Intellectual Property

By Wilmer Arellano

Summer 2008

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Overview

• Intellectual Property

• Patents– What Can Be Patented?

– Utility Patents

• Copyright– What works are protected?

– Duration Copyright

• Trademarks and Service marks

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References

• http://www.uspto.gov/

• http://www.copyright.gov/

• http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/i/invent/h-chapters/h-one.html

• http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Patent

• http://www.wfva.net/pdf/Basic%20US%20patent%20law--4%20Feb%202005%20presentation--slides.pdf

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Intellectual Property

• n : intangible property that is the result of creativity (such as patents or trademarks or copyrights)

•Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

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Intellectual Property

• Intellectual Property includes four different kinds of rights: – Patent,

– Copyright,

– Trademark,

– and Trade Secrets. Usually included under unfair competition.

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Patents

• Federal regulation of Copyrights and Patents:– U. S. Constitution, Article 1, Sec. 8, Clause

8.

– “The Congress shall have 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.”

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Abraham Lincoln's Patent: Improvement for Buoying Vessels Over

Shoals

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Patents

• A patent is a property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor “to exclude others from:– making,

– using,

– offering for sale,

– or selling the invention throughout the United States

– or importing the invention into the United States”

• for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

• Not a grant to make

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What Can Be Patented?

• Utility Patents, any new and useful:– Process, The word “Process” is defined by law as a process, act

or method, and primarily includes industrial or technical processes.

– Machine, The term “Machine” needs no explanation.

– Manufacture, The term “Manufacture” refers to articles that are made, and includes all manufactured articles.

– or Composition of Matter, The term “Composition of Matter” relates to chemical compositions and may include mixtures of ingredients as well as new chemical compounds.

• or any new and useful improvement thereof.

• These classes of subject matter taken together include practically everything that is made by man and the processes for making the products.

• Are granted for a period of 20 years from the date of filing a patent application

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Design Patents & Plant Patents

• Any new and non obvious ornamental design for an article of manufacture.

• Any invented or discovered and asexually reproduced distinct and new variety of plant.

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Utility Patents

• 35 USC §102-- What is claimed must be new .

• 35 USC §103-- What is claimed must be nonobvious .– Non obvious to a person having ordinary

skill in the area of technology related to the invention. For example, the substitution of one color for another, or changes in size, are ordinarily not patentable.

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First to Invent

• The U.S. has a “first to invent” policy regarding invention, meaning that the first originator of an invention receives credit for it.

• The first person to patent an invention will not receive credit unless they were also the first to invent it.

• The presumption is that the first to reduce to practice is the first to invent

• Since June 8, 1995, the USPTO has offered inventors the option of filing a provisional application for patent which was designed to provide a lower cost first patent filing in the United States and to give U.S. applicants parity with foreign applicants. Provisional applications may not be filed for design inventions (ornamental). – To be complete, a provisional application must also include the

filing fee, and a cover sheet specifying that the application is a provisional application for patent. The applicant would then have up to 12 months to file a non-provisional application for patent

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First to Invent

• In order for an invention to be patentable it must be new as defined in the patent law, which provides that an invention cannot be patented if:– “(a) the invention was known or used by others in

this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent,” or

– “(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country more than one year prior to the application for patent in the United States . . .”

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Patent Rights

• Patent rights are based on claims of the patent.– What is protected is the invention as

claimed.• Infringer is accused of infringing the claims of a

patent.

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Claims Example

• Edison received a patent (U. S. Pat. No. 223, 898) for a light bulb with a carbon filament.– Claim 1: An electric lamp for giving light

by incandescence, consisting of a filament of carbon of high resistance, made as described, and secured to metallic wires, as set forth.

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How to Prove the Idea Is Yours

• Use a Notebook with consecutively numbered and permanently bound pages

• Put your ideas in writing completely and accurately. Fully describe the invention in words and pictures.

• Date all your Entries and write with pen.

• Do not remove or skip pages

• The notebooks should be witnessed weekly by two knowledgeable people you trust which are not relatives of you

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Inventors

• A patent cannot be given to non-inventors

• An inventor can never relinquish his/her inventorship rights.

• However, an inventor(s) may assign their ownership rights over to another party

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Co-Inventors

• If each had a share in the ideas forming the invention as defined in the claims – even if only as to one claim, they are joint inventors and a patent will be issued to them jointly on the basis of a proper patent application.

• If, on the other hand, one of these persons has provided all of the ideas of the invention, and the other has only followed instructions in making it, the person who contributed the ideas is the sole inventor and the patent application and patent shall be in his/her name alone.

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Current Fee Schedule

• Typical filing fees for an Inventor when application filed with a written assertion of small entity status (See Simplified Small Entity Status Practice):

• Filing a provisional application. $100 • Filing a non-provisional application. Approximately $150* • Issue fee Approximately $650 • Maintenance fees:

– Due at 3 1/2 years, Approximately $450– Due at 7 1/2 years, Approximately $1150– Due at 11 1/2 years,Approximately $1900

• *Does not include the search fee or examination fee.• Utility Examination Fee $100• Utility Search Fee $250.00

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Statistics

• Currently, the average patent application pendency is 24.6 months. Applications received in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are numbered in sequential order and the applicant will be informed within eight weeks of the application number and official filing date if filed in paper. If filed electronically, the application number is available within minutes.

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Statistics

Year Utility Design Plant Reissue Total

2001 324,211 18,636   914   956 344,717

2002 331,580 19,706 1,134   974 353,394

2003 331,729 21,966   785   938 355,418

2004 353,319 23,457 1,212   996 378,984

2005 381,797 25,304 1,288 1,143 409,532

2006 415,551 25,833 1,095 1,173 443,652

1: FY 2006 data are preliminary and will be finalized in the FY 2007 PAR. (back to text)

TABLE 2: PATENT APPLICATIONS FILED

(FY 1986 - FY 2006)PRELIMINARY FOR FY 2006

Notes:

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TABLE 5: SUMMARY OF TOTAL PENDING PATENT APPLICATIONS

(FY 2006)Utility, plant and Design Total patent

reissue applications applications applications

Pending patent applications, total 1,036,588 40,454 1,077,042

In preexamination processing, total    94,270  3,453    97,723

Under examination, total   878,317 27,552   905,869

Undocketed   204,182  3,585   207,767

Awaiting first action by examiner   375,881 19,776   395,657

Rejected, awaiting response by applicant   205,084  3,387   208,471

Amended, awaiting action by examiner    72,744    726    73,470

In interference       364      0       364

On appeal, and other 1    20,062     78    20,140

In postexamination processing, total    64,001  9,449    73,450

Awaiting issue fee    42,358  4,959    47,317

Awaiting printing2    18,564  4,489    23,053

D-10s (secret cases in condition for allowance)     3,079      1     3,080

Notes:1: Includes cases on appeal and undergoing petitions.(back to text)2: Includes withdrawn cases. (back to text)

Stage of processing

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Statistics

TABLE 28: END OF YEAR PERSONNEL(FY 2002 - FY 2006)

ACTIVITY 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Business

Patent Business Line 6,045 5,990 6,060 6,494 7,283

Trademark Business Line   894   733   756   869   906

Total USPTO 6,939 6,723 6,816 7,363 8,189

Examination Staff

Patent Examiners

UPR Examiners (Utility, Plant and Reisue) 3,538 3,579 3,681 4,177 4,779

Design Examiners    58    58    72    81   104

Total UPR and Design Examiners 3,596 3,637 3,753 4,258 4,883

Trademark Examining Attorneys   258   256   286   357   413

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What works are protected?

• Copyright protects "original works of authorship" that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. The fixation need not be directly perceptible so long as it may be communicated with the aid of a machine or device. Copyrightable works include the following categories: – literary works (Computer Programs);

– musical works, including any accompanying words

– dramatic works, including any accompanying music

– pantomimes and choreographic works

– pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works

– motion pictures and other audiovisual works

– sound recordings

– architectural works

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How to Secure a Copyright

• Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. – "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be

read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm.

• In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection.

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Fair Use

“Fair Use” is not an infringement of copyright.

Use for purposes such as: – Criticism,

– Comment,

– News reporting,

– Teaching,

– Scholarship, or

– Research.

•Sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act (title 17, U. S. Code)

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Duration Copyright

• For works created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright begins with creation and lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years

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Trademarks and Service marks

• A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.

• A service mark is the same as a trademark, except that it identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than a product.

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Trademarks and Service marks

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Letters and words:

• A word or other groupings of letters is the most common type of mark. Examples include:

• APPLE

• SILICON GRAPHICS

• NETSCAPE

• IBM

• NBC – http://www.bitlaw.com/trademark/devices.html

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Logos:

• Logos are probably the next most common form of mark. A logo can be described as a design which becomes a mark when used in close association with the goods or services being marketed. The logo mark does not need to be elaborate; it need only distinguish goods and services sold under the mark from other goods and services. Examples of logo marks are– http://www.bitlaw.com/

trademark/devices.html

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Pictures or drawings

• Pictures or drawings of a character or scene are often used as trademarks or service marks. – http://

www.bitlaw.com/trademark/devices.html

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Combination:

• Or a trademark might be a combination of letters and a design, such as:– http://

www.bitlaw.com/trademark/devices.html

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Slogans:

• Slogans from advertising campaigns are also used as trademarks. Example slogans which have strong trademark rights attached to them are: – http://

www.bitlaw.com/trademark/devices.html

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Is registration of my mark required?

• No. You can establish rights in a mark based on legitimate use of the mark. However, owning a federal trademark registration on the Principal Register provides several advantages, e.g., – constructive notice to the public of the registrant's claim

of ownership of the mark;

– a legal presumption of the registrant's ownership of the mark and the registrant's exclusive right to use the mark nationwide on or in connection with the goods and/or services listed in the registration;

– the use of the U.S registration as a basis to obtain registration in foreign countries; and

– the ability to file the U.S. registration with the U.S. Customs Service to prevent importation of infringing foreign goods

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Maintaining a federal trademark registration

• Rights in a federally-registered trademark can last indefinitely if the owner continues to use the mark on or in connection with the goods and/or services in the registration and files all necessary documentation in the USPTO at the appropriate times. In general, the owner of a registration must periodically file: – Affidavits of Continued Use or Excusable Nonuse

under 15 U.S.C. §1058; and

– Applications for Renewal under 15 U.S.C. §1059

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

We will discuss three patents that suspendisse pellentesque, mi litora metus. Nibh pede, eu ultricies vitae eget risus malesuada. Nullam orci mauris at, ut ut suspendisse ornare dignissim. A at sollicitudin bibendum, vitae eu suspendisse et dignissim maecenas odio, vel nunc non sit porta donec, consectetuer consectetuer malesuada, interdum urna wisi maecenas ullamcorper mauris mi. Mauris urna nam, justo quam, laoreet diam tempor hendrerit ac. Erat vestibulum litora natoque integer.

A. Robot Sytem, United States Patent 7,066,291

This patent by Martins, et al. was granted in June 27, 2006 and will be describe in the next

sections.

1) Summary: A mobile robot system for performing a plurality of separate operations, and including at least one autonomous wheeled mobile robot having at least one wheel-driving motor, an on-board computer, a system for navigation, orientation, and maneuvering in an environment with moving obstacles, a sensor system, a wireless communication system operative to receive and send signals, and a plurality of dockable operation modules and operative to be selectively coupled to the autonomous mobile robot to form an operation unit, wherein the autonomous wheeled mobile robot autonomously docks to the dockable operation modules.

2) Claims Sumarys: In your own words make a summary of all the claims that could relate to your project. Elit dui aliquam tortor dignissim mi maecenas, in velit justo mi, sed viverra eget, diam accumsan interdum. Dapibus dolor nam amet sodales at ac, suscipit vel in accumsan vel et et, ut vivamus. Duis a, tempor nec pede. Nisl aliquam ac wisi posuere risus integer, ultricies magna amet mattis dignissim, metus iaculis id varius feugiat nec. Quis donec nullam arcu in dolores, nam habitasse luctus vivamus, eget purus non nec culpa natoque sit, primis neque morbi integer vestibulum. Ac augue sit elit scelerisque erat.

Explain here why you will not infringe. Make sure you avoid infringement of the claims.

That is not necessary obtained by changing implementations. Like their patent is for a wireless product, ours is not

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Overview

• Intellectual Property

• Patents– What Can Be Patented?

– Utility Patents

• Copyright– What works are protected?

– Duration Copyright

• Trademarks and Service marks

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AnswersAnswers