Intellectual property rights are the legal protections granted to any basic construction of human intellect including artistic, literary or technical creations. These legal rights grant an exclusive right to the inventor or creator for a limited period of time.
Registered IP rights boost your business’s value. They can also be the 성범죄전문변호사 key to securing export contracts, licensing agreements and sales.
Patents
Patents provide legal protection for inventors’ inventions. They are granted by a government division, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office, for a limited period of time, usually 20 years in the U.S., although they can be extended under certain circumstances. Patents grant the right to exclude others from making, using or selling an invented product without the inventor’s permission, and they allow the owner to recoup some money for his or her efforts.
The patent holder can also bring a lawsuit to court against anyone who is found to be using the invention without permission. Infringement may result in damages awarded by a judge that include costs, attorney fees and royalties.
There are three types of patents available in the United States: design, plant and utility. A designer patent protects the unique appearance of manufactured objects, such as beverage bottles and furniture. A plant patent covers the creation of new and distinct plants, including hybrids that have been reproduced asexually (by grafting and rooting). A utility patent is granted for “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.”
When patents expire, they enter the public domain, and anyone can freely use them. However, the original inventor can recoup some of his or her losses by filing a patent renewal application.
Trademarks
Trademarks protect words, symbols, and designs that identify a company’s goods or services. They can also distinguish products in the marketplace and help consumers choose what they want to buy. A trademark is different from a copyright, which applies to artistic and literary works. A copyright protects an inventor’s design or process, while a trademark protects specific words and designs that distinguish goods from others in the marketplace.
A trademark is not a legally protected right until it has been used in commerce for a period of time and registered in the relevant jurisdiction. Registration gives the owner legal standing to bring infringement actions against others who use the mark in commerce. Trademarks are categorized by the International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services into 45 trademark classes, which helps registries around the world harmonize their classification systems.
Once a trademark is in place, it may be used as a “badge of origin” to promote its owner’s quality and distinctiveness in the market. However, a trademark does not prevent other companies from using similar marks for different types of goods or services. For example, if a woodworking company trademarks its name and logo, it cannot stop other companies from using the same mark for non-woodworking related goods or services.
A trademark owner should always use the trademark symbols, (TM) and (SM), to denote its trademark rights. This not only helps to inform the public of its trademark rights, but also serves as a warning to would-be infringers.
Copyrights
Copyrights protect creative works such as novels, articles, poems, music, paintings and other art, computer programs, and architectural designs. Unlike patents which cover inventions and designs, copyrights protect the expression of ideas rather than the ideas themselves. To be protected by copyright laws a work must be created and recorded in a tangible medium, and it must meet a minimum standard of originality. It also must be created by an individual, not a corporation or other entity.
A work’s copyright protection lasts for a set period of time, which is determined by law. Generally, it is the life of the author plus 70 years. In some countries, the term is longer, and in others shorter. Regardless of the length of a copyright, it can be renewed for another 28-year period or can enter the public domain.
In the US, a copyright can be registered at the Copyright Office to help establish ownership of a work. This helps the creator avoid legal issues, and it facilitates the licensing marketplace. While registering is optional, it is recommended. The benefits of registration include a legal record of the creator, statutory royalties, and notice to the public that the work is protected. Other intellectual property rights exist, such as patents and trademarks, which address different aspects of a product. For example, a lock mechanism may be covered by a patent for how it works, a design for its appearance, and a trade mark for the name of the company that makes it.
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets are a key component of many companies, large and small, in every sector of the economy. Whether through laborious research and development, years of experience or a sudden burst of creativity, companies regularly create information that provides a competitive advantage or that is valuable for other reasons (e.g., a manufacturing process, a secret ingredient or customer contact information).
Trade secret law is distinct from patents and trademarks in that it does not require registration with a central government agency, nor are trade secrets subject to the same limitations and requirements. Instead, trade secret protection generally arises through an enforceable confidentiality agreement or state misappropriation statute (e.g., the Uniform Trade Secrets Act), with the latter being most common in states where it has been adopted.
Even where a trade secret is protected by an agreement, it will not qualify for protection if the secret information is in the public domain or if it can be readily discerned through reverse engineering (e.g., if the information is found in an online database or in documents accessible to the general public). Additionally, it is not sufficient for a claim of misappropriation to be based on the mere disclosure of confidential information; rather, it must be disclosed in such a manner that it confers an improper benefit or economic advantage upon another.