--- title: WEST Wisdom | Trademarks description: Trademarks | --- [![Home](https://info.westorg.org/hubfs/West%20August2017/Img/west%202016.jpg)](https://gwnew.memberclicks.net/home) # WEST Wisdom Blog ## [What you need to know to obtain and strategically use IP in a startup business](https://info.westorg.org/blog/patents) Posted by [WEST Board Member](https://info.westorg.org/blog/author/west-board-member) on May 7, 2018 1:20:48 PM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) [![](https://info.westorg.org/hubfs/Image%20-%20Audience.jpg) ](https://info.westorg.org/blog/patents) "You ain't no kind of man if you ain't got land" - Delmar O'Donnell (played by Tim Blake Nelson), O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000 Coen Brothers Film)   Strong property rights have been and continue to be a bedrock of American enterprise. Intellectual property is no exception - Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the United States Constitution grants Congress the power "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." 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