An Overview of Intellectual Property by John Slaughter September 26, 2009 © John Slaughter All Rights Reserved.

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Subjects of IP IP Assets / Prosecution / Clearance IP Transactions / Due Diligence IP Disputes / Clearance

Types of IP Patent Trademark Copyright Trade Secret

Patent The right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing the invention Types: – Utility - new, useful, and non-obvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter Provisional Application – Design - new, original, and ornamental design for an article of manufacture – Plant - asexual reproduction of any distinct and new variety of plant

Trademark / Service Mark A word, name, symbol, or combination thereof that is used in trade with goods to indicate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others Words / slogans, stylized, or designs Types: – Common Law – State Registered – Federally Registered – U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Copyright Rights provided to authors of “original works of authorship” in a fixed form including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished Exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly, or to display the copyrighted work publicly Types: – Common Law – Federally Registered – U.S. Copyright Office

Trade Secret Information which is not generally known to the public, confers some economic benefit to its holder due to not being generally known, and is subject to reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy.

Q&A Different types of IP, what can be patented, patent application process, reality of owning a patent (at what point are you protected, what are the costs of getting one), markets for IP, licensing IP, how do you perform due diligence. Software patents, should software developers pro-actively avoid creating infringing works, with the subsequent loss of productivity, or should they ignore all patent issues The US Patent system appears to be broken; how should the Patent system be reformed Efficient IP research for a startup, how to do it before there is capital for intensive research, especially defensive research IP issues that affect Consultants - how to avoid messy IP situations with your clients and your contractors IP and non-disclosure/non-compete issues, when is IP contract language is so restrictive that it is unenforceable Open Source

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