1. Patent, Trademark & Trade Secret Law
Jody Blanke, Professor
Computer Information Systems and Law
Mercer University, Atlanta

2. Patent Law Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution
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

7. Protection Patents protect the underlying idea
whereas copyrights protect only an expression (of an idea)
e.g., Thomas Edison v. Joe Schmoe
Patents last for 20 years (from date of filing)
Patents protect from independent creation
copyrights do not
U.S. now protects first to file, not first to invent
as of March 16, 2013 (America Invents Act (2011))

8. § 101 Subject Matter Invention must be new and useful
process
machine
manufacture, or
composition of matter
Can include “anything under the sun that is made by man.”
Cannot include laws of nature, scientific principles, mathematical formulas

9. § 102 Novelty Cannot get a patent if
“the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention”
“Absolute novelty”

10. § 103 Nonobviousness Cannot get a patent if
“the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains”

11. Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics (2013)
A patent was claimed on the test to determine if a woman carried the BRCA2 gene
The test cost $4,000
The Supreme Court held that
"A naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but cDNA [a strand of synthetically-produced complementary DNA] is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring."

12. Patent Trolls

13. Trademark Law Combination of federal and state law
Authority of federal law derives from regulation of interstate commerce
Authority of state law derives from regulation of intrastate commerce

14. Protects Dual Interests
Protects trademark owner’s interest in brand name value and good will
Protects consumers from confusion
Renewable every 10 years

15. Trademarks can be …
Words
Phrases
Symbols
Sounds
Colors
Smells

16. Generics

17. Generics Dixie Cups Frisbee Hi-Liter Kitty Litter Kleenex Magic Marker
Ping-Pong
Popsicle
Scotch Tape
Sheetrock
TV Dinners
Wiffle Ball
Cellophane
Corn Flakes
Dry Ice
Lanolin
Mimeograph
Monopoly
Pogo Stick
Raisin Bran
Shredded Wheat
Thermos
Toll House
Trampoline