Protecting intangibles.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Small Biz - Protecting intellectual property

AS AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ATTORNEY, LESLEY CRAIG REPRESENTS, as she puts it, "things you own that don't have any substance."

Over the years Craig has represented the "intangibles" of clients in fields ranging from real estate to biotech to baby goods. Case in point--The Boppy Co., an Evergreen-based maker of nursing pillows and other baby products whose brand name Craig made sure was protected. Another is Horizon Organic milk. When the Longmont company ventured overseas to the United Kingdom, she helped the company secure the brand name "Rachel's Organic Milk," along with providing input on other marketing strategies.

And years ago, when Denver's Tivoli and Larimer Square were owned by the Hahn Co., Craig was retained by the owner to protect those two hallowed Denver names from infringement--from being used by others.

"Technically, intellectual property is the right to exclude others from doing something," Craig says. "So if you have a patent, you have a right to exclude others from making and using the invention. If you own a trademark or brand, you have the right to stop others from using it to confuse the public--thinking their goods are your goods. If you have a copyright, you have the right to stop others from copying your copyrighted work. So that's sort of the basic thing that holds all intellectual property together. It's all this intangible body of rights.

"If you think about it, you're really surrounded by intangibles," Craig says. "The converse is gold and diamonds. Most of the world's wealth is no longer there. It's in intangibles."

Craig, 55, has been with the San Francisco-based law firm Townsend & Townsend & Crew LLP since 1978. The firm focuses solely on intellectual property law, a specialty that only has gotten bigger since the technology boom and bust. In 1995, Craig ventured east to start the Denver branch of Townsend with just herself, a secretary and a paralegal. Today the Denver office has had from 18 to 20 attorneys on board, compared with the combined six offices of Townsend around the...