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What is Intellectual Property?
by:
Stuart Simpson
Intellectual Property is the product of your thinking that can be used for
commercial value. In other words, you think of a song and write down the
words – you have the legal right to prevent others from copying or making
a song based on your lyrics. This right you have can make you money if
someone is willing to pay you for your song. Maybe your boss asked you to
write a computer program. Who owns the work? You may have designed a new
mouse trap and have the design on computer. Or you have created a
distinctive logo for your company. But Intellectual Property goes deeper
than songs or even copyrights. Let’s examine the four main areas of
Intellectual Property law: Trade Secrets, Copyrights, Trademarks and
Patents.
Trade
secrets give the owner a competitive edge. If some information has value
to competitors and they don’t know about it – then it’s a trade secret. If
the information was not kept reasonably safe (secret) then it’s not a
trade secret. Trade secrets may be sold with the business or stolen from
bad employees. Maybe a former employee didn’t sign a non-disclosure
statement before going to work at the competition. Some also reverse
engineer software to gain the source code. This highly protected source
code for computers is their trade secret, giving them an advantage over
the competition. The trick is you have to keep your trade secrets as such,
secrets.
Copyrights
protect all kinds of writing by singers, writers, programmers, artists,
etc… These are the best known of all intellectual property. Registering
with the US Copyright office can enhance the automatic protection. You
must have your copyright material on paper, tape, or computer. Copyright
protection applies to the “literal expression.” It doesn’t protect the
“underlying” theme of the writing. It must have some creativity. You can’t
copyright a simple list. You don’t actually have to have a copyright
notice since March 1st, 1989. The recommended notice is “copyright” year
author’s name. For example, this article will have a copyright. Copyright
2005 Stuart Simpson. But it is not necessary.
Trademarks
must be a unique name, design, symbol, logo, color, container, etc…that
businesses use to distinguish their goods from others in the same market.
You should have a strong name for a mark, as common words receive less
protection. Like Stuart’s Cold Ice Cream Company. My name and the
descriptive term (cold) are weak marks. But a distinctive name like
Netflix, is a strong mark. Netflix is technically a “service” mark. It
falls into the same category as trademarks. Your trademark must be
submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). But first, the mark
must be put into use “in commerce that Congress may regulate.” This means
you have to sell across state lines or have a business that caters to
interstate or international travelers. After you do this, you can file
another form to show the mark is actually being used. The PTO checks for
similar marks. You can’t use the circled R just yet. You can only use this
if your logo or mark has been registered.
Patent law
gives inventor of new and special invention the right to use this
invention for a fixed period of time. The US Patent and Trademark Office
(PTO) must find that the invention qualifies for patent protection. Your
invention has to be new and novel, not obvious. What do you do with a
patent? Normally, the inventors get a license agreement with a company to
produce the product for a period of time. In exchange, the company pays
the inventor royalties for each item sold.
Intellectual property goes further in depth on each of these items. I
wanted to give you a brief description to help broaden your knowledge base
when writing, creating or inventing. If your work falls into one of the
above categories, do more research. I will be writing on each specific
area in the future.
by-http://www.patent-review.com |
