Intellectual Property OBE 118 Fall 2004 Professor McKinsey Some property, very valuable property, exists only in our minds, in our imagination. It is intangible but can take tangible form sometimes. Here the law is everything because the law itself defines what is and is not property. There is no concrete description for it like we had for real and personal property.

Intellectual Property (IP) Property rights created in products or results of mental processes. The main right is to prevent others from duplicating, utilizing, or otherwise replicating the product or process. Patents Copyrights Trademarks Trade secrets

Patents Right to exclude others from making, selling, or even using an invention Its essentially an idea that can be reality and you control the reality aspects of it In United States, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) creates Patents by approving patent applications

Patent Types Three kinds of patents Utility – novel, useful, and non-obvious process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter Design – novel, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture Plant – any distinct and new variety of plant that is asexually reproduced

Copyrights Right to prevent others from copying or displaying an original expression embodied in a tangible medium: literary work, (books, text in magazines etc) musical work, (sheet music) sound recording, (CD) audiovisual work, (movie) sculptural work, (art objects in 3d) pictorial work, (photos and art) computer program (the code)

Understanding Copyright You copyright expression, you patent ideas Unlike a patent, copyright interests accrue automatically, but you might want to register your material and put © with the year and name of owner.

Fair Use of Copyrighted Material Fair Use Doctrine – right to infringe without liability for “fair use” 1) Public benefit 2) Nature of use (for profit?) 3) Economic effect on owner of copyright 4) Nature of the work used 5) Amount of work used Allows for literary criticism, news, education, research, etc

Trademarks Right to prevent use of words or symbols that identify a good or service. “Any word, name, symbol, or device or any combination thereof adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant to identify and distinguish his goods including a unique product, from those manufactured or sold by others, and to indicate the source of the goods, even if that source is unknown”

Types of Trademarks Inherently Distinctive Marks- fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive marks can all be protected easily without showing distinctiveness Not Inherently Distinctive Marks – descriptive marks, geographic terms, and personal names can be harder to protect

Creating Trademark Rights 1)Choose the mark - wisely 2)Use the mark 3)Register the mark (PTO or perhaps state) – not required but gives more rights to sue and for more damages. 4)Do not stop using it - or you might have abandoned it 5)Defend against all infringements – or you might be abandoning it

Trade Secrets A “secret” formula, device, process, method, or compilation of information used by one business to give it an advantage over another. If the secret is exposed legally it is no longer a secret and the law will not protect it. USTA: reasonable effort to maintain confidentiality Moral: protect your business secrets!