The essentials when dealing with IP
I recently attended a workshop hosted by the Center for Creative Collaboration in partnership with the law firm of Barrett McNagny that dealt with intellectual property. I decided to share what I took away from the event. I would also like to remind everyone that I am not a lawyer and will not be held responsible for any decisions made based on this article!
What is intellectual property or (IP)?
Intellectual property is defined as the ownership of ideas. Unlike tangible assets to your business such as computers or your office, intellectual property is a collection of rights to conceptualized ideas.
What gives you the right to protection?
Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the United States Constitution grants Congress the power “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.” Because this clause is the source of Congress’ power to enact legislation governing copyrights and patents, it is often referred to as the “patent and copyright clause.” There are three different ways to protect the different types of intellectual property in the United States these are through the use patents, trademarks or copyrights.
There are three different ways to protect the different types of intellectual property in the United States these are through the use of patents, trademarks or copyrights.
Patents
Patents protect processes, essential methods and your original inventions. The idea behind a patent is in exchange for the inventor sharing the secrets and details of an invention with the public, the government grants the inventor a limited right to exclude others from benefiting from the invention. In the United States the patent protects your invention for 20 years, which starts when the patent request is filed. There are three specifications you need to meet in order to apply for the patent:
Novel: Meaning “is it of a new kind”, is it different from anything seen or known before?
Non-obvious: Is the invention an adequate distance above or beyond the normal state of art?
Useful: Utility is a main requirement. Does it provide some identifiable benefit and is it capable of use?
Trademarks
Trademarks these are the recognizable signs, designs, or expressions associated and used to identify products and services from a specific business. They are used to distinguish ones business from the others. Trademarks that are used to describe services are referred to as “service marks” but operate essentially like trademarks. Trademark certificates of registration last 10 years at a time. You can renew the trademark respectively to increase the length of control you have. There are four criteria you need to meet before registering your trademark:
- The trademark needs to be registered under the actual owners name. The owner is the person who is in charge of the nature and quality of the goods. The owner does not have to be an individual. If you have a partnership agreement or any other type of business structure, the applicants name can be the corporations name.
- Applicants must specify what type of business entity they are applying as. They also need to put down their citizenship. You are not required to be a U.S citizen.
- The application must be based on actual use or a real intent to use it in commerce. In other words it needs to be used in business.
- You must submit a drawing of the supposed trademark.
Copyrights
Copyrights refer to the exclusive legal right that grants the creator of original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. Copyrights protect only the expression of your idea, and not the actual idea itself. For example, if you were to take a photo of a man in a red shirt leaning up against the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this is your expression. It does not stop someone else taking a photo of themselves on holiday in Italy from doing the same thing. The lifespan of a copyright lasts up to 70 years after the authors death. When we look at work for hire, which refers to when an employees creation as part of their job, these copyrights last as long as 120 years after the creation or 95 years after the publication of the year. The main advantage of having a copyright is that you are free to copy and modify the work.
The net net
Each form of intellectual property is protected by different means. I would suggest consulting a well versed IP lawyer when making these decisions and exploring the possible avenues you could take when it comes to the protection of your intellectual property.
