Intellectual Property

TrainersBrian Kon and Jeff Kohler

Intellectual Property

• U.S. Patents

• Trademarks

• Trade Secrets

Patent

• A patent is a grant by the Federal Government that permits its owner to exclude others from making, using or selling the claimed invention.

• The term of a patent is 20 years. (after June 1995) and 14 years for a Design Patent.

• A patent does not give the owner the right to make use or sell his invention.

Patents

• Utility Patent

• Design Patent

– New Original and Ornamental Design for an Article of Manufacture

• Plant Patent

– Distinct and New Variety of Asexually Reproduced Plant

Provisional Patents

• Effective June 1995

• Low Cost Way of Postponing Cost of Full Patent Application

• Need Not Contain Claims

• Complete Enough for one skilled in the art to Practice the Invention

• One Year Postponement

Drawbacks

• Inventor Sits back for one year and then decides to file for application.

• No search or office action is taken by the Patent Office.

What can be Patented?

• Statutory Classed Inventions AND

• Invention Must be Useful AND

• Invention Must be Novel AND

• Invention Must be Unobvious

Statutory Classes of Inventions

• Processes• Machines• Objects made by Humans or

Machines• Compositions of Matter• New Uses of any of the above

Applying For a Patent

• Apply Yourself

• Seek Aid from a Patent Attorney

Why File for a Patent?

• Excludes Others from using the Patent

• Commercialize the Invention and Exclude all Potential Competitors

• License and Sell Patents

• Licensee May Offer More Royalties

Trademarks

• Word or Phrase

• Symbol or Design

• Combination of Words, Phrases

• Combination of Symbols, Designs

• Distinguishing Source of Service or Services

Conclusions

• Copyrights, Trademarks, Patents and Trade Secrets are different from one another.

• Some things just can not be protected.

• Consider all types of protection before deciding which one to rely on.

Copyrights

• Grant of Exclusive Rights to a Work of Authorship

– Right to Reproduce the Work

– Right to Prepare Translations

– Right to Distribute or Sell the Work

– Right to Perform the Work (Music)

– Right to Display the Work (Artwork)

Trade Secrets

• Confidential Business Information

– Secret Belonging to a Business

– Customer Identities

– Product Pricing

– Marketing Strategies

– Manufacturing Processes

– Other Competitively Valuable Information