Home / Who We Help / Name, Image and Likeness
Schell IP helps athletes, creators, and product businesses address the rights and contract terms behind name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities. We connect endorsements and licensing discussions with the intellectual property behind a personal brand or product line.
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An endorsement can involve far more than permission to publish a photograph. The agreement may control where your identity appears, how long a campaign lasts, which competing brands you can work with, and who owns the content or products created along the way.
We help clarify the proposed uses of your name, image, voice, signature, and other identifying features. Contract review can address campaign deliverables, approvals, payment, exclusivity, renewal, termination, and what happens to existing advertising when the relationship ends. Uses involving synthetic voices, digital replicas, or AI-generated content deserve explicit discussion.
For student-athletes, applicable law, school policies, and athletics rules require a separate, current review. An agreement that works commercially still needs to be assessed against the rules that apply to the athlete and the opportunity.
NIL rights, trademarks, copyright, and patents protect different interests. A name or likeness is not patented merely because it appears on a product. A new piece of equipment, technical feature, or ornamental product design may raise a separate patent question. We help organize those issues so a licensing deal does not overlook the underlying product portfolio.
No. Athletes, creators, and other individuals can face identity licensing and endorsement questions. College sports introduce additional rules requiring current review.
The agreement must be reviewed. Permission to use a likeness and rights in an invention are distinct issues, and the contract should state the intended scope of each.
Book a consultation to discuss the opportunity, parties, timing, and appropriate scope of representation.
Book a Free Consultation to review the general goals of an endorsement, licensing proposal, or athlete-led product business.
Jeff Schell is a patent lawyer and entrepreneur who helps athletes and creators building product businesses alongside name, image and likeness opportunities obtain and defend patent rights for their product portfolios. He connects patent strategy with product development, commercialization, and business priorities.
Based in Denver and Boulder, Colorado, Jeff is the founder of Schell IP, which is part of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, LLP.
Please share only a general description and your timing. Do not submit confidential invention details through this website. A consultation request does not by itself establish an attorney-client relationship.
Learn how the entrepreneurial experience and legal expertise of patent lawyer Jeff Schell provides highly unique advantages for our clients.
