What you are suggesting is not a contingency agreement. You are asking for a lawyer to basically become a partner in your venture. Some may...

You are only free to use what which is in the public domain. As you note, as a general rule those works published before 1923 are now in the public...

So long as you are not using their trademarked name, you should not have any trademark issues. There could be copyright concerns, which protects...

Your suggested change would still be a problem because adding a descriptive term like Tampa does not get around the confusingly similar conflict. I...

As far as copyright concerns, any creative expression will be covered by copyright law automatically. Then you register the work with the US...

You are free to use another's trademark descriptively in text to refer to that mark holder even if that happens to be in a domain, but use within a...

Can I send a cease and desist before I have my actual trademark?

If they were using the mark within the scope of their market penetration and market reputation since before you applied for your federal...

As noted, you have a copyright issue if you are merely creating a derivative work of the statue on your cigar box. But beyond that, you could...

This questions cannot be answered here and never in the hypothetical. The context really matters. For example, I could not get away with "Bed,...

Is trademark use in commerce requirement satisfied?

Yes, of course. If your product is being sold over state lines or really even if it affects interstate commerce then that will suffice as "in...