Cinnamon Bay,
St. John. Photo by
Melissa Dagodag
c. 2006

Located in Los Angeles, The Law Offices of Melissa K. Dagodag provides an excellent alternative to the impersonal, high-priced law firms that have become the norm.

Melissa provides a wide range of legal services which include trademarks and copyrights, business transactions and business formation, and entertainment contracts and music law. Melissa's clients include Designers, Manufacturers, Performers (located inside and outside of Los Angeles), Entrepreneurs, Retailers, Artists, Authors, Web Developers, Producers, Consultants, and other Small Business Leaders.

A graduate of Stanford University (B.A., M.A.) and UCLA Law School (J.D.), Melissa opened her own law firm in Los Angeles after having worked as an entertainment and music law attorney at a top California law firm and as an in-house attorney handling contracts and business affairs at a major fashion company.

As General Counsel for small businesses and individuals, Melissa makes her clients more successful by giving them effective, practical legal solutions. In addition to providing a wide range of legal services, her approach includes offering preventative legal medicine to help her clients avoid common legal pitfalls.

Whether you live near or far from Los Angeles, if you need a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer, contract attorney, copyright attorney, trademark attorney, music lawyer, business attorney, or other related legal services, we encourage you to contact us after exploring this site.

• Registering trademarks and copyrights
• Forming corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs)
• Preparing contracts: partnership, dissolution, non-disclosure, employment, trade secret, entertainment, trademark licensing, copyright licensing, buy-sell, publishing, recording artist, record producer, sales of businesses, etc.
• Writing cease and desist letters
• Infringement settlement
• Collection letters
• Preparing business plans
• Providing advice and research on your legal issues
  

June/July 2009 Legal Tip*: Have you received official looking notices by mail telling you that you must pay to file your corporate minutes using a specific form? This is usually a scam designed to frighten you and take your money (unless this comes from your CPA or attorney). Corporate minutes don't need to be filed with a govenment agency. They need to be kept in a file with your other corporate records at your principal place of business. Learn how to file your corporate minutes on your own (for no fee).

* Information contained on this website is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. In order to address your specific legal needs, consult with Melissa or another qualified attorney.

718 North Harper Avenue    /  Los Angeles , CA 90046   /   310-699-8155
COPYRIGHT THE LAW OFFICES OF MELISSA K. DAGODAG, C. 2009

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Summary of Los Angeles Attorney Melissa K. Dagodag's Services:

Los Angeles lawyer Melissa Dagodag handles business law, entertainment law, music law, and intellectual property law. This includes business formation (corporations, partnerships, LLCs), copyright and trademark registration, drafting and negotiating contracts, cease and desist letters, collection letters, infringement settlement, creating business plans, and other legal advice and research.

Trademarks, Copyrights, Forming Corporations and LLCs, Preparing and Negotiating Contracts, Cease and Desist Letters, Infringement Settlement, Collection Letters, Business Plans, Other Legal Counsel and Research

She can form your business entity properly by filing the appropriate papers with the California Secretary of State and also drafting the appropriate business agreement (such as an Operating Agreement for limited liability companies and Bylaws for a corporation). Los Angeles attorney Melissa Dagodag also helps her clients by meeting with them in person in order to sign and review all of the relevant documents; obtaining Employer I.D. Numbers from the IRS; and gathering all of the documents necessary to open company bank accounts.

Melissa drafts production agreements for many Los Angeles entertainment companies, film companies and independent producers. She drafts agreements for independent films (including writer, director, producer, actor, etc.), and option agreements. She also drafts record producer agreements, record label agreements, composer agreements, recording artist agreements, master use licenses and synch licenses.

Melissa helps protect trade secrets from her law offices in Los Angeles via contract. Trade secrets are one of the only forms of intellectual property protection that require no registration. She also drafts work-for-hire agreements so that you can own whatever intellectual property is created for you by the people you hire. She deals with domain name issues and U.S. Customs intellectual property registration and enforcement. She can register your brand names and creative works with U.S. Customs to prevent the importation of infringing goods. Melissa handles many other aspects of intellectual property law, including website terms & conditions and web development agreements.

Representative Clients:

A lawyer in Los Angeles, Melissa has experience with many types of clients including: start-ups, manufacturers, fashion designers, jewelry designers, filmmakers, artists, authors, actors, producers, writers, digital animators, web developers, videogame developers, photographers, inventors, architects, contractors, interior designers, showroom owners, computer programmers, consumer product manufacturers, music publishers, music producers, musicians, songwriters, record producers, record labels, recording artists, retail store owners, architects, social networking sites, distributors, non-profits, business consultants and other entrepreneurs.

Services to Clients:

Melissa has experience with drafting and negotiating a wide array of agreements including: business formation, business dissolution, trade secret, work-for-hire, employment, non-disclosure, distribution, fashion, sales representative, production (music, film and television), recording artist, songwriter, record producer, music and book publishing, writer, author, sale of business, buy-sell, web developer, website terms and conditions, licensing (copyrights and trademarks) and settlement. Furthermore, Melissa writes collection letters (for clients who want to collect past due money) and cease and desist letters (for those who want to stop infringers from knocking off their products or to stop other intolerable acts).

Although Melissa is a practicing attorney in Los Angeles, she applies for European trademark protection through the Madrid Protocol application available via the United States Patent and Trademark Office. For many countries not covered by the Madrid Protocol Melissa also has a readily-available network of foreign attorneys and agents who can assist her clients with overseas’ matters to receive foreign copyright and trademark protection, as well as intellectual property rights enforcement.

Melissa's Goal:

Melissa’s goal as an attorney is to provide the highest quality transactional (relating to contracts) and other legal services in Southern California, including Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Rancho Park, Culver City, Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake and metropolitan and downtown Los Angeles.

Experience and Training :

Melissa has extensive training and experience as an attorney, and as a small business owner. She owned her own product design and manufacturing business for about eight years before becoming a lawyer in Los Angeles, so she has real world experience marketing at trade shows, writing brochure copy, designing brochures, creating press kits, invoicing, collecting and managing teams of sales representatives and employees. Melissa’s business acumen helps her to bridge the gap between lawyer and layperson, so that she demystifies legal concepts and helps her clients get a handle on covering their legal bases.

Areas Served:

The Law Office of Melissa K. Dagodag serves the following Southern California cities: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles/West Hollywood, Malibu, Bel Air, Pacific Palisades, Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Studio City, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles/Hollywood, West L.A., Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, metropolitan L.A., Newport Beach, Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Marina Del Rey, Rancho Park, the Beverly Center area, Westwood and downtown Los Angeles.

To search for the Law Offices of Melissa K. Dagodag, you can look for: Melissa K. Dagodag, Los Angeles, California, Santa Monica trademark attorney, Los Angeles copyright attorney, trademark lawyers, trademark attorneys, Santa Monica intellectual property attorney, IP, trademark application, copyright application, IP lawyer, trademark, how to apply copyright, Santa Monica lawyer, Los Angeles trademark attorney, trade secret lawyer, trade secret protection, Los Angeles entertainment attorney, West Hollywood business attorney, legal advice southern California, Los Angeles entertainment lawyer, fashion attorney, IP attorney, Los Angeles IP attorney, California legal advice, West Hollywood lawyer, Los Angeles Intellectual Property lawyer, intellectual property protection, intellectual property application, domain name disputes, business contracts, Los Angeles business attorney, West Hollywood trademark attorney, Santa Monica copyright attorney, corporate attorney, Los Angeles business lawyer, California business advice, Los Angeles music attorney.

Melissa can serve her clients’ contractual intellectual property and business needs from her office on the Westside of Los Angeles and in other parts of LA. Melissa is ready to help with any trademark, copyright, trade secret, trade dress, domain name matter, business entity formation, corporate or other business matter. Phone number: 310-699-8155.