You can also contact General Information Services and request Information Dissemination Organization's US Patent and Trademark Catalog (ask for it by name). This is a free catalog and contains detailed information on all aspects of copyright protection. 1-800-786-9199

You can request trademark and patent sales information from 1-800-972-6382 ptcs@uspto.gov

Take time out today and see what is available to you. Why wait until you are a victim? Take time to research above resources. Many people do not realize that copyright registration fee is only $20. Keep in mind that federal trademark and patent registration fees are much higher, but a copyright may be all that you require to securely document your work.

Federal trademarks can be very expensive, but in some states - Tennessee, for instance - you can register your trademark with state for as little as $5. This protects you from others within your state stealing your information, and should be done even for company names, logos, slogans, etc. Contact your Secretary of State's office in your state capitol for more information.

The US Patent and Trademark Office placed its trademark database online. Now you can search database directly at. Do you know how expensive a patent search can be? Do it here free: http://www.uspto.gov mdb/

I stress to you once again - DO NOT PUT IT OFF. The longer you wait, less likely you will be to bother doing it at all. Your copyright registration will be good for many years and only takes a little time to complete.

6) Clear & Concise

Keep your ad copy free of clutter. Don't use words that aren't needed. You are wasting your readers' time, weakening your sales message and taking up valuable space that could be better served in your interest. Your readers ' attention span is short and they are usually in a hurry. Avoid redundancies, over-worded phrases and other poor writing mistakes that serve no other function than taking up space. Provide specific and concrete information in a clear and straightforward manner. The more specific you are less chance your readers have of misunderstanding you.

7) For God's Sake, Get to Point

Be direct and to point. There is not time for beating around bush or to keep your reader guessing.

Next to headline, first paragraph of your ad copy is most important text in your work. The first paragraph, better known as "Lead" paragraph, is what draws in reader. If your lead paragraph is uninteresting to reader, they will surely move on. Move right into your primary selling point. Don't waste time with introductions and explanations. If you must use them, use them later. Your ad copy should be essence of sell from first word to last. Loose fluff and fringes. They're for weddings not ad copy.

8) There's No Place for Sexism or Racism

I was listening to an ad on a college radio station in middle of summer semester. It was an ad for a local business. During course of this 30-second ad they managed to insult Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and all women everywhere. Now needless to say that any type of racist or sexist attitude doesn't go far in advertising. But here we have a student population, which during summer, by statistics taken each year, is almost 30% of oriental origin and 65% female. Not only was this commercial poor advertising, but just plain stupid.

Gender bashing, racist remarks and general rudeness offends people. You don't sell by offending others. The hardest of them to deal with is use of gender in your copy. How do you handle it? Instead of "service man", it's "service person". Instead of "his", it's "his/hers". There are however a couple of other ways to help deal with this problem. One is two use plurals. Instead of his or her, try they, them or theirs. Another is to rewrite your copy taking out any reference to sex at all. You may even try alternating sexes through ad copy.

Well, that's it for now, hope you're walking away with more than you came with.

Listed above are just a few techniques that you can use to help you write better ad copy.

Remember good copy sells, but great copy sells well!