BUS2001 Chapter 8: Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property

Property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are examples

Trademark

A distinctive mark, motto, device, or implement that a manufacturer stamps, prints, or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces to prevent consumer confusion that leads to profit dilution

Does a trademark have to be completely identical to be considered a copy?

No; it just has to lead to constomer confusion

Dilution

With respect to trademarks, a doctrine under which distinctive or famous trademarks are protected from certain unauthorized uses regardless of a showing of competition or a likelihood of confusion. Congress created a federal cause of action for this in 1995

What is the purpose of the statutory protection of trademarks?

To protect manufactures from losing business to rival companies that used confusingly similar trademarks

What are the remedies for the statutory protection of trademarks?

The destruction of any goods bearing the unathorized trademarks and, sometimes, you can recover your attorney's fees

Elements of a distinct trademark:

- Strong

- Suggestive

- Secondary meaning

Service

- Certification

- Collective

Strong Trademarks

Fanciful, arbitrary, or suggestive trademarks are generally considered to be the most distnctive (strongest) trademarks

Ex. "Google"

Suggestive Trademarks

Indicate something about a product's nature, quality, or characteristics, without describing the product directly

Ex. Dairy Queen

Secondary Meaning (Trademarks)

When customers begin to associate a specific term or phrase with specific trademarked items made by a particular company

Ex. Calvin Klein, designer clothing

Service mark

A mark used in the sale or the advertising of services, such as to distinguish the services of one person from the services of others. Titles, character names, and other distinctive features of radio and television programs may be registered as this

Ex. Each airline has its own marks or symbols associated with their name

Certification Mark

A mark used by one or more persons, other than the owner, to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the owner's goods or services. Examples of this include the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" and "UL Tested

Collective Mark

When used by members of a cooperative association, or other organization, a certification mark is referred to as a __________ ____

Trade dress

The image and overall appearance of a product— for example, the distinctive decor, menu, layout, and style of service of a particular restaurant. Basically, they are subject to the same protection as trademarks.

Counterfeit goods

Goods that copy or otherwise imitate trademark goods, but are not the genuine trademarked goods

License

In the context of intellectual property, a contract permitting the use of a trademark, copyright, patent, or trade secret for certain purposes. In the context of real property, a revocable right or privilege of a person to come on another person's land.

Trade name

A term that is used to indicate part or all of a business's name and that is directly related to the business's reputation and goodwill. They are protected under the common law (and under trademark law, if the name is the same as the firm's trademark)

Patent

A government grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell his or her invention for a limited time period

What do businesses use searchable databases to do?

To inventory their patents or to study trends and patterns in a specific technology or to gather information about competitors in the industry

What is patentable?

Anything, except for the laws or nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas

What are the remedies for patent infringement?

- Injunction

- Monetary damages for royalties and lost profits

- Sometimes reimbursement for attorneys' fees

Copyright

The exclusive right of authors to publish, print, or sell an intellectual production for a statutory period of time. Has the same monopolistic nature as a patent or trademark, but it differs in that it applies exclusively to works of art, literature, and other works of authorship, including computer programs

What are copyrights protected from after being registered with the U.S. Copyright Office?

1. Reproduction of work

2. Development of derivative works

3. Distribution of the work

4. Public display of the work

What are the remedies for copyright infringement?

- Injunctions

- Damages

- Sometimes, criminal penalties

Fair-use exception

Material can be reproduced for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research

Trade secret

Information or a process that gives a business an advantage over competitors who do not know the information or process

What does the protection of trade secrets extend to?

Unlike trademark and copyright protection, the ideas (the concept itself) and their expression (how the concept is used)