Untitled Quiz

Intellectual Property Law

•  This week's course covers various aspects of Intellectual Property law.
•  Intellectual property (IP) encompasses trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, patents, industrial designs, geographic indicators, and licensing.

Class Contents

•  Trademarks: Distinctive signs identifying goods/services of a party.
•  Copyrights: Protect original works of authorship, fixed in a tangible medium.
•  Trade Secrets: Formulae, patterns, devices, ideas, or processes providing competitive advantage and kept confidential.
•  Patents: Protect innovations, technical solutions to existing problems, not just the concept of the solution.
•  Industrial Design & Geographic Indicators: Regulations on product designs and geographical origin designations.
•  Licensing: Allowing others to use IP for a price.

Real vs. Intellectual Property

•  Real property refers to physical assets (e.g., land, buildings).
•  Intellectual property refers to intangible creations (e.g., inventions, creative works).

Trademark Protection

•  Duration: 10 years, renewable.
•  Registration Requirements: Specific criteria and procedures exist.
•  Use Requirements: Trademarks must be used in commerce.
•  Nice Classification (NCL): International classification of goods and services for registering trademarks.

Trademark Limitations

•  Scandalous or Immoral Marks: Those considered unethical or objectionable.
•  Disparagement of Others: Marks that harm another entity's reputation.
•  False Connection: Indication of affiliation with people or institutions that's not true.
•  Deceptive Marks: Marks that mislead or misrepresent the product.
•  Confusingly Similar Marks: Similarity that could confuse consumers.
• Prior Use: Use by others in the market/marketplace before your registration.
•  Infringement: Unauthorized use of a registered mark.
• Counterfeiting: Creation of fake versions of a product carrying an unauthorized trademark.
• Gray Market: Imports without authorization.

Trademark Act of 1946 (Lanham Act)

•  A US federal law regulating trademarks, service marks and unfair competition.
•  Provides a system of registration and enforcement for trademarks.

Trademark Defenses

•  Abandonment: Discontinued use renders the trademark invalid.
•  Fair Use: Permitted use of a mark for non-infringing purposes.
•  Nominative Fair Use: using a mark to identify a product/service of another party.
•  Parody: Non-infringing imitation based on the spirit and style of a registered mark.
•  Others: Other similar situations covered by legal precedents.

Copyright General

•  Works of original authorship fixed on tangible media are copy-rightable.
•  Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.
•  Copyright provides tangible rights over physical creations.

Expounding the Definition

•  Originality is central to copyright.
•  Facts are discoverable, not creative. Expressions of facts are protected.
•  Works fixed in tangible media are protected.
•  The author (or creator) is the one who registers the copyright.
•  These works require specific criteria (being original, fixed, etc.) to be protected.

Length of Protection

•  Works created after 1 January 1978 are protected for the author's lifetime plus 70 years.
•  For works published between 1923 to 1977, protection lasts for 95 years from the date of publication.
• Works for hire or anonymous works are protected for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation (whichever is shorter).
• Collective works and compilations are protected for 70 years after the death of the last surviving author.

Scope of Rights

•  Economic Rights allow for reproduction, preparation, distribution, public performance, display, and transmission of recordings.
•  Moral Rights protect the integrity of the work allowing the author to protect the use of their work and their name.

What is Excluded from Copyright Protection

•  Ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods of operation, and discoveries are NOT copyrightable.

Functionality Doctrine

•  Artistic elements of a work should be separated from its functional features to ensure copyright protection is appropriate.
•  Artistic concepts must be separate from technical functions to be eligible for copyright protection.

Fictional Characters

•  Copyright protection extends to fictional characters, both visually and in terms of their personality traits, distinct from the original story itself.

Derivative Rights

•  Copyright protection extends to derived works based on existing works, but ONLY to the original material contributed by the derivative author.

Copying

•  Access to the original work, either through copying or direct evidence, is necessary for claiming infringement.
•  Substantial similarity includes both literal and non-literal comparisons; this includes structure and arrangement.

First Sale Doctrine

• The initial sale of rights does not give the original owner any further controlling rights/privileges over the subsequent sale.

Infringement

•  Direct infringement occurs when there is authorized use/distribution of a work.
•  Contributory infringement occurs when someone aids or facilitates infringement, meaning they can be held liable for encouraging a copyright violation.
•  Safe harbors exist for internet service providers to avoid liability for copyright infringement by users.

Fair Use Doctrine

• Allows limited use of copyrighted material for certain purposes (e.g. criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research and parody)).
• Factors considered include: Purpose and character of the use (e.g., commercial vs. educational), the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and impact on potential market value.

Trade Secrets

•  Trade secrets include confidential business information offering a competitive edge.
•  They must be maintained confidentially to offer a competitive edge in the marketplace.

US Trade Secret Act 2016

•  This act details how trade secrets can be protected within the legal system, involving injunctions and compensation for damages.

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996

•  Covers criminal actions, including theft, fraud, or concealing trade secrets, with financial penalties and imprisonment.

State Law

•  States also have their own trade secrets laws, supporting and further clarifying federal frameworks.
•  State commercial law complements federal laws through the concept of misappropriation.

Patents

•  Patents protect inventions, not just the idea of a solution, but the particular technical solution itself.
•  Protecting inventions under patent law provides a competitive advantage; that is, ownership of the design with protection.

Drafting a Patent

•  Novelty, inventive step, industrial application are crucial elements for patent eligibility.
• New patents must show elements that haven't been described or disclosed before.
• Patent applications must be practical, novel, and useful for them to succeed.

Industrial Design & Geographic Indicators

•  Industrial design focuses on the visual aspects and functionality of goods for mass production, boosting marketability and usability.
•  Geographic indicators describe a product's origin linked to distinct characteristics/qualities found in a particular geographic region.

Licensing Agreements

•  Licensing agreements are contractual agreements enabling others to use IP in exchange for compensation.
• Purpose of licensing: to disseminate technology/access to it or avoid lawsuits, in return for compensation to the inventor/owner of the IP.

International Applications

•  The PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) facilitates international patent filing with an international priority date.
• PCT processes allow for streamlined and cost-effective international protection for patent applications.

Technology Diffusion

•  Different fields like the Internet, medicine and other technologies have been developed at different universities.