is for general informational purposes only and nothing contained herein should be construed to create an attorney-client relationship between you and I. Practical legal advice cannot be provided until a full assessment of your situation has been conducted.