business

1. Strategy Pt 1: Overview & Research
Bing Productions IP Audit
Henry J Bing
Full Sail University
Aug 7th
, 2022

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Abstract
Recognition of the forms of intellectual property and how those unique creations work is
imperative to success. Just as equally important, understanding of liability is also necessary to
properly use legal terms, contracts, and licenses for that intellectual property.
In this paper, I will be creating a list of four IP items that my company, Bing Productions,
will create and protect. This list will include four different items: my logo, my company name,
my company slogan, and my company’s service of “Screenwriter Saturdays.”

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Bing Productions IP Audit
Bing Productions Logo and Name
The Bing Productions logo will be one of the first IP created for the business by hiring a
digital artist/designer, and it will be protected utilizing trademark. Butler (2007) defines that
trademark law, “distinguishes between trademarks which identify goods and service marks
which identify services.” Therefore, the logo will be representative of the company and its brand,
with any and all derivative work marked with the logo accordingly and protected under the
trademark. Butler goes on to mention how trademark can be acquired by “being the first person
to commercially use a protectable trademark within a particular geographic area. The trademark
must be distinctive.”
While there are five distinctive categories in which trademark law will protect the
distinctive trademark for my company, there is a likelihood of confusion between our company
name IP and the preexisting Bing Productions in Springfield, IL. However, their website states
that the company is a “501 (c) 3 non-profit that focuses on providing greater arts accessibility
through electric and compelling community cultural programing.” As an extension of the Bing
Arts Center, it is a part of the X Main Street Corp. If the name Bing Productions is trademarked
when my company is established, I believe the likelihood of confusion will be eliminated.
Because the LLC will be established in Florida so that it can operate in other states, the
business name will be registered in that state. After that, the company will follow the steps laid
out by Akalp (2020) which state that the next steps would be to, “secure a domain name,” then
comes the step where I will, “trademark the brand and protect that trademark.” Additionally, it is
stated that, “Company names can be used as trademarks if they are associated with goods and
services.” Our filmmaking and screenwriting services will be associated with that trademark.

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Bing Productions Brand Slogan
Bing Productions third IP, its brand slogan, will be, “Compelling Stories of Cinematic
Quality.” This slogan will be chosen to reflect the quality of our storytelling/scriptwriting
services and our filmmaking/content creation services. The storytelling/scripts’ mission will be
to create the “compelling stories”, while the visual side will always seek to have, “cinematic
quality.” Research has shown that this slogan isn’t in use anywhere and can thus be utilized for
my production company.
This brand slogan will be protected once again utilizing trademarks. According to authors
Mangan and Haight (2012), “A trademark owner has a duty to police its marks and protect
consumers from marketplace confusion.” As such, Bing Productions as a company will utilize a
cease-and-desist letter that will, in turn, “set forth the trademark owner’s rights to a particular
trademark and identifies the recipient’s conduct that infringes those rights.” Once again, our
slogan will be an extension of our mission and services, which are screenwriting, content
creation, and filmmaking.
That being said, if trademark infringement is encountered, instead of the traditional
phrase “cease-and-desist” the letter will be renamed “please-and-thank-you”, per the suggestion
of Mangan and Haight. They create a good point when they add that, “a firmly worded cease-
and-desist letter…may suddenly appear on social-media sites or elsewhere on the Internet.” They
even go as far as to state a case study where one in ten smartphone owners write reviews on
websites and platforms. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok, and even Snapchat can be
used to spread information, so the key here would be learning from others similar examples, and
at least consider a softer approach dependent on the unique situation at that point in time.

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Bing Productions “Screenwriting Saturdays”
Bing Productions proposed fourth IP will be a proposed service offered on Saturdays
titled “Screenwriter Saturdays”. This service will be offered through social media platforms such
as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc. It will be one particular day of the week when I
offer screenwriting specific tips/content to my consumer base. Having received the Course
Director Award in Screenwriting, I believe it places myself and my company in a compelling
position to offer these tips and at the end of those sessions take pre-determined questions on
screenwriting from the consumer base as well.
This proposed service can be protected in a myriad of ways, ranging from trademarks to
copyright. That being said, the initial concept of the videos and the videos themselves would be
protected under copyright of intellectual property. According to Copyright.gov, copyright
protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works,
such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not
protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation.” My company would take this to mean
that while the idea of “Screenwriting Saturdays” cannot be legally protected under copyright, our
videos in and of themselves can.

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Bing Productions Licensed IP Item
One IP item that Bing Productions will need to license from another
company/organization will be the use of Freya Ridings song “Lost Without You” for one of
several proof-of-concept short films that will be utilized in a pitch to networks/investors for an
original pilot idea planned for 2023. This particular IP is copyrighted by Good Soldier Records
and Capitol Records, respectively. It will be legally obtained by reaching out to these record
companies through two methods, Sync@Goodsolider.com and capitolgods@umgstores.com, in
order to obtain sync licenses for those short films and speak with whomever necessary to follow
up accordingly.
This plan will follow the information laid out by copyrightalliance.org, which states that
the musical composition is one copyrighted work, and the sound recording is another work. The
website goes on to state how a “sync” license allows use of the composition in an audio-visual
work, such as a short film or a proof of concept.

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References
Bingproductions.org (n.d.) Our Mission. Retrieved Aug 6th
, 2022, from
https://bingproductions.org/about/mission/
Butler, Joy R. (2007) The Permission Seeker’s Guide Through the Legal Jungle: Clearing
Copyrights, Trademarks, and Other Rights for Entertainment and Media Productions. Retrieved
Aug 6th
, 2022, from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/the-permission-
seekers/9780967294018/Chapter04.html#ch4-2
Capitolgoods.com (n.d.) Contact Us. Retrieved Aug 6th
, 2022, from
https://capitolgoods.com/pages/contact-
us?utm_campaign=products&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=capitolrecords.com&_ga=2.1
57301562.1490855549.1659920777-1296060478.1659920777
Copyright.gov (n.d.) Copyright in General. Retrieved Aug 6th
, 2022, from
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
Copyrightalliance.org (n.d.) How to Get Permission to Use a Song. Retrieved Aug 6th
, 2022,
from https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/how-to-get-permission-to-use-a-song/
Forbs.com (2021) How Does A Trademark Protect Your Business Name? Retrieved Aug 7th
,
2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2021/02/21/how-does-a-trademark-protect-
your-business-name/?sh=7b0a2f872321
Goodsoldier.com (n.d.) Contact. Retrieved Aug 7th
, 2022, from https://goodsoldier.com/contact/
Morgan, J. Casey, & Haight, G. (2012). Minding Your Manners: From Cease and Desist to
Please and Thank You. Intellectual Property Litigation. Retrieved Aug 6th
, 2022, from
https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=bf400fb2-cab6-47c3-a7cc-
25420d2717b9%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=90357059&db=a
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