Intellectual Property (Part 3) Mr. Stasa – Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools ©

Think about it… Sonia wrote a poem that she wanted to publish in a book. She wonders if the law would protect her poem from being used by other people without her permission. Is there law that protects Sonia’s poem?

What we will learn today… Trademarks Copyright Patent Trade secrets

What is Intellectual Property? Intellectual property is any original work or idea which is owned. Examples include: Inventions Works of art Audio Video Software Logos Photos Fonts

What does this have to do with computer crime? Software, websites, and applications are all examples of intellectual property. Someone had to create them!

Intellectual Property Protection Symbols Copyrights © Sound recordings Unregistered Trademarks TM Registered trademark ®

What’s a Patent? A patent is a governmental grant giving an inventor exclusive rights to make, use, or sell an invention for a period of time. Full information about the product must be disclosed to the government when applying for a patent and can be released to competitors upon the expiration of the patent. Period of time = approx. 20 years

What is a Copyright? A copyright is the rights granted to an author, composer, photographer, or artist to publish and sell original work. Copyrights are valid for the life of the author plus 70 years upon death. The most common violation of copyrights are illegally downloading music without paying.

What’s a Trademark? A trademark is a distinctive symbol or slogan used by a business to distinguish itself from other businesses. Trademarks are valid for 10 years and can be renewed for 10-year intervals. Can you tell a difference?

McDonalds vs. McBagels The McDonald's court found that "McBAGELS" infringed the "Mc" family of trademarks, even though McDonald's did not sell bagels and did not use any trademarks or service marks similar to McBAGELS, Because McBAGELS bore the family surname in combination with the generic name of a food item and was used for goods and services related to the goods and services with which the "Mc" family was used. McDonald's advertising its "Mc" family of marks () were rewarded by legal recognition of McDonald's exclusive right to use trademarks and service marks bearing the family surname with prepared fast foods and related services

Registered vs. Non-registered Trademarks A registered trademark ® is nationally enforceable. An unregistered trademark TM is not nationally enforceable. ie. If a store in Maine uses a TM slogan that happens to be the same slogan at a store in Oregon, the store in Maine will not have the legal right to sue the store in Oregon for trademark violation.

What’s a Trade Secret? What if a business wants protection over their original idea but does not what to disclose the product information to the government? A trade secret allows the owner of a business to keep original ideas protected indefinitely from being disclosed by its employees without registering with the government. Employees are usually asked to sign an agreement of liability to not reveal business secrets. A trade secret does not have protection if discovered by an outside party.

The logo Coca-Cola is trademarked and cannot be re-created by any other party. However, the recipe for Coca-Cola is not trademarked and is instead considered a trade secret. Several court orders have demanded Coca-cola reveal is authentic recipe but were unsuccessful. An employee of Coca-Cola would be legally liable if they revealed the recipe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ6wO5igfAI

Google Patent Search http://www.google.com/patents?q=