Discussion
Intellectual Property Law
ISOL633 - Legal Regulations, Compliance, and Investigation
Learning Objective
Analyze intellectual property laws.
Key Concepts
The Importance of protecting intellectual property
Legal ownership and its protection
Patents
Trademarks
Copyright
Intellectual Property (IP)
Almost all information now available in electronic form
Incredibly easy to “copy and paste” information
Common to share copyrighted music, movies, and books
Potential violations of intellectual property
Need to understand intellectual property and how it is classified
Patents
Grant of a property right to the inventor
Issued by the Patent and Trademark Office
Term of a new patent is 20 years from the date the patent was granted
U.S. patent grants are effective only within the U.S.
The right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention into the United States
Kinds of Patents
Utility (20 years) – Creation or improvement of something useful
Machines – instrument or tool with moving parts that completes a task.
Manufactured products – A product without a moving part.
Processes – A method or series of steps to accomplish a goal.
Compositions of matter – Chemical compound, drugs, etc.
Plant (20 years) – New (hybridized) plants
Design (14 years) – New ornamental designs
What is Patentable?
To be patentable, the following three descriptions must be true:
Novel – This means it must be new. It cannot have existed before.
Useful – The item must be useful to society and must work.
Non-obvious – This is the hardest test. It must not be too similar to prior art, and must not be something that an average person using the related technology would not have invented.
Miscellaneous Patent Topics
The major patent organizations are:
USPTO – US Patent and Trademark Office
WIPO – World Intellectual Patent Organization
EPO – European Patent Office
Japio – Japan Patent Information Organization
Not all countries honor patents the same way. There is no need to register your patents in these countries.
Patent Fees must be paid during the life of the patent, or the patent will lapse.
Trade Secrets
Confidential business information which provides a business with a competitive edge
Encompass manufacturing or industrial secrets and commercial secrets
Involve information that is not generally known and is subject to a reasonable effort to keep it confidential
Protection for trade secrets does not expire
Unauthorized use of confidential business information by persons other than the holder is regarded as an unfair practice and is a violation of the trade secret
Trade Secret Categories
Sales methods
Distribution methods
Consumer profiles
Trade Secret Categories (Cont.)
Advertising strategies
Lists of suppliers and clients
Manufacturing processes
Trade Secrets
Unlike patents and trademarks, trade secrets are not registered with a governmental office.
A non-profit group, the Uniform Law Commission, created the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which is widely accepted by the US states.
Examples: The formula for Coca-Cola, the secret recipe for KFC chicken, the “mixing instructions” for CPG (Consumer Public Good) products like Tide, the temperature and tooling for creating an item.
Trademarks and Servicemarks
A trademark is a word, name, symbol or device which is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others.
A servicemark is the same as a trademark except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product
Trademark rights may be used to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark, but not to prevent others from making the same goods or from selling the same goods or services under a clearly different mark.
Trademarks which are used in interstate or foreign commerce may be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office
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Trademark
Word, name, symbol, or device that indicates source of product and distinguishes that product from others
Servicemark
Same as trademark but identifies and distinguishes service rather than a product
Trademark Topics
Trademarks are generally valid for 10 years per registration.
If you register a trademark, you need to start using it within 6 months
The two general cases for trademark litigation are:
Likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive
Plaintiff owns a valid trademark
Defendant uses similar trademark
The defendant’s use of the similar trademark is likely to cause confusion
Trademark dilution
There is no confusion by the use of the trademark, but
The value of the trademark is lessened by the defendant’s use
What Is a Copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States
Granted to the authors of "original works of authorship" including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works
Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created
A work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time
Copyright Creation
A work that is created on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation
Protection is available to both published and unpublished works
Copyright Term
Author’s
life
70 years after death
Copyright term
Rights of Copyright Holders
Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
Reproduce the copyrighted work
Prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work
Distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public
May also:
Perform the work publicly
Display the work publicly
Perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission
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Reproduce
Prepare derivatives
Distribute/ Perform/ Display
What Is Fair Use?
Important limitation to copyright
Purposes for which the reproduction may be considered fair:
Criticism
Comment
News reporting
Teaching
Scholarship
Research
Determining Fair Use
Four factors to be considered in determining fair use
Purpose and character of the use
Nature of the copyrighted work
Amount and significance of the portion
Effect of the use upon the potential market
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Purpose and character of the use
Nature of the copyrighted work
Amount and significance of the portion
Effect of the use upon the potential market
Fair Use Affects Owner’s Rights
Distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined
Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Title I
Title II
Title III
Title IV
Title V
Summary
Protecting intellectual property
Legal ownership
Patents
Trademarks
Copyright
Trade Secrets