This curated list of resources provides essential, direct access to government filings, copyright databases, and industry organizations for navigating intellectual property and business law. These tools are designed to support legal research for creative and commercial ventures.
CHATGPT – ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot released in 2022. It currently uses GPT-5, a generative pre-trained transformer, to generate text, speech, and images in response to user prompts.
GPTZERO – Software used to detect AI.
ZAMZAR – Software capable of converting files from hundreds of different formats.
U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE – The U.S. Copyright Office is an office of public record for copyright registration and deposit of copyright material.
KNOW EM – Check username availability across 575 social networks, domain names, and the USPTO Trademark Database to determine whether your company, brand, product, or username is available or taken.
U.S. PATENT & TRADEMARK OFFICE – The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the Federal agency that grants U.S. patents and registers trademarks. In doing this, the USPTO fulfills the mandate of Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the Constitution that the Executive branch “promote the progress of science and the useful arts by securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their respective discoveries.” The USPTO registers trademarks based on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3).
WHATSMYNAME WEB – Whatsmyname is a tool for comprehensive digital intelligence gathering. It can be part of doing a trademark clearance search. It provides a professional username analysis of intellectual property use across 500+ platforms for security research, cyber investigations, and digital forensics.
RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA (RIAA) – Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade organization of the recording industry, including major record labels and distributors, which the RIAA states “create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85 percent of all legally sold recorded music in the United States”. The RIAA is responsible for certifying gold and platinum album and single sales and streams in the U.S.
FILM INDEPENDENT – Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds an audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Film Independent’s Board of Directors, filmmakers, staff, and constituents comprise an inclusive community of individuals across ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation. Anyone passionate about film can become a member, whether you are a filmmaker, industry professional, or film lover.
IMDB – The biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet.
FILM FREEWAY – Resource about worldwide film festivals.
MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION – The trade organization of the film industry, which advocates for filmmakers and also rates films for the public.
WHOIS – Discover who owns a website or domain name by searching the WHOIS database or learn how to keep your domain registration information private. When a domain name gets registered, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires domain name registrars to submit a registrant’s personal contact information to the WHOIS database. Once a listing appears in this online WHOIS directory, it is publicly available to anyone who searches for domain names using the WHOIS tool.
TINEYE – Find where images appear online by doing a reverse image search.
INTERNET ARCHIVE AKA WAYBACK MACHINE – 30 years of web history, including hundreds of billions of web pages, as well as other media.
FINDLAW – Find a local lawyer and free legal information at FindLaw, the award-winning website. Free legal information and resources.
AVVO – Free Q&A, search engine to find a lawyer, and more resources.
CALIFORNIA STATE BAR – Founded in 1927 by the legislature, the State Bar of California is an administrative arm of the California Supreme Court. All lawyers practicing in California must be members of the State Bar.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION – The mission of the Los Angeles County Bar Association is to meet the professional needs of Los Angeles lawyers and advance the administration of justice.
CALIFORNIA CASE LAW – California Supreme Court and appellate opinions.
ALLMUSIC – AllMusic provides comprehensive music info, including reviews and biographies. Get recommendations for new music to listen to, stream your own.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS (ASCAP) – American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) – the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters, composers and music publishers.
BILLBOARD – From the latest music news and music reviews, to Billboard music charts, music articles, videos, and more, you’ll find the music information you want at Billboard.com.
BROADCAST MUSIC, INC. (BMI) – Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), a leader in rights management, collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it distributes as royalties to songwriters & music publishers.
SOUNDEXCHANGE – The sole administrator of §114 sound recording licenses, SoundExchange collects payments from sound recording users, including satellite radio providers, webcasters, and digital cable music providers, and distributes digital performance royalties owed to record labels, DSPs, featured performers, and publishers.
THE MLC – The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Copyright Office pursuant to the historic Music Modernization Act of 2018. In January 2021, The MLC began administering blanket mechanical licenses to eligible streaming and download services (digital service providers or DSPs) in the United States. The MLC collects the royalties due under those licenses from the DSPs and pays songwriters, composers, lyricists, and music publishers.