Innovation

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Intellectual Property in

Entrepreneurship

What is Intellectual Property?

• Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

• http://www.wipo.int/about‐ip/en/index.html • Product of the intellect that has commercial

value • Examples: copyrighted material, patents,

trademarks, business methods or practices etc.

• The writers of the United States Constitution realized that there was a need to give people the right to control their creations, and therefore, since 1790, there has been Copyright Law in the US

Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution reads:

• “The congress shall have the power…to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”

Benefits of understanding IP • IP rights provide protection against a

competitor directly copying the idea. This helps the entrepreneur to recover their costs in developing the idea.

• IP rights help businesses maintain their long- term competitive edge. Registered IP ensures that entrepreneurs get all the financial benefits from their ideas. Continued revenue will keep the business afloat.

• Registered IP is an asset. It helps convince financial institutions to invest in a business, enabling more money to be raised for development.•

Benefits of understanding IP

• By being able to profit from their IP, entrepreneurs are rewarded for taking risks and developing new innovations. They can invest profits in work on new ideas.

• Ownership of the IP enables entrepreneurs to license or franchise ideas to others without risk. This means entrepreneurs are able to expand the market for their products and services more easily, and can increase revenue for the business.

•

Overview of Different Types of IP

• Patents - protect new and useful inventions. • Trademarks - protect marks such as words and logos

used in connection with goods or services (Trade) to indicate the source or origin of the goods or services.

• Trade Secrets - refer to information not disclosed to the public or competitors.

• Copyrights - protect creative works of art from copying.

WHAT IS A PATENT?

• Document that discloses an invention

• Right to exclude others from making, using, selling or importing the invention in the United States for the term of the patent.

• Promotes progress of science

Types of Patents • Utility

• Protects the way an invention works. • Relates to useful inventions including machines,

compositions of matter, articles of manufacture and processes.

• Term is 20 years from the filing date. • Design

• Protects the ornamental appearance of a manufactured object.

• Term is 14 years. • Business Method / Business Process Patents

• Newest class of patents which disclose and claim new methods of doing business

Requirements for Patentability

• Any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter.

• Non-obvious • Not used, publicly disclosed or offered for sale

more than one year prior to filing patent application.

• Concepts are generally not patentable, only specific concrete inventions are patentable.

Recording Inventions

• Notebooks - Invention should be recorded notebooks or on a computer. Ideas should be written down or typed and sketches, where appropriate, should be made.

• Witnessed - All notebook pages should be witnessed by having another person read and understand the material and sign and date each page.

• Email yourself the ideas (used to be mailing letters in the old days

Not that important anymore – refer to https://gigaom.com/2013/03/18/first‐to‐file‐ patent‐law‐starts‐today‐what‐it‐means‐in‐plain‐english/

Patent Searching Preliminary Investigations of Patentability

• Library - Text books, Reference books, and Trade Journals. • Computer Searches - standard search engines, Google, Yahoo, etc. • Patent Office (www.uspto.gov) • Google Patents (https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts) • http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/patent-tutorial/index.html

Patent Novelty Search • Conducted in United States Patent and Trademark Office to

uncover the patents relevant to the invention. • Thereafter the patents uncovered are studied and compared with

the invention. • Determination made as to whether the invention is capable of

patent protection, i.e. whether the invention is novel and non- obvious, and if so, the scope of protection available.

US Patent & Trademark Office Strategic Framework

http://www.uspto.gov/about/stratplan/USPTO _2010‐2015_Strategic_Framework.pdf

Components of Patent Application • Drawings - if necessary

• Specification

• Claims (define what is protected by the patent)

• Declaration

• Filing Fee

• Prototypes are not necessary. Merely one must be able to describe the invention to enable one skilled in the art to practice the invention.

• Patent Pending - means U.S. patent application has been filed

How to file a patent

• http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/index.jsp

• http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/patent- tutorial/index.html

International Patent Protection

• File in Each Foreign Country within 1 year of US filing date, or

• File Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) within 1 year -- make sure to designate countries • Extends time to file in each country (national phase)

a total 30 months (21/2 years) from the first filing date.

• National Phase - Must be filed on a country by country basis - expensive!

Invention Disclosure

• Confidential Disclosure Agreements • Mark the material as CONFIDENTIAL

• Publishing papers or otherwise disclosing invention • Consider Provisional Application • File U.S. application within 1 year of publication

WHAT IS PATENT INFRINGEMENT?

• All elements of any claim present in another method for a device; or

• Equivalent structure of an element that performs substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same result.

TRADEMARKS

• Purpose of Trademarks and Service Marks • Identify source of goods or services. • Prevent consumer confusion.

• Types of Marks • Name - ASICS • Logo - swirl

• Stripe Design

ASICS’ REGISTRATION NO. 1,303,804

Trademark Searching

• Check if there is a likelihood of confusion between proposed mark and another mark

• Test - Whether marks are similar in sound, appearance and connotation, and used on similar goods or services

ASICS NOT ASICS

Most famous Trademarks Google

Microsoft

Walmart

IBM

Vodafone

Bank of America

Apple

AT&T

COPYRIGHTS

• Purpose of Copyrights • Protect works of original authorship.

author to another.

COPYRIGHTS

•Allows for Filing Copyright Infringement Action

•Allows for Statutory Damages

•$750 to $30,000.00 for knowing infringement (per work).

•Decreased to $200.00 or $0 for innocent infringement.

•Increased to $150,000.00 for willful infringement.

COPYRIGHTS • Application

• Complete appropriate form • Deposit - copy of work • Filing fee • http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html

• Infringement • Ownership of Copyright and Copying. • Copying proved by showing:

• Access by Infringer to copyrighted work; and • Substantial Similarity between infringing and copyrighted

work.

• Think Harvard Business Review

Video on Patents

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esXY0kln fbA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmZRJqcESIU

How is IP Insured? • Four main policies that carriers offer to protect IP:

• Patent Infringement Abatement • Funds a lawsuit on a party which improperly uses

the insured’s IP • Patent Infringement Defense Cost

• Protects a company against allegations that it improperly used another company's IP

• Loss of Value Coverage • Compensates for the loss of coverage

• Enforcement Coverage • Coverage that enables collections on loss of IP. This

includes: legal costs, lost revenue as a result of an infringement

• New to market – very seldom used